Detroit Tigers trade Ian Kinsler to the Los Angeles Angels

After a day of reports connecting the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels regarding an Ian Kinsler trade, the deal is done.

The expectation going into the MLB Winter Meetings was that the Detroit Tigers would trade second baseman Ian Kinsler. It took util the evening of the final full day of the meetings but those expectations have been met.

A Jerry Crasnick report earlier today strongly linked the Angels to a potential deal for Kinsler. Although they were one of the ten teams on Kinsler’s no trade list, it was thought that Kinsler would be amenable to going to the Angels were he would play for a team better positioned to compete for something next season and reunite him with Justin Upton.

The fit made to much sense for the trade not to happen and now it has. Ken Rosenthal broke the news on Twitter earlier this evening.

While the deal was apparently done enough to report, it took a little while longer for the details to be straightened out, perhaps because of the Angels’ place on Kinsler’s no trade list.

Almost two hours after initially tweeting about the deal, Rosenthal was back with final word the deal was done.

With that out of the way, all we had to wait on was the return. According to Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press, the Tigers will receive a pair of prospects in return: right-handed pitcher Wilkel Hernandez and centerfielder Troy Montgomery. Joel Heyman adds that Kinsler’s entire salary will be paid by the Angels.

Neither was regarded as among the organization’s top very top prospects but both were in MLB.com’s top 30 list for the Angels. Montgomery checked in at number 20 (number 18 in the preseason rankings). He was an eighth-round pick out of Ohio State in 2016 and made his way up to AA in the Angels organization last season. Speed is his best asset at this point in his development and his long-term projection tops out as a fourth outfielder.

Hernandez was signed out of Venezuela and made his debut in the U.S. last season at the rookie ball level. Just 18-years old, he’s a long way from contributing but already has a fastball that can touch 95. It’s a matter of how his control and other pitches develop that will determine his ceiling.

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Trading Kinsler in the offseason means we’ve seen the last of number three on an active Tigers uniform. The team is set to retire the number some time this season following news of Alan Trammells induction in the Hall of Fame.