Detroit Tigers trade rumors: Justin Verlander not being actively shopped

The Detroit Tigers aren’t actively trying to trade veteran starting pitcher Justin Verlander, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.

The Detroit Tigers might like to jettison Justin Verlander’s salary while getting a prospect haul in return, but they “aren’t actively shopping” him according to a tweet by MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.

Feinsand also indicates that they would indeed move him if the right offer fell into their laps, but at this point they aren’t said to be out on the market soliciting offers.

This makes a good bit of sense as Verlander isn’t their top priority trade chip at this point in the game. J.D. Martinez is the top focus right now and, although the front office can (and should) maintain several lines of communication regarding several players at once, they should be focusing their main effort on players closer to free agency.

A potential Verlander trade is interesting to think about and discuss, but it has always been rather unlikely to occur, even when the chatter was hottest a week or so ago. I’ve always maintained that the odds of a trade were less than 50-50 while MLB insider Jon Heyman reported a rival executive’s thinking that the odds are around 30%.

If Verlander is moved at the deadline it would likely be at almost the last minute. He has four scheduled starts before the July 31 arrives, and he’d need a good showing in each outing to prove to playoff contenders that he could give them near ace-level production down the stretch.

Verlander entered the All-Star break with a 4.73 ERA but he’s given up more than three runs in a start just once since May 25.

The Tigers are trying to rebuild their system with prospects and wouldn’t be looking to dump Verlander for pure salary relief. His large contract plus an attractive prospect package is going to be too much too ask for most (if not all) teams who might have otherwise been interested.

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The most likely scenario in all of this is (and has always been) that the trade deadline comes and goes with Verlander remaining a member of the Tigers.