The Tigers are in SHAMBLES
With the trade deadline set for 6pm today, the Detroit Tigers could have a busy afternoon as they’ve indicated that just about everyone on their roster is available, including star pitcher Tarik Skubal.
Thus far, the Tigers are one of the only Detroit teams that has shown no improvement over the course of their six year rebuild. They’re currently looking at everything from a retool to another tear down despite telling fans the rebuild was over in April of this year.
While their roster is admittedly bad, I believe the Tigers shouldn’t blow everything up, as many of the questions surrounding the franchise have to do with the front office itself.
General manager Al Avila has been on the hot seat for a long time now, and has failed to deliver any eye-popping roster moves to the fanbase. On top of that, he’s gotten the short end of the stick in virtually every trade he’s made, especially when the Tigers first began their teardown several years ago.
Justin Verlander is one of the best pitchers of his era. The Tigers traded him away to get young assets that were projected to be good in the future, båut definitely not close to as valuable as even a then 34 year old Justin Verlander. The players Detroit received likely couldn’t find Comerica Park on a map, and Tigers fans can’t stomach another lopsided deal orchestrated by Al Avila.
The Tigers still have many key pieces that they’d be well served to hold onto such as the aforementioned Skubal. Not only is he developing into a true top of the order pitcher, but he’s a dangerous left-handed hurler which is very hard to find. The rotation behind him is weak at best, and unless Detroit feels that they’ll be opening the vault in the offseason to acquire other top end talent, selling off MLB quality arms isn’t something they should be focused on at the moment.
Players who are set to be UFA’s at season’s end such as Tucker Barnhart or Wily Peralta should be the focus of the Tiger’s deadline day plans, not players they could build around to finally crack that window to compete back open.
Fans are growing impatient in Detroit, and rightly so. If they once again trade away the few players that fans are attached to and Miguel Cabrera retires, Comerica Park could be sitting empty in 2023.
Deadline day is important for the Tigers, but more importantly, could be the last one with Avila at the helm.
-Robert Martin
Twitter: @Defense_Rob