Detroit Tigers: Predicting the 2018 lineup ahead of the trade deadline
By Matt Snyder
First Base and DH: Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez
The Tigers could look to move Miguel Cabrera at the trade deadline or in the offseason, but his batting line has taken a noticeable dip this season and he’s still owed nearly $200 million through 2024. The Tigers will be hard pressed to find a taker unless he re-asserts himself as one of the game’s best hitters. At this point I’d bet on him finishing out his career in Detroit unless they eat a huge portion of his remaining salary.
Like Cabrera, the Tigers would love to move Victor Martinez but there’s probably not a team in baseball willing to pay $18 million for a designated hitter who might be below average with the bat at this point in his career. They might be able to give him away for free (eating all of his remaining salary) in the right circumstance but they still couldn’t expect to get a prospect of note in return. Martinez will come off the books after the 2018 season and it’s probably worth keeping a player with his level of name recognition around for the fans.
Third Base: Nick Castellanos
Nick Castellanos’ big slump in the month of May has meant a disappointing battling line for the 2017 season to date. The Tigers might have been willing to trade the promising young hitter if he was mashing but they shouldn’t be interested in selling low right now. With two years of team control remaining through arbitration, the Tigers would be better off hanging on to Castellanos and hope his bat comes along.
His hard contact rate makes him a good bet to rebound — his June batting line has been very good (.318/.368/.568) — but he needs to improve his consistency at the plate (and defense) before he would be a sought-after commodity on the trade market.
Even if Castellanos isn’t a part of the next division winning Tigers team, I think the best bet is for the club to hang on to him and hope for the batted ball results to follow before revisiting the idea of a trade a year or two down the line.