By Jason Berndt
The Detroit Tigers spent weeks walking that fine line between contenders or pretenders. During that time, it was apparent to everyone that Detroit needed to make some moves to either help now or to help them next season and beyond. In the eyes of many, this year’s trade deadline is looked upon as a failure but let’s take a glance at it from a glass-half-full perspective.
The Tigers sent starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for minor league infielder Hao-Yu Lee. The 20 year-old was the 5th ranked prospect in the Phillies organization and has played the majority of this year for High-A Jersey Shore. He hit .279 with five homeruns, 30 walks (10.2% walk rate) and 56 strikeouts (18.6% strikeout rate) in 297 plate appearances, posting a .762 on-base-slugging percentage. Following the deal, he becomes the 6th ranked prospect in the Tigers farm system. It doesn’t seem like a great return for an all-star pitcher in Lorenzen, but he will be entering free agency at the end of this season, so Detroit was able to get something for him.
The big talk heading into the deadline was starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez. He signed a five year $77 million contract with the Tigers in 2021, but it includes an opt-out clause which he can invoke following this season. Detroit supposedly had a deal in place to trade him to the Dodgers, but that deal was vetoed as Rodriguez also has a 10-team no-trade list and Los Angeles was on it. He cited the desire to stay closer to his family on the East coast as the reason he blocked the trade. Rodriguez is arguably having the best year of his career, posting a 2.95 ERA and a 6-5 record in 15 starts, only being interrupted by a finger injury in May that sidelined him for multiple weeks. If he chooses to opt-out of his current deal, he is likely to make more on the open market in the offseason. Detroit could even resign him to a larger deal if they choose to go that route. They won’t get anything for him now, leaving many to believe it was a failure. However, there is a chance that he does not opt-out, and he would remain with the Tigers for the next couple of seasons.
With the loss of Lorenzen and possibly Rodriguez, the Tigers payroll going into the offseason will remain in the bottom ¼ of the league, and with Miguel Cabrera’s $30 million coming off the books it’ll probably be one of the bottom five. Imagine the Tigers signing two players at $15 million that can be productive and help the ball club unlike Cabrera and his current deal? You can look at it as a negative, but the positive is that general manager Scott Harris will now have a full year of cleaning house under his belt, with the chance to build this team to his liking. There are some promising young players in the farm system, and he’ll have millions at his disposal to spend in the right way. I look at this as a fresh start for Detroit. Fans are still bitter about where the team is thanks to former GM Al Avila, but those days are changing. Detroit’s financial structure will be in great shape, and they’ll have the ability to improve the team without reckless spending or relying on mediocre minor league players. Here is a list of the top prospects that could see time at the major league level in the near future:
3B/OF Justyn-Henry Malloy (Tier 1)
RHP Jackson Jobe (Tier 1)
3B Colt Keith (Tier 1)
RHP Ty Madden (Tier 2)
2B Jace Jung (Tier 2)
RHP Wilmer Flores (Tier 2)
C Dillon Dingler (Tier 3)
RHP Troy Melton (Tier 3)
OF Roberto Campos (Tier 3)
LHP Brant Hurter (Tier 3)
Tier 1: Prospects who have elite skill sets and All-Star potential. This is the cream of the prospect crop. These players currently make up B/R’s Top 100 prospect list, which was published on May 8.
Tier 2: Prospects who have a good chance of becoming impact contributors. These are the players who were in consideration for spots on B/R’s Top 100 prospect list and could end up there in the future.
Tier 3: Prospects who profile as fringe MLB contributors or young players who are still too raw to project any higher. This tier represents the bulk of prospects around baseball, though more than a few could climb to the next tier.
