*Published prior to Sunday’s win over the Twins
After winning their last four games, the Detroit Tigers have drastically increased their chances of making the 2020 MLB Playoffs.
Though there has been chatter of the Tigers making a move or two to improve their roster prior to the MLB trade deadline (Aug. 31), general manager Al Avila has made it clear that he is not interested in mortgaging the future for short-term success.
“In our situation, we’re not looking to add a big piece or trade away any of our good prospects,” the Tigers general manager said. “At the same time, if we had a player we felt a team needed from us and we can better ourselves for next year or for the near future, then we have to be open-minded to that.”
But Avila did add that he will listen to offers for veteran players if he thought it could help his team in the future.
“But if that type of deal is not there, we’ll keep our team,” Avila said. “We like our team. We will keep it together and keep trying to win. Even if we make a trade, that’s still our goal, to continue to win more games this year and to for sure make ourselves better for next year and the years going forward.”
All of that being said, there are six players who I believe COULD be traded by Monday’s deadline. Those players are Jonathan Schoop, Austin Romine, Ivan Nova, Matthew Boyd, Cameron Maybin, and Daniel Norris.
During the offseason, Avila went out and signed Schoop, Romine, Maybin, and Nova to 1-year deals, which automatically puts each of them on the trade block moving forward. There would have been a fifth player added to this group of expiring contracts but 1B C.J. Cron suffered a season-ending injury, which makes him untradable at this point.
As far as Boyd and Norris go, contenders are always looking for pitching and both of those guys could get some close looks. With the pitchers the Tigers have in the pipeline, I would not be completely surprised to see Avila acquire a low-level prospect for either Boyd or Norris, but my bet would be that both are still in Detroit after the deadline passes.
With the Aug. 31 trade deadline just one day away, look for one or more of the players listed about to be dealt for a low-level minor league prospect.
Bold Prediction: The Tigers trade Cameron Maybin to the Chicago Cubs for a low-level prospect.
