Detroit Tigers in tough position as trading deadline approaches
By Matt Pelc
Trading for Pitching
Do the Tigers reach to bring in a starting pitcher that is only marginally better than Shane Greene? Matt Shoemaker, Matt Moore, Jake Odorizzi, old pal Drew Smyly, Rich Hill, and Sonny Gray could all be shopped in the coming weeks, but will fans be okay with seeing exciting prospects such as Joe Jimenez or JaCoby Jones dealt in return?
The pitching staff is currently in disarray after Jordan Zimmermann and Daniel Norris went on the disabled list within hours of each other. Norris is expected to miss only about two weeks, but the team’s big offseason free agent acquisition, who started so strong in April before fizzling, is not as promising, and will be seeing a neck specialist.
Had this been a week ago, I might say hell yes, roll the dice and plug in the one or two starting pitching holes, but now the Tigers have just two reliable starting pitchers left, Justin Verlander and Michael Fulmer, and the club will be getting creative to limit Fulmer’s innings the rest of the season. That’s probably way too many holes for the Tigers to come up with prospects to fill.
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