The Detroit Tigers aren’t what they used to be.
For a multitude of reasons, the Tigers have gone from World Series contender in the early part of the decade to a rebuilding outfit at present.
Plenty of talent has departed the Motor City, specifically in the last five years.
Obviously, hindsight is 20-20, and some of these players (i.e. Corey Knebel, Eugenio Suarez and others) were traded for Major League upgrades in pursuit of an elusive World Series that never came.
Similarly, some of the players like Justin Verlander, J.D. Martinez and others were moved under different circumstances as the team was starting to rebuild.
What’s more, the Tigers have had two different baseball decision makers (Dave Dombrowski and Al Avila) as well as owners (Mike and Christopher Ilitch) in the time frame, so there’s very much a comparing apples and oranges type of deal to the trades.
So, in that sense, all of the deals can’t exactly be judged or looked at with the same lens. It should also be pointed out that this team would have been impossible to assemble at any point considering some of the players on this list were traded for each other.
Still, it’s worth noting the level of talent.
Here’s a full, 25-man roster.
Position Players
C: Alex Avila
The Tigers originally let Avila walk after the 2015 season, instead option to go with Jarrod Saltalamacchia as James McCann’s deputy behind the dish in 2016.
After a season in Chicago, Avila return to Detroit in 2017 and had a strong first half.
In 264 plate appearances, the veteran hit .274 with a .394 on-bas percentage, a .373 wOBA, a 133 wRC+ and a .201 ISO.
Some of his production was aided by a sky-high .380 BABIP, but it was hard to ignore his 16.5 walk rate and utter demolition (.377 wOBA, 134 wRC+, .876 OPS) of southpaws.
Detroit moved Avila, who was on a one-year deal at the time, along with Justin Wilson for the young, well-regarded infield duo of Jeimer Candelario and Isaac Paredes.
1B: Jefry Marte
Thanks to Miguel Cabrera’s residency at first base in Detroit for the last decade, there aren’t many first base options available.
Andrew Romine, although not a natural first baseman, may be the second-best option behind Marte.
Detroit shipped the current Angel to Anaheim in a deal for infield prospect Kody Eaves.
Marte hasn’t replicated his 2016 metrics (.790 OPS, .229 ISO) in the years since, but makes the starting lineup almost out of default.
2B: Ian Kinsler
Kinsler had spent his entire career in Texas prior to joining the Detroit Tigers in the Prince Fielder swap. He enjoyed some of his best years in a Tigers uniform, and while he never reached in a single season the 7.2 fWAR he racked up in 2011, the veteran turned in fWARs of 4.5, 3.9, 5.2 and 2.5 in his four seasons in the Motor City.
The Tigers flipped him to Anaheim in the offseason for prospects Wilkel Hernandez and Troy Montgomery.
The Angels subsequently traded him to Boston at the 2018 trade deadline
SS: Willy Adames
Adames was part of the classic blockbuster trade in the sense that the Tigers gave up someone good (the shortstop, not to mention Austin Jackson and Drew Smyly) to get someone good in David Price.
Price was strong in a Detroit uniform, was later flipped for a package that included Major League pieces Matthew Boyd and Daniel Norris. However, the loss of Adames certainly stings a bit for Detroit.
Related: Building an MLB team with players Jerry Dipoto has traded as Mariners GM
3B: Eugenio Suarez
If the Tigers could have any trade back, it’s probably this one.
Suarez has developed into an All-Star, fringe MVP candidate and offensive juggernaut in Cincinnati after Detroit moved him and fellow prospect Jonathan Crawford for one year of Alfredo Simon.
Simon was abysmal in his only season in the Motor City,
Alfredo Simon in 2015 with the Tigers: 187 IP, 5.03 ERA, 4.77 FIP, 5.63 K/9, 3.27 BB/9, 1.16 HR/9, 1.44 WHIP, 8.1 SwStr%.
Suarez has a 7.7 fWAR since the start of 2017 alone. He’s also just 27.
LF: Justin Upton
One of the many veterans traded for prospects in 2017, the Tigers probably could have received more value for Upton had he not had the opportunity to opt-out of his contract in the winter.
Upton would later re-sign with the Angels, the team Detroit traded him to, but he was essentially a potential rental when the Tigers traded him—and a quality rental at that.
Upton was the Tigers’ best position player by a large margin (1.7) in terms of fWAR last year despite being dealt at the tail-end of August.
He was worth a 4.2 fWAR and had a .904 OPS, a .379 wOBA, a 137 wRC+ and 28 home runs, not to mention a .264 ISO, in 520 plate appearances.
He netted the Tigers pitching prospects Grayson Long and Elvin Rodriguez.
CF: Cameron Maybin
This could be any number of center fielders.
Since the days of in-their-primes Curtis Granderson and Austin Jackson, Detroit has used a variety of different players in the middle of the outfield grass.
The argument could be made for both Granderson or Jackson here as well, but the former has shifted to the outfield corners while the latter has never quite been able to capture the form that made him a 3-5 win player for the Tigers circa 2010-2013.
Maybin gets the nod over the recently traded Leonys Martin thanks to his 2016 production at the plate.
Cameron Maybin with the Tigers in 2016: 391 PA, 2.3 fWAR, 9.2 BB%, 17.6 K%, .801 OPS, .352 wOBA, 119 wRC+.
Leonys Martin with the Tigers in 2018: 336 PA, 2.3 fWAR, 8.6 BB%, 22.3 K%, .731 OPS, .317 wOBA, 98 wRC+.
Martin was much better defensively than Maybin, with a 10.4 defensive runs above average metric that outstripped Maybin’s -2.8 number by a wide margin. However, there was no denying the spark Maybin provided for the 2016 iteration of the Tigers.
Detroit’s record was 86-75 on the year.
They were 31-36 in the games Maybin didn’t suit up in and 55-39 in the contests he played in.
The Tigers traded Maybin after 2016 to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for relief pitcher Victor Alcantara.
After an up-and-down 2017, Alcantara looks like a potentially useful bullpen piece long-term for the Tigers.
The reliever has allowed one run in 14.2 Major League innings this year and is also sitting on a 3.36 FIP despite some low strikeout metrics. He’s missed bats before in the minors, so perhaps he’ll be able to rack up more strikeouts in the future.
RF: Yoenis Cespedes
Yoenis Cespedes only played a half season in Detroit but won a Gold Glove for his defensive efforts in the American League that season.
The outfielder was plenty valuable, with a 3.3 fWAR in just 427 plate appearances, but the Tigers did well in trading him.
He netted the organization two pitching prospects from the Mets. One was Luis Cessa, who was later traded for Justin Wilson.
Wilson was later traded with Alex Avila for Paredes and Candelario.
Meanwhile, the other prospect in the Cespedes trade was one Michael Fulmer.
Not a bad haul for a rental.
Designated Hitter: J.D. Martinez
J.D. Martinez’ trade return wasn’t exactly on par with his value as a player.
By the time he was moved, teams simply weren’t surrendering the prospect capital for rentals like they were even when Cespedes was moved.
Martinez was moved to Arizona for infield prospects Dawel Lugo, Sergio Alcantara and Jose King.
He put himself on the map in Detroit after struggling to stick in Houston and is in with a shout for the MVP as a member of the Boston Red Sox this year with a 1.065 OPS, a .333 ISO (!), a .441 wOBA, a 181 wRC+ and a 5.1 fWAR in 495 plate appearances.
Bench: Manny Pina, Devon Travis and Avisail Garcia
Detroit wasn’t Pina’s first organization, but he was moved all the same to Milwaukee in the Francisco Rodriguez trade.
The trade, initially, worked out for both sides as Pina was purely a depth piece in Detroit. He went on to find some success in a part-time role in Milwaukee, while Rodriguez was passable as a closing solution in 2016 before imploding part way through the 2017 campaign.
Travis’ career has been slowed by injuries, but he’s shown well when healthy, thanks to a .330 wOBA, a 106 wRC+ and a .166 ISO in 1,145 career plate appearances.
His offensive production nabs him a spot on the bench over the more versatile Romine.
Meanwhile, Garcia gets the nod over Joyce on the bench based on his All-Star exploits on the field last season.
He hasn’t been quite the same player in 2018, as his BABIP has dropped from an unsustainable .392 to .269.
His walks are down and strikeouts are up, but Garcia is still at least a power threat with 13 home runs and a .227 ISO in 240 plate appearances this season.
Also considered: Bobby Wilson, Bryan Holaday, Curt Casali, Romine, Joyce, Granderson, Martin and Jackson.
Pitching Staff
SP: Justin Verlander
SP: David Price
SP: Rick Porcello
SP: Robbie Ray
SP: Mike Fiers/Drew Smyly
In a way, most of the trades involving these starters worked out for the Tigers.
The Verlander deal netted three prospects to build around for the future. Porcello brought back a useful reliever in Alex Wilson as well as Cespedes, who was eventually turned into Fulmer.
Fiers was signed as veteran rotation option to eat innings and was later flipped for two prospects in 2018, while Smyly was dealt in the larger deal for Price.
Price himself was traded by the Detroit Tigers, to Toronto for Matthew Boyd, Daniel Norris and Jairo Labourt.
Norris, the centerpiece of the deal, has struggled to stick in the Detroit rotation due to inconsistency and then injury, while Labourt is currently without a team.
However, Boyd has proven to be a quality rotation option for Al Avila’s team.
In fact, he’s been equal to Price, if not a smidgen better this season.
Matthew Boyd in 2018: 128.2 IP, 7.97 K/9, 2.87 BB/9, 3.92 FIP, 1.13 WHIP, 9.9 SwStr%, 2.2 fWAR.
David Price in 2018: 134.1 IP, 8.98 K/9, 2.61 BB/9, 3.93 FIP, 1.20 WHIP, 9.8 SwStr%, 2.1 fWAR.
What’s more, Boyd is making $562,000 this year and won’t be eligible for arbitration for another season (per Spotrac).
Price is making $30 million (per Spotrac) and should he opt into the rest of his contract will make $31 million in 2019 and #32 million each year from 2020 to 2022.
The only real miss in the group is Ray, who admittedly struggled mightily in his time with the Tigers.
He’s also struggled some this season but is still the owner of a 9.0 fWAR in parts of four seasons with Detroit.
There’s a silver lining to be had with Shane Greene having moved to the Tigers in the three-team trade with the Yankees that also involved Didi Gregorius, but losing Ray certainly wasn’t ideal.
CL: Corey Knebel
RP: Chad Green
RP: Justin Wilson
RP: Joakim Soria
RP: Jose Alvarez
RP: David Paulino
RP: Doug Fister
Fister and one of the Fiers/Smyly duo make up the long-reliever portion of this bullpen, while there’s a nice blend of lefties and righties thanks to the presence of two southpaws in Wilson, Smyly and Alvarez.
A Knebel/Green back end would certainly be intimidating to opposing teams as well.
All in all, it’s a strong relief corps, which hasn’t always been the case in Detroit.
Coincidentally, a number of players on this list were traded for each other.
Green was traded to the Yankees in the Wilson deal, while Knebel was sent to Texas for Soria.
More ironic still is that Knebel and Soria are now teammates in Milwaukee with the Brewers.
Alvarez was traded for Romine, while Paulino went to Houston in the long-forgotten Jose Veras trade of 2015.
Also considered: Joaquin Benoit, Drew Smith and Jake Thompson.
Want more trade talk? Interested in who the Tigers might trade?
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2 comments
What about Andreas Miller for the bullpen. I’d take him over Alvarez any day, even if he has a balky knee right now
I’ll be honest, I completely forgot about Miller. Not sure how/why, but I did. Good catch. Yes, he’d definitely be an upgrade over Alvarez in the bullpen.
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