Tigers insider reveals Detroit may have avoided disaster with Troy Melton at 2025 deadline

Troy Melton and Tatsuya Imai were dueling through five innings on Thursday night. The Tigers had two baserunners on a walk for Dillon Dingler in the first and a single for Riley Greene in the fourth; the Astros couldn't figure out Melton at all ... until the sixth, when Taylor Trammell hit a solo homer to break up both the developing perfect game and no-hitter.

Melton was pulled after getting out of the inning with just the one run allowed. Imai made it through the sixth totally unscathed. The Tigers went on to lose 2-1, suffering 10 strikeouts at the hands of Imai.

It was the Tigers' third straight loss after dropping two to the Yankees, but Melton was still exceptional. He struck out a season-high six and improved his ERA on the year to 2.39.

A lot has been made about Framber Valdez needing to step up as a leader when Tarik Skubal inevitably leaves in free agency. The onus will still be on him as the most experienced member of the Tigers' rotation, but it's been too easy to forget about guys like Melton and Jackson Jobe who, for all we know, is still trending toward a late summer return.

But according to Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic, there might've been a world in which Melton wasn't a Tiger this season. He was "thought to be in demand from other teams last season" and "might have been the cost it took to acquire the sort of rental, right-handed hitter fans craved."

Tigers fans can at least be relieved to still have Troy Melton during massive bummer of a season

Scott Harris is certainly to blame for the Tigers' current circumstances. He has long since overestimated this team. He thought they would be able to pull it together after the trade deadline last year so he didn't acquire any real players, then the Tigers barely eked into the postseason. He thought the offense would be able to make real progress in 2026 and didn't sign or acquire a single bat, now the Tigers are 13 games below .500.

But we can acknowledge that trading Melton at the deadline for a rental would've been the wrong move, and the Tigers very well might be in worse circumstances right now.

A rotation with a solid foundation of Valdez, Jobe, and Melton next season is a good place to start. Maybe the Tigers extend Casey Mize on a short-term deal and go out and get one more starter to put at the back of the rotation. It could be a lot worse.

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