I read a good article yesterday by Jason Martinez MLB Lead Writer with The Bleacher Report about each team's best trade bait and what they might bring in return. Click on this link to read the story. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1655745-updating-each-mlb-teams-biggest-trade-asset-heading-into-june Jason said Detroit's best trade bait is Toledo Mud Hens outfielder Nick Castellanos and the best way for him to help the Tigers would be to bring a impact corner outfielder to Detroit in a trade. Mr. Martinez must be talking about replacing Andy Dirks, because he can't be talking about Torii Hunter. Hunter is hitting .312 with 15 doubles, two homeruns and 23 RBI's, not numbers you need to replace. Dirks, on the other hand is hitting .247 with four doubles, five homers and 16 RBI's, still, not horrible numbers but apparently something the Tigers need to replace in his opinion. In their last ten games Hunter is hitting even better; .325 with three doubles, a homerun, two RBI's, four walks and nine strikeouts. Dirks is hitting .214 with 1 double, one RBI, one walk and nine strikeouts. So again it must be Dirks that we are talking about trading. The question then becomes, who should the Tigers try to get in return? The outfielders listed in Jason's article were Corey Hart with Milwaukee, Josh Willingham with the Twins and Michael Morse with Seattle.
Corey Hart, 31, has not played this season after off season knee surgery. His 2012 stats were .270 with 35 doubles, 30 homeruns, 83 RBI's 44 walks and 151 strikeouts. However, who knows what type of player he'll be when he returns. The Brewers think he will be ready to start a rehab assignment in the next week or two but they are not positive. The Tigers do not need to trade for a player who will be coming off an injury and therefore an unknown quantity. One need look no further than Victor Martinez to see the impact a knee injury can have on a player and Detroit doesn't need that headache. In addition Hart is making ten million dollars this season and will be a free agent when the season is over. I don't think the Tigers need to trade a good minor league prospect for an injured player that will most likely be a partial season rental player.
Willingham is hitting .211 with ten doubles, ten homeruns, 29 RBI's, 33 walks and 57 strikeouts. In his last ten he is .210 with one double, two homeruns, six RBI's, six walks and eleven strikeouts. Willingham is 34 years old and I wonder if his age will start to catch up to him as this season wears on, although he could be another version of former teammate, Hunter. a .211 average is nothing to write home about in fact it is even less then Dirks and I'm sure Dirks is a better defensive outfielder then Willingham. Willingham is making seven million dollars this season and is scheduled to make another seven million next year before becoming a free agent after the 2014 season. So if the Tigers did acquire him in a trade, which I think is unlikely because the Twins wouldn't trade to a team in their own division, at least it wouldn't be a half season rental.
Morse, who is also 31, is hitting .254 with four doubles, eleven homeruns, 21 RBI's, 15 walks and 46 strikeouts. In his last ten games he is .228 with one homerun, four RBI's, four walks and seven strikeouts. He is making 6.75 million dollars this year and will be a free agent after the season, again another case of a rental player, this one a little cheaper then Willingham but not by much. He has the best average and the most homeruns of the three players this year. The Mariners are already 11-1/2 games back in the American League and aren't likely to make a run at the playoffs so come July they are going to be unloading contracts and looking for cheap, young players to fill the holes. This is just the scenario the Tigers are looking for. While I don't think that Morse is the best solution to this problem, in fact I'm not entirely sure there is a problem, he might fill a spot on the Tigers roster in their run to the post season.
Are there any other areas the Tigers might need to shore up at the trade deadline? I think the obvious choice is the closer spot. There have been thousands of words written about Jose Valverde and his troubles last year, including a post in this blog and the Tigers signed him anyway. Valverde has blown two save already this season, both in the last two weeks, and it might be time to end this experiment. If the Tigers do decide to get rid of Valverde then who becomes the closer? The obvious choice would be Bruce Rondon, currently the closer in Toledo. He started the season in Detroit but after a few bad outings was sent back to the Mud Hens. Since returning to AAA Rondon is 1-1 with a 0.84 ERA. He has ten saves and has giving up nine hits, eleven walks and 26 strikeouts in 21-1/3 innings. Good stats but still a few too many walks. He has made significant progress for someone with little AAA and Major League experience. If Leyland and Dombrowski decide to go a different direction then where would they go? Joaquin Benoit would be a good choice he is 1-0 with two saves, a 1.88 ERA, 16 hits, eight walks and 29 strikeouts in 24 innings of work but it appears Tiger fans are stuck with Valverde for now. Dombrowski and Leyland have tabbed Rondon as the closer of the future and we just have to live with Valverde's ups and downs until Rondon is ready for the big time.
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