Detroit Tigers Trade Rumors: Team Still Acting Like Buyers
By Matt Snyder
The Detroit Tigers are now below .500 for the first time this season. They’re 10.5 games out of the division and 4.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot (with three teams ahead of them).
They look to be out of the playoff hunt, but perhaps they’re not so far out as to immediately go into sell mode. At least, they weren’t in full-on sell mode before Sunday’s series finale with the Baltimore Orioles.
Jon Morosi of Fox Sports tweeted that Detroit had been one of the teams to ask about Colorado Rockies reliever John Axford.
#Tigers among teams that have inquired on #Rockies reliever John Axford. (Of course, Tigers no longer certain to be deadline buyers.)
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 19, 2015
The Tigers are going to have to play the trade deadline game both ways for (probably) the next week or so. The way things are currently going they’ll be out of probable contention when the trade deadline comes and goes, but a hot stretch could put them right back in the thick of things.
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The proper thing to do would be to gauge both markets to be ready to swing a trade in either direction in the final days preceding the deadline.
No one’s expecting a 9-1 stretch over the next 10 games or anything, but the Tigers would be right back in the think of the (Wild Card) race were that to happen, and they’d want to be prepared to make trades to pursue a playoff spot.
It will be interesting to follow the Tigers’ rumor mill over the next ten days to see whether it paints a clearer picture on either the buy or sell side of the coin.
My guess is that we’ll eventually see both pop up, but as of now the only concrete rumors we’ve seen have been of the Tigers looking to act as buyers and acquire players ahead of the July 31 trade deadline.
Next: Tigers Fall Below .500 For First Time This Season