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Tigers Notes: Verlander, Avila, Wilson

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Some trade rumblings out of the Motor City…

  • The Tigers are reportedly willing to pay the rest of Justin Verlander’s remaining 2017 salary in order to facilitate a deal, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports.  This works out to roughly $10.89MM.  Reports earlier this week indicated that Detroit was open to including some money as part of a Verlander deal, though according to rival executives who have spoken with Fenech, the Tigers would need to bump that figure up to $25MM-$30MM if the club hopes to receive a good prospect return for Verlander.  The former Cy Young Award winner’s future salary obligations ($28MM in each of the next two seasons, and a $22MM vesting option for 2020) and his struggles in 2017 have greatly limited his trade value, though Fenech notes that teams like the Cubs and Dodgers still had scouts at Verlander’s most recent outing.
  • The Cubs have expressed the most interest in catcher Alex Avila, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (Twitter links), and Nightengale feels Avila will be the next notable Tiger to leave Detroit now that J.D. Martinez has been traded.  Nightengale figures the Tigers would “ideally” receive a mid-level prospect in exchange for Avila, who is enjoying a career year just before hitting free agency this winter.  Detroit is reportedly getting a lot of interest in Avila, though the Cubs and Blue Jays are the only teams specifically linked to the catcher (and Toronto has since acquired Miguel Montero).
  • Also from Nightengale, he reports that the Brewers “have been aggressive” in their pursuit of Tigers closer Justin Wilson.  The Astros, Nationals, Rays and Red Sox are among the other teams known to be checking in on Wilson, who has only elevated his stock since taking over the ninth inning for Detroit.  Milwaukee has been linked to any number of relievers and controllable starters, with Wilson joining such names as Brad Hand, Addison Reed and Sonny Gray.

Ian Kinsler Not Part Of Tigers/Red Sox Talks

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With the Red Sox looking far and wide for third base help, a couple of creative solutions are proposed by ESPN’s Scott Lauber and FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (writing on his Facebook page).  Lauber suggests that Boston could explore a deal for the Athletics’ Yonder Alonso (14 games as a third baseman over his eight-year MLB career) while Rosenthal’s suggestion is perhaps even more outside-the-box: the Tigers’ Ian Kinsler, who has played all of two innings at third in his 12 years in the Show.  Both suggestions, it should be noted, are based on only speculation from the two writers.  Rosenthal reports that the Red Sox and Tigers haven’t mentioned Kinsler in trade talks between the two clubs, while WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford (Twitter link) reports that Boston isn’t considering Alonso to fill its third base gap.  Still, as per Rosenthal, Dombrowski is apparently considering several infielders who could switch positions and play third, so the Sox might yet end up with a unique choice before the deadline.

Heyman’s Latest: Cole, Cutch, Fulmer, Iglesias, Abreu, Bruce, Alonso, Darvish

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The Pirates are on a roll in the NL Central, having just swept the division-leading Brewers in a four-game series. Even prior to today’s win, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports wrote in his weekly notes column that Pittsburgh not only continues to look unlikely to trade Gerrit Cole but is now also unlikely to deal outfielder Andrew McCutchen, who has undergone a remarkable turnaround at the plate since late May.

More highlights from Heyman’s latest, including his American League and National League breakdowns:

  • The Tigers appear all but entirely unwilling to move young starter Michael Fulmer, per Heyman. That’s largely unsurprising, though perhaps it might have been expected that the club would at least entertain some scenarios in the interest of covering all its bases. While he’d surely draw a major haul, it would probably be tough for the team to part with its best asset while so many expensive veterans remain under contract. Meanwhile, Heyman notes that shortstop Jose Iglesias could be had for the right price, though it’s hard to see that coming together with such limited demand at the position.
  • Though the White Sox are clearly in the midst of another aggressive sale, Heyman writes that there are no plans to move Jose Abreu at this time. The slugger is in the midst of a fine season, but there’s a limited market for first base help at this time. With another two years of control beyond this season, the ChiSox will perhaps have more opportunistic times to market him. Derek Holland, on the other hand, could very well be moved in the coming week, and the South Siders would like to move Melky Cabrera as well but would probably need to pay down most of the remainder of this year’s $15MM salary.
  • The Indians are a possible landing spot for Jay Bruce, as their offense is currently without the injured Lonnie Chisenhall and Jason Kipnis. The Mets are known to be looking to move Bruce, and it’s worth noting that USA Today’s Bob Nightengale recently reported that Cleveland was in the mix for slugger J.D. Martinez right up until the time he was traded.
  • With limited trade partners for Yonder Alonso — especially following the Yankees’ acquisition of Todd Frazier — the Athletics once again touched base with Yonder Alonso’s reps at MVP Sports about an extension, per Heyman. They’ll circle back again and do so later this week as the two sides attempt to find a middle ground. Oakland is in the midst of an all-out rebuild, as executive vice president of baseball ops Billy Beane recently indicated, but Alonso could provide some leadership for the team’s younger players. And, if he sustains his breakout through season’s end and into 2018, he could certainly become a marketable asset in the future when there’s more of a need at his position.
  • The Rangers aren’t likely to re-sign Yu Darvish after the season, Heyman writes, as Darvish’s camp has already thrown out Stephen Strasburg’s seven-year, $175MM contract as a potential comp. Texas isn’t prepared to bid that highly to retain Darvish, which is why they’ve at least signaled to teams that they’ll listen to offers on Darvish if they struggle too much between now and the deadline. There’s no plan to move Cole Hamels at this time, though, he adds.
  • While the Diamondbacks may have made their biggest move already, the club is still looking at ways to bolster the pitching staff. Heyman pegs Blue Jays righty Marco Estrada as a possibility, though it’s unclear if he’s actively under consideration. It’s fair to wonder, too, whether the club would be better suited to focusing on bullpen help — though, of course, looking at starters doesn’t preclude that possibility.
  • While the Cubs have made at least some contact with the Athletics on righty Sonny Gray even since acquiring Jose Quintana, Heyman says that it’s not at all clear that Chicago will be “a strong player” for another controllable starter.
  • With Jaime Garcia seemingly going off the board, there ought to be greater focus now on Phillies righty Jeremy Hellickson. He ought to be easier to obtain now than he was last year, Heyman notes, as the Phils are willing to hold onto at least some of his $17.2MM salary to improve the prospect return.

Latest On Sonny Gray

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6:25pm: Houston may actually be setting its sights elsewhere at the moment, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (Twitter links). Indeed, he says it’s not even clear if the sides are engaged presently in “serious talks.”

He adds that the Athletics have “named their price” on Gray with the Yankees. While there’s no indication that those two clubs are near to a deal, that certainly suggests it’s still an open situation.

10:28am: Trade talks between the Astros and Athletics pertaining to Sonny Gray are “heating up,” according to MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (Twitter links). Morosi adds that while Houston is in talks with the A’s, the Astros are also maintaining interest in trying to work out a deal that would net both Justin Verlander and Justin Wilson from the Tigers.

Rumors connecting the Astros to Gray date back to the offseason and have been persistent throughout the regular season. The Astros’ roster lacks a clear need, though most reports indicate that if they’re to make a splash, it’d be for someone that could step into the postseason rotation. Gray certainly fits that bill, as he’s rebounded from a triceps injury in 2016 and a lat strain earlier this season to look more and more like his old self in recent months.

Over the past two months, Gray has made 11 starts and totaled 68 1/3 innings with 9.0 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 54.9 percent ground-ball rate. The resulting 3.56 ERA is solid but appears unspectacular, however the Athletics have also backed Gray with one of baseball’s worst defenses. Fielding-independent metrics like FIP (2.87) and xFIP (3.12) are much more bullish. It’s also worth noting that Gray’s past month has been especially impressive, as he’s posted a 1.62 ERA in his past 33 1/3 innings across five starts.

If talks with the Athletics do come to a head, the Astros will be getting a boost not only for their 2017 postseason chances but also through the 2019 season. Gray is earning just $3.575MM in 2017 — a slight silver lining resulting from last year’s injury troubles — and will be eligible for arbitration twice more before hitting the open market in the 2019-20 offseason. He’d slot into the Houston rotation behind 2015 Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel and righty Lance McCullers, who are controlled through 2018 and 2021, respectively.

The talks for Verlander and Wilson are another story entirely, as the hurdles involved with a potential Verlander trade have been well documented by this point. The 34-year-old Verlander is having a down season with more than $65MM owed to him through the 2019 season, and he also has a full no-trade clause that would allow him to veto any deal. The Tigers wouldn’t be able to both shed Verlander’s salary and command a significant prospect return for him, and given his status as an icon in Detroit, it’d be a tough sell to the fans to simply move him to shed his contract.

Adding Wilson to the talks would obviously sweeten the pot and could allow the Detroit front office to extract a more lucrative return, though they could potentially do better simply by trading Wilson in a standalone deal. Interest in the dominant setup-man-turned-closer has been extremely strong this month, and he stands out as Detroit’s best trade chip. Unlike J.D. Martinez, an excellent player that nonetheless commanded a lukewarm return due to a lack of a market for his services, more than a third of the league could conceivably have legitimately strong interest in Wilson.

Brewers Have Interest In Justin Verlander

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The Brewers have interest in Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander, reports Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter links). Milwaukee has been linked on multiple occasions to rotation pieces that it can control beyond the 2017 season, though there’s yet to be much of a serious connection to the longtime Detroit ace. Notably, Fenech adds that the Cubs are still monitoring Verlander and further reports that while the Astros have interest, their involvement in talks “has been minimal.”

Milwaukee is currently trailing the division-rival Pirates in today’s game and has seen its lead on the NL Central dwindle to 1.5 games with both the Cubs and Pirates on winning streaks. The Brewers have had a top-heavy rotation for much of the season, and that only became a truer statement when Chase Anderson, their second-best starter in 2017, landed on the disabled list with an oblique strain that is likely to sideline him into the month of August.

The obstacles standing in the way of a Verlander trade (to any club) are notable. Verlander is owed about $67MM through the end of the 2019 season and has a full no-trade clause that allows him to veto any trade scenario with which the Tigers approach him. He’s also in the midst of one of his worst big league seasons, although he’s been sharper over his past three outings, which may at least present scouts with some confidence that he’s rounding into form.

Whether that’s enough of a sample to convince any team — let alone a fairly low-payroll club like the Brewers — to take on a significant chunk of his remaining contract remains to be seen. The Tigers are reportedly willing to include “some” cash in a trade to help enhance the return they’d get, but they’d likely have to pay down a major chunk of the contract in order to both find a taker and receive meaningful prospects in return. The Brewers have a fairly clean slate when it comes to their long-term payroll outlook, with only Ryan Braun and Eric Thames on guaranteed contracts beyond the current season, but they do have quite a few important players up for arbitration raises this winter (including Jimmy Nelson, Chase Anderson, Jonathan Villar, Hernan Perez and Carlos Torres).

While it’s certainly possible that there’s some gamesmanship at play here — it’d behoove the Tigers to play up the interest of two closely competing division rivals, after all — the Brewers have been linked to controllable rotation help frequently enough that it’d almost be a surprise if they didn’t check in on the Verlander market and gauge the asking price. As for the Cubs, they’ve already acquired Jose Quintana from the White Sox, but there have been indications since that time that they’re still on the lookout for pitching help, and for a team with considerable payroll capacity and questions in their long-term rotation, the notion of acquiring Verlander and having some of his $28MM salary in 2018-19 offset undoubtedly holds appeal.

The Astros were said, as of this morning, to still be in the market for Verlander, though there have also been reports that talks between Houston and Oakland regarding Sonny Gray have begun to intensify. The Brewers and Astros have both also been linked to Tigers lefty Justin Wilson, meanwhile, as each team looks to upgrade its bullpen.

Latest On Justin Wilson

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  • While the Nationals are in on Tigers left-hander Justin Wilson, they won’t part with top prospects Victor Robles, Juan Soto or Erick Fedde in a trade to acquire him, tweets MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal. Per Rosenthal, the Red Sox, Dodgers and Astros are all still in the mix for Wilson. Heyman tweets that the Rays are still looking at Wilson, to whom they were linked earlier this week, but at this point it seems that other teams are likelier to land him. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi, meanwhile, adds the Brewers to the substantial group of teams looking into Wilson (Twitter link).

Diamondbacks Acquire J.D. Martinez

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The Diamondbacks have made a massive move to upgrade their offense, acquiring outfielder J.D. Martinez from the Tigers in exchange for infield prospects Dawel Lugo, Sergio Alcantara and Jose King. Both teams have announced the deal. There’s reportedly no cash changing hands in the deal, so the D-backs are on the hook for the $4.82MM that remains on Martinez’s $11.75MM salary.

J.D. Martinez | MLBTR Photoshop

In acquiring Martinez, the D-backs will be adding the very best rental bat on the market. The 29-year-old missed the first six weeks of the season due to a sprained ligament in his foot but has stormed back into the lineup with a .305/.388/.630 batting line and 16 homers through 232 plate appearances in 57 games. Arizona currently has Yasmany Tomas on the shelf and has been relying upon Daniel Descalso and Chris Herrmann to take at-bats in left field.

[Related: Updated Detroit Tigers depth chart and Arizona Diamondbacks depth chart]

By picking up Martinez, the Snakes will not only be massively upgrading their lineup, they’ll also be preventing one of their top division rivals and a potential Wild Card opponent, the Rockies, from acquiring the slugger. Colorado had also reportedly expressed interest in Martinez, but he’ll now slot into a D-backs lineup that already features the likes of Paul Goldschmidt, Jake Lamb, A.J. Pollock and David Peralta. Beyond that, though, the D-backs will add a drastically needed upgrade against left-handed pitching. Arizona ranks last in the Majors with a 65 wRC+ against lefties, and Martinez’s right-handed bat will be a significant boost.

From a defensive standpoint, Martinez won’t do the D-backs many favors, as he’s rated poorly in right field over the past couple of seasons, perhaps in part due to his foot troubles. (Martinez had graded out quite well in right as recently as 2015.) Then again, Tomas has regularly graded out as one of the game’s worst defenders in left field, while Descalso is an infielder that has been playing left out of necessity.

With Martinez set to be a free agent this offseason, the trade stands to benefit him as well. Because he’s been moved, he’ll no longer be eligible to receive a qualifying offer when the season is up, which should only strengthen his case on the open market.

Of the prospects in the deal, Lugo comes with the most fanfare. He entered the season ranked fourth among D-backs farmhands, according to Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. The 22-year-old is hitting .282/.325/.428 with seven homers, 21 doubles and four triples through 369 plate appearances in Double-A despite being a couple of years younger than the average age of his competition. He’s played shortstop and third base throughout his minor league career. Callis and Mayo note that he could project as a utility player, but he’s made enough strides recently that a future as a regular isn’t out of the question. Given his inclusion in the deal, the Tigers likely view Lugo as a potential regular at either one of those two positions.

Alcantara, also a middle infielder, ranked 15th among Arizona prospects on that same list prior to the season. He’s off to a .279/.344/.362 batting line with three homers, 15 doubles, a pair triples and 11 steals (albeit in 21 tries) in 378 PAs at Class-A Advanced. Also like Lugo, he’s rather young for his level, having turned 21 just last week. Callis and Mayo praise him as an outstanding defender and labeling him a “no-doubt-about-it shortstop.” He has the strongest arm in Arizona’s system, they add, and his glovework is so strong that he needn’t develop much as a hitter to be an everyday player in the Majors.

King, the youngest of the bunch at 18, recently opened his season in the Rookie-level Arizona League after spending the 2016 season in the Dominican Summer League. Baseball America’s Ben Badler ranked King among the best prospects in the DSL, praising his plus-plus speed and noting that he has 50-steal potential to go along with a compact swing and good bat speed. King is also an up-the-middle player and has split his time between shortstop and second base, though Badler notes that his slightly below average arm makes him a better fit at second base rather than shortstop.

Jon Morosi of MLB.com first said the two sides were close to a deal (Twitter link). Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported the deal was in place (on Twitter). Jon Heyman of FanRag and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports/MLB Network noted that the D-backs were sending multiple prospects to Detroit (Twitter links). Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweeted the prospects that were in the deal. Rosenthal tweeted that there’s no cash changing hands in the deal.

Tigers "Optimistic" About Completing Trade In Near Future

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  • Crasnick also tweets that the Tigers are “optimistic” that they’re getting close to completing a trade or two. GM Al Avila said yesterday that he expects something “soon,” Crasnick notes. The Tigers are known to be marketing the likes of J.D. Martinez, Justin Wilson and Alex Avila, though it’s worth noting that Martinez is in the lineup tonight. Avila is out of the lineup, though that’s likely due to the fact that Detroit is facing a left-handed opponent, and James McCann rakes against southpaw pitching.

Nationals Interested In Justin Wilson

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  • The Nationals are also in on Neshek, per MLB.com’s Jon Morosi, who also links the Nats to Tigers lefty Justin Wilson and Pirates southpaw Tony Watson. Wilson has drawn wide interest in the midst of an excellent campaign, while Watson has flown somewhat under the radar while scuffling through a down year. The latter has allowed just one earned run in his last fourteen appearances, though he also has managed only a single strikeout in the month of July.

Astros Asked Tigers About Michael Fulmer

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Athletics righty Sonny Gray is an obvious target for contenders, and he’s among the players touched upon in a report from Bob Nightengale of USA Today (which also delves into some analysis and predictions). The Brewers “may be the most aggressive” suitor for the Oakland starter, per Nightengale, with the Royals even entering the picture to some extent. He guesses, though, that the Astros are most likely to land Gray. That’s not to say that it’s Houston’s first choice; Nightengale says that the team spoke with the Tigers on Michael Fulmer but “came up empty.”

  • If Gray is the top starter who’s likely to be dealt, the best position player on the market is probably Tigers outfielder J.D. Martinez. The Cardinals were said previously to have looked into the high-powered slugger, but Nightengale says they won’t spend big on a rental of his ilk. Rather, he says, the Dodgers, Red Sox, and Diamondbacks are the three clubs that have “shown the most interest” in Martinez. We’ve also heard of a few other organizations poking around on the righty slugger, so there seems to be no shortage of interest.
  • It’s not surprising to hear that the Tigers are asking for quite a haul in exchange for Fulmer, given that he doesn’t need to be dealt. And the organization is perhaps well served to maintain a lofty ask on Martinez, allowing suitors to bid up his return. But dealing some of the organization’s other veterans may require more give and take. A pair of rival executives tell ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter) that Detroit may have trouble making deals at its current asking prices.
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