There remains an outside chance that Houston will trade for Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander this month, as the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo hears from major league sources that the Astros haven’t closed the door on acquiring the fireballer. There have been a slew of reports since last month on the possibility of Verlander going to the Astros, including one from FanRag’s Jon Heyman earlier this week. A source told Heyman that negotiations between the two teams had been “put to bed.” For his part, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow doesn’t expect to make a big acquisition before the month’s out. To land Verlander, who’s still due around $7MM this season and another $56MM from 2018-19, the Luhnow-led Astros would need to take on the majority of his contract and “give up a few prospects,” Cafardo writes. Not all prospects are created equally, of course, and the Tigers want legitimate young talent in return for the longtime ace and franchise icon, per various reports.
More from the American League:
- Left fielder Justin Upton, another of the Tigers’ high-priced veterans, currently doesn’t plan to opt out of his contract in the offseason, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports (via Twitter). A change of heart, which could happen given Upton’s superlative production and the Tigers’ rebuilding status, would mean walking away from the guaranteed $88MM he’s due through 2021. The soon-to-be 30-year-old Upton wasn’t great in 2016, the first season of the $132.75MM accord, but has rebounded to slash an excellent .283/.367/.542 with 25 home runs, 10 stolen bases and 4.0 fWAR through 479 plate appearances in the current campaign.
- Right-hander Lucas Giolito will make his White Sox debut Tuesday with a start against the Twins, relays Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link). The Sox acquired Giolito and a pair of fellow pitching prospects, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning, from the Nationals last winter for outfielder Adam Eaton. Giolito has since turned in 128 2/3 Triple-A innings of 4.48 ERA ball, to go with 9.37 K/9, 4.13 BB/9 and a 44.4 percent ground-ball rate. Once among the game’s most celebrated prospects, the big 23-year-old has lost some luster over the past couple seasons, though he still factors into the summer top 100 lists of FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen (No. 35), MLB.com (No. 59) and Baseball America (No. 75).
- Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi profiles Blue Jays outfield prospect Teoscar Hernandez, whom the team acquired from the Astros for left-hander Francisco Liriano last month. Hernandez actually made his major league debut in Toronto in August 2016 and collected his first hit, a home run, against Liriano. The Dominican Republic native then called his mother and told her he’d love to play for Toronto eventually. Unsurprisingly, then, Hernandez reacted with elation when Astros assistant GM Mike Elias broke the news of the trade to him. “He told me I just got traded for Francisco Liriano and when first he told me that, I was like, ‘Really? Is this happening?’” Hernandez said. “Then I felt so happy. I don’t know why. My first reaction was like the same one when I got called up (to the majors) last year – I was so excited.” Hernandez, 24, has played with Triple-A Buffalo – not Toronto – since the deal, but rival executives Davidi polled expect him to at least serve as a quality fourth outfielder for the Jays.
Upton would be a fool to opt out but that would be great for the Tigers
Why would losing a solid player at a fair contract be good for the Tigers? They would get nothing for him. If he stays, at some point down the road, they may move him for a prospect or two.
They are rebuilding
Hence, him staying and them trading him at the deadline next year…
Verlander is never going to be worth more than right now. Guys who are in their mid 30s with giant contracts are not going to get you more as you hold onto them.
It would be good if Upton left as it would open upna roster spot for a young player. It would help the Tigers be bad so they can get a higher draft pick. They are losing and bad with Upton. Him opting out helps the cause.
Didn’t realize the Tigers goal was to lose. The only action that has occurred is them moving pending FAs , and trading Wilson at his peak value. I have seen no sign of a quest to lose. With their TV contract coming up, it would seem like poor timing for a tear down. I expect Detroit to not copycat what others have done. So many teams were trying to sell off, even JD had no value at the trade deadline. Even if they started off with that as the plan, the changing market made it impractical. It worked when only Atlanta and Houston did it, not any more.
So what should Detroit due? Remain a below average with pricey contracts rather than rebuild?
For financial reasons it would be good if he opted out.
What are you? A fan of accounting? It won’t help them be under the cap threshold, as they will have achieved that before he makes his decision. He’s hitting almost as well as JD, but with better defense and base running. He has been worth the contract.
you aren’t going to get a good prospect for him without eating a ton of $ so it’s probably best he just opts out and they move on
That’s only great news if that money is reinvested back into the team.
What better investment could there be than Upton? Where could the money go? Opting out is bad news for the Tigers. There is no upside I see.
Time to find out if Washington knew something about Giolito that the sox didn’t
I think they did but it looks like they may have made a mistake with Lopez.
And Dunning potentially.
Giolito has been crazy inconsistent so far this year. He’ll have stretches where he looks nearly unhittable, and then all of a sudden, he’ll have a couple brutal games. He’s on a nice stretch right now though. Over his last 5 games, he has a 1.71 ERA with a 28/11 K/BB in 31.2 innings. Going back to his last 8 games, his ERA is 2.78 with a K/BB of 47/20 in 45.1 innings, and that includes one of the aforementioned brutal games – 5 earned over 1.2 innings with 5 hits, 3 walks, and 3 K’s.
I’m definitely excited to see what he can do, although not as excited as I am about seeing what Kopech can do in AAA. He has been absolutely ridiculous the last month.
@kslaw: What? After being pretty darn good in AAA, and one bad game in the majors, when he likely was trying to pitch through what is probably an easily healing back injury?
Yeah.. Lopez is ‘awful’…
I’ll give these guys a season in the majors before even beginning to question their performances…
I’m pretty sure you read that wrong…
I think he was saying Washington might have made a mistake in letting him go. That’s how I read it at least…
That’s exactly what I was saying. I like Lopez more than gio and that at the time of the trade as well.
Yeah, my bad. Sorry about that @Kslaw.
Most White Sox fans would have to feel good about pitching coach Don Cooper getting a chance to work regularly with Lucas Giolito rather than monitoring him remotely while he was pitching in AAA. Giolito, along with Reynaldo Lopez had pretty impressive spring camps with the White Sox before returning to that bandbox in downtown Charlotte to begin the 2017 season.
Carson Fulmer, the White Sox other top starting pitching prospect who began this season at Charlotte will also be making his White Sox rotation debut this Monday in the second game of a doubleheader against the Twins. Giolito was originally scheduled to make that start but has been pushed back to take Lopez’ regular turn on Tuesday as the latter hits the 10-day disabled list as a precautionary measure in light of his minor back/side strain that forced him to leave his last outing on Thursday.
Those three pitchers, along with Carlos Rodon could potentially comprise 4/5 of the White Sox rotation come opening day next season. At the very least I would hope that Rodon, Lopez and Giolito would crack the rotation with Fulmer being a potential late inning reliever in 2018.
Cooper can’t magically lay hands on every flawed pitcher. Giolito and Fulmer are long shots to be decent despite their prospect rankings. Worry not, they have better arms in the pipeline.
I’m not worried in the least about the White Sox future. However, none of those prospects further down the “pipeline” will be on the White Sox opening day roster next year which was a focal point of my comment.
It’s also evident that I’m a far more optimistic White Sox fan than you are, either in regards to Don Cooper ability to coach pitchers or the potential of Lucas Giolito or Carson Fulmer. I guess my 61+ years of age hasn’t jaded me as much as many other fans of the team, young or old.
Like I said, Fulmer isn’t good. Walks followed my get me overs ML opponents crush. Giolito similar. You keep being optimistic, but I’ll be smart and point out/distinguish the overhyped from the prospects with real promise in advance.
I don’t think Carson Fulmer ever fell into the overhyped category of prospects with the possible exception of yours truly. lol
Lucas Giolito may be a better example of a prospect who may ultimately turn out to be overhyped.
Get back to me around 2019 or 2020 before patting yourself on the back with either prediction.
I think Dunning is really the best piece of this deal. The kid has looked good in A ball (for what that can be worth). Lopez and Giolito? I think if they can even be #3 guys in a rotation that is fine.
What I am a bit bothered about is this talk about not rushing guys, and then promoting Giolito and Lopez to the majors this year. I get that they have little in the way of any pitching at this point, but even still.
Fulmer is a reliever at best, most likely a bust…
Giolito issues much more correctable and has a decent chance to be a mid-back of the rotation guy. Maybe be a Gavin Floyd type.
Kopech & Hansen look to be the guys with the best top of rotation potential right now.
Can Upton really say that he’s going to opt out mid season? That wouldn’t be professional.
My thoughts exactly
He would not lose 88 million because someone would sign him to minimum 4 year 16-17 million so he would lose around 20 million. He could ask Detroit to pay him 15 million to opt out then he would lose 5 million and get a chance to play for a contender. Harper might bolt Washington so they would need to replace his offense and Upton’s 4 year 88 will look cheap so if he opts in, Tigers could trade him next trading deadline or next off season when is contract has only 66 million at age 31 so worthy of a risk.
Upton was terrible the first half of 2016 but had an ops 1.000+ after the break. In his past 162 games he has 40+ home runs and 120+ rbi. If he opts out he will get 4/80. The Tigers will not pay him to opt out. I think he will opt out to play for a contender. He has easily been the best Tigers position player this year, has stolen bases and played well in the field. By far the bigger concern in Detroit is Miggy’s nose diving production. And Zimmermann’s contract is back loaded – he is owed 74 mil over the next 3 years. They’re stuck with those contracts which will likely slow the rebuild. Going to be a long 3-5 years for the Tigers.
Miggy has been playing hurt for the past 2 years…at least.
That is my pet peeve with the Tigers. A healthy Miggy is so much more than an injured one that even playing Romine at first for two weeks is worth it. They just refuse to let him get healthy. Even with a 10 day DL, and stuck out of contention, they still won’t do what’s best for the team.
After Verlander’s gem against the Dodgers, maybe the Astros will finally begin to see why JV would be worth whatever they trade for him.
Still don’t think they do it unless the Tigers eat the money. The Astros still don’t like to take on money even with the young players and success. I think they need at least one more starter and JV would be a great addition but lunhow loves him some prospects.
Why would it be “unsurprising” Hernandez was happy to be traded. We’ve literally seen a player cry on the field when he thought he was traded. Let me decide whether to be surprised.