Detroit Tigers: Al Avila and The Possible Trade Deadline Doomsday
By Tyler Kotila
Detroit Tigers general manager Al Avila could very well send Tigers fans into a doomsday frenzy as the trade deadline approaches. It will be a world of hurt for Tigers fans, a true doomsday scenario if Avila doesn’t move anyone at the deadline.
The Detroit Tigers have indeed dug themselves into a hole as the deadline RACES closer. Let’s be honest; Al Avila really has dug a hole for the organization with the latest rumors surfacing about his asking price or the possibility that he may not trade anyone. Over the past few days, the reports of teams like the Chicago Cubs being interested in Tigers players like Nicholas Castellanos, Matthew Boyd, and Shane Greene have surfaced.
They are not the only ones; there are other teams interested like the New York Yankees, Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers, and possibly others. This means that the Tigers organization has assets that other teams want, on the most basic level.
Castellanos is a defensive liability but wants out of Detroit, and that needs to be fulfilled. Boyd has digressed heavily, but teams are still interested in a competent left-handed starter to boost the middle of their rotation. Greene has been a great backend guy who could be a great supporting arm in most bullpens.
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This shouldn’t be news to anyone. The Detroit Tigers have assets that can be dealt. The issue comes when Tigers GM Al Avila goes to the Yankees and asks for shortstop Gleyber Torres and starter Domingo German in a return package.
That proposal is simply ludicrous, to even ask for an established youngster (Torres) and German who has had plenty of chances this year with the Yankees, is beyond belief. Avila had recently gone to the Astros asking for AT LEAST Kyle Tucker in a return package. This after the Astros wouldn’t give us Tucker when the Justin Verlander trade was completed.
The bottom line is that Avila NEEDS to make moves or fans are going to literally stop caring. For a team that will already lose 100 games and in a rebuild, losing even more fans would be catastrophic. The Detroit Tigers are in the exact same scenario as when the Michael Fulmer decision needed to be made. A time when the team realistically had a shot at Torres from the Yankees, but instead Avila is just begging to make the same mistake twice and screw this team over even more.
Take a second and realize, the assets the Tigers are putting on the market are not superstar caliber compared to prior years like the Madison Bumgarner‘s and Verlander’s of the world. Remember, Boyd is not a rental which that should spark the most attention from teams who are willing to give up a prospect for a “rental” that also has team control left.
The fact is simple; Avila has to make the right decisions come July 31st, and sitting on offers and letting teams go get other players only to lose offers. By simply just not be active enough, or asking far too much for the players being offered is not going to work and will leave this franchise in a bad spot.
Next. Tigers don’t have many options for a powerless Miguel Cabrera. dark
The rebuild is not over; being able to trade these guys and balance out the farm system should be the absolute top priority right now. But that’s just not the case for Avila who is sitting around hoping the Yankees call up offering half their franchise and a World Series ring for Boyd.