The AL Central-leading Tigers were one of the league’s busier teams at the trade deadline, even if the team’s moves were more about adding depth and raising the talent floor than raising the roster’s ceiling in pursuit of a World Series. The big focus was on pitching, as Charlie Morton and Chris Paddack joined the rotation, and Kyle Finnegan, Rafael Montero, and (when he is healthy) Paul Sewald will contribute to the bullpen mix.
Focusing on relief pitching perhaps led to Detroit’s strategy, as president of baseball operations Scott Harris told reporters (including the Detroit Free Press’ Evan Petzold and the Detroit News’ Chris McCosky) earlier this week. “Some of the prices around the game were really high for short-term rental relievers,” Harris observed. “We felt like it was a better approach for us to attack it in volume with some guys that we like, some guys that are doing some things under the hood that we really value.”
Detroit’s highly-ranked farm system remained pretty much intact in the wake of the deadline, as the Tigers didn’t move any of their best prospects. There wasn’t really any sense that Detroit was even considering any of its top minor leaguers, and as Petzold notes, there weren’t many trades involving top-100 type prospects at this deadline. By that same token, however, Petzold also notes the several prominent deals that didn’t involve elite prospect talent, and wondered if the Tigers could’ve just been a little aggressive in outbidding rival teams for the likes of Merrill Kelly, David Bednar, or Ryan Helsley. (Kelly and Bednar were known to be Detroit trade targets leading up to the deadline.)
This being said, we don’t know what kind of returns clubs were demanding from the Tigers, and Harris indicated that teams wanted a lot. “When it came to the actual prices, a lot of the moves that we passed on felt like moves that were going to haunt us for many years to come,” Harris said. “We have what we think is one of the best, if not the best, farm system in all of baseball. We felt like, at this moment in time, giving up on young players to chase short-term fixes is not in the best interest of the Tigers, both in the short- and long-term.”
The long view is key to Harris’ thought process, as the PBO doesn’t view 2025 as an all-in sort of season. Between the Tigers’ return to the playoffs in 2024 and now their big division lead this season, Harris sees this as the first of many opportunities for the club over a sustained period of time, rather than a window that may align with Tarik Skubal’s remaining two-plus years under arbitration control.
“We want to be good every year. Really, really good every year,” Harris said. “I don’t think we thought about this deadline as different from future years. I always want to sit in front of you and say we’ve got a real good baseball team and we’ve got a lot of chances to get better. I think I can credibly say, we have a really good baseball team by our competitive standing right now. I think I can also credibly say we got better [at the deadline]. And I can credibly say that we have some players coming in our farm system, both for this year and for future years, that are going to help us get even better.”
Time will tell if Harris has made the right call or not, and it should be noted that baseball history is full of under-the-radar deadline additions that ended up making a huge impact on a championship team. That said, there are also plenty of example of contenders who didn’t strike while the iron was hot, and injuries and under-performance then scuttled what seemed to be very promising rosters. Detroit fans waiting for the team’s first World Series title since 1984 may not share Harris’ big-picture view, but the executive is fine with being patient.
“My job is to make the best decisions for this organization,” Harris said. “I understand everybody wants to go grab the flashiest name and not give up any good players. But that’s not an option. We can’t do that. If we’re going to grab those players, we’re going to give up some really talented players and I didn’t think that was in the best interest of our organization.”
Is it possible for a team to ask Detroit for their #2, #4 prospects in exchange for Big Difference Making Bat while simultaneously asking Seattle for only their #9, #17, #19 prospects for the exact same player and then accepting Seattle’s offer??? I mean, would that be classified as collusion, or unfair business practices, or just highly unscrupulous conduct?? Is there anything stopping that from happening? (This is all hypothetical of course; just a thought exercise.)
ISoaB
“Is there anything stopping that from happening?”
No
First, teams aren’t using publicly available prospect rankings to value players. They are using their own internal valuations. So, they could very will think that the lower rated prospects are the better deal.
Second, a team can absolutely choose what teams they want to trade with and what teams they don’t want to trade with for any reason.
You’d be surprised how closely aligned the public prosp rankings and internal evals are to eachother. Especially at the top.
Harris has gotten a rep that he is difficult to deal with. That may have also played a role in how this deadline went down. Could be selling teams moved on from working with the Tigers and to other teams who are more willing to be flexible.
I’m glad we hung onto our top 5 prospects. But I am wondering if Max Anderson, Jace Jung and/or Hao-Yu Lee could have brought back something better, because I see them as expendable with the other talent in the system.
Could be other teams don’t value them much, either. Mason Miller cost San Diego MLB’s No. 3 overall prospect AND 3 RHP’s.
Harris did a decent job at the deadline. I agree that he shouldn’t trade any of there top 5 prospects for a rental player . Of which any of the 5 could be the top prospect on other teams. Finnegan and Morton were good affordable pieces. The others players acquired ? Basically lottery tickets hoping they pan out. The bullpen got better, but 3B is still a problem area. Hopefully Tork, Baez and McKinstry can maintain their stats in the second half, because as good as our farm system is; our AAA team is garbage top to bottom. I’m sure Harris will watch the waiver wire when teams start waiving players with contracts they want to get rid of and maybe find a bat or two that way. Guys like Arenado, Robert, etc. could be waived in hopes of a team claiming them and absorbing the contract.
Did any rental net a team’s top 5 prospect? Any trade that did that also included control of player for at least one more year.
Arenado is under contract still until 2027. Luis Robert was the target of tons of trade speculation. There is no way they held onto him just so they can cut him for nothing. They didn’t pull an E-rod and just fumble a trade and now want savings.
Morton and Paddack aren’t horrible, but I think the odds of either of them getting hurt before the season ends is high.
The relievers are scraping the barrel.
It’s fine to say he wants to hold onto prospects, but nobody asked for McGonigle for a rental – it would have been for someone like Duran or Miller and I agree to hold onto him in those cases.
Give it a chance. So far Paddack, Finnegan and Morton have looked solid. Small sample. Finnegan has already had his pitch selection tweaked with solid results according to the article I read after his first outing. Melton is the substitute for the power arm they didn’t trade for…TBD. Jackson and the guy they got from Atlanta…TBD and replaceable from the farm if Fetter can’t fix them.
Paddack and Morton had very quality starts. Offense couldn’t do anything w/Sanchez. But that’s not rare — he is very impressive. And Finnegan had a nice 4-out save. Looked a lot better than Vest.
Am looking forward to seeing Melton in relief. His start was outstanding.
Would be nice to see Vierling’s bat wake the F up.
The biggest thing that will help Scott Harris and the Tigers in the coming years is that the rest of the division also has very cheap owners.
And other than Skubal and Riley Greene, there is nobody on the current roster who will ‘break the bank’ when it comes to a long-term deal. If they’d just bite the bullet on an obscene contract for Skubal (which may look like a steal by 2035), they’ll be set-up handsomely as AL Central favorites for the next half decade.