Tigers trade coveted veteran bullpen piece to Rangers on deadline day

The Tigers traded catcher Carson Kelly to the Rangers on Sunday in return for prospects, their first move of trade deadline season. It was a good one — it left space for No. 11 prospect Dillon Dingler to get his MLB debut (which he did on Monday, and got his first major league hit for a double, walk, and RBI in four plate appearances), and it allowed the Tigers to add a couple more promising guys to their Double-A roster.

But the Tigers clearly weren't done dealing with the Rangers. On Tuesday, just a few hours before the actual trade deadline at 6 PM EST, Detroit sent another one of their walk-year players south to Arlington. Jeff Passan reported that Andrew Chafin would be joining Kelly on the defending World Series championship team.

In return, the Tigers will receive righties Joseph Montalvo and Chase Lee, who both rank outside the top 30 on Texas' recent MLB Pipeline prospect rankings.

Tigers trade reliever Andrew Chafin to the Rangers two days after Carson Kelly

Chafin, like Kelly, made total sense as a trade piece. He has a nice club option for 2025 worth $6.5 million that will now be up to the Rangers to exercise, and has been pitching well out of Detroit's bullpen this season, with 37 innings of work and a 3.16 ERA to show for it.

While the return hasn't been confirmed yet, it's probably safe to assume that the Tigers will be getting a couple of prospects back from the Rangers like they did with Kelly, but Chafin's elite chase, whiff, and strikeout rates this season, on top of his club option, might net Detroit a couple of ranked ones this time.

Although the Tigers bullpen will be down one lefty by trading Chafin, everyone involved can call his second stint in Detroit an unmitigated success. He's done his job well this season, and this trade will hopefully be able to bring in a couple of prospects who will contribute going forward.