We are less than two weeks from the Major League Baseball trade deadline and rumors involving the Detroit Tigers continue to surface. Most of those rumors, other than J.D. Martinez being dealt to the Arizona Diamondbacks, have proven to be nothing more than smoke at this point, but we all know how the saying goes, “where there is smoke, there’s fire.”
Buster Olney published a piece on Sunday titled, “Which big contract could the Yankees take on to trade Jacoby Ellsbury?” The piece is centered around the Yankees finding out a way to unload Jacoby Elsbury‘s contract which will pay him north of $21 million over each of the next three seasons with a buyout option of $5 million for the 2021 season.
Included on Olney’s list of potential trade pieces to make a deal for Ellsbury work are Tigers starting pitchers, Justin Verlander and Jordan Zimmermann.
Ok, seeing Verlander’s name pop up in trade rumors is not the least bit surprising but not many envision the Tigers being able to unload Zimmermann’s awful contract.
Here is what Olney had to say about Verlander and Zimmermann:
Jordan Zimmermann, Detroit Tigers: He is 6-8 with a 5.81 ERA in 19 starts, and is owed about $81 million for the rest of this season and the next three years. The Yankees’ level of interest might depend how much more functional they could envision Zimmermann on their roster.
Justin Verlander, Tigers: He is owed about $68 million for the rest of this year and for the next two seasons, and lot of teams find Verlander’s contract to be outsized. The Yankees could ask the Tigers to take on Ellsbury and at least a portion of his deal to help make the finances work for them.
Olney made it absolutely clear that these moves are pure speculation but anything seems possible at this point.
To read Olney’s full article, please click here.
https://detroitsportsnation.com/detroit-tigers-news/mwhitaker/brad-ausmus-not-expecting-tigers-make-trades/94505/
