The Detroit Tigers made the decision to part ways with Isaac Paredes this past offseason, dealing him to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for Austin Meadows. And you certainly can’t blame the fan base for wishing they could hop into Doc Brown’s DeLorean and prevent Tigers general manager Al Avila from making that deal.
At the time, it didn’t seem like a bad deal at all. Paredes wasn’t exactly known for power-hitting during his time within the Tigers organization, while it was the exact opposite for Meadows in Tampa. But since the deal went down, Paredes now has 12 home runs in a total of 128 plate appearances. For reference, that’s five more home runs than any current player on the Tigers roster. Meanwhile, to call Meadows’ 1st season in the Motor City unlucky would be a major understatement.
Thanks to a series of injuries, a bout with COVID-19, and a case of vertigo, Meadows has been limited to only 36 games in which he’s not hit a single long ball. And to add insult to injury, the first two homers of the season for Paredes came against the Tigers on May 18 at Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay.
For Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, he knew that in order to get a good piece back in a trade, you have to deal a good piece of your own.
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Isaac Paredes has been red hot for Tampa Bay
“We knew we were trading a good player. We knew we were getting back a good player,” Hinch said on Saturday prior to his team taking on the Kansas City Royals at Comerica Park. “Just because you trade a guy doesn’t mean you don’t think he’s a good player.”
The team hopes to get Meadows back into the lineup in short order.
“It’s a big loss for us because we acquired him to be a big part of our lineup,” Hinch said. “And unfortunately, it hasn’t worked out that way to this point.”
