Detroit Tigers trade Justin Wilson, Alex Avila to Cubs for Jeimer Candelario, Isaac Paredes

The Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs have completed a trade that sends Justin Wilson and Alex Avila in exchange for prospects Jeimer Candelario and Isaac Paredes.

The Detroit Tigers have completed a trade with the Chicago Cubs that will send closer Justin Wilson and catcher Alex Avila to the defending World Series champions in exchange for infield prospects Jeimer Candelario and Isaac Paredes.

Lynn Henning of the Detroit News reports that the trade is official.

I detailed Candelario a bit in the previous post, but the short version is that he looks like a bat-first third baseman who will likely have to transition to first base before long.

We now know that the second name in the trade is shortstop prospect Isaac Paredes. Paredes is playing in the Midwest League this season as an 18 year old — an advanced league for his age — and is performing admirably. The youngster has hit .261/.341/.399 with seven home runs on the season in what is generally a pitcher-friendly league.

Paredes isn’t ranked as highly as Candelario — he’s tenth on MLB.com’s Cubs prospect list while Candelario was first — but his ability to play the more demanding position of shortstop means he might have the higher upside if his bat continues to develop. He’s a lot further from the big leagues, however, so he carries much more risk of not working out at all.

Candelario is said to be major league ready, but he’s blocked in Detroit at third base by Nick Castellanos and first base or designated hitter by Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez.

The Tigers will also receive a player to be named later (or cash) to complete the trade, but those players tend to be more of the throw-in type.

Next: Detroit Tigers all-time 25-man roster

The trade deadline will pass at 4:00 p.m. but the Tigers could very well be done making moves. It doesn’t appear likely that Ian Kinsler or Justin Verlander will be moved at this time.