Detroit Tigers: Taking A Look Back On Al Avila’s Trades From The Past
By Tyler Kotila
Perhaps, one of the saddest days in more recent Tigers history as Justin Verlander was traded and the whole city seemed to be crushed, even though it was an eminent trade.
On August 31st, 2017 the Detroit Tigers traded Justin Verlander. A player to be named later (PTBNL)-later sent Juan Ramirez, and cash considerations to the Astros in exchange for Jake Rogers, Franklin Perez, and Daz Cameron. The simple fact here is that Avila pleaded his case to get Kyle Tucker from the Astros at the time of the trade, but they would not budge. Now two years later, Avila is beating the dead horse hoping for Tucker.
The return here is probably the best return the Tigers have seen under the leadership of Al Avila during this rebuild. Daz Cameron offers plenty of upside as a speedy outfielder with some sneaky pop in his bat. In 2019, Cameron has spent his time with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens where his hitting has not been where the organization has hoped it would. The hope remains for his future with the Tigers.
As I previously wrote about in the past when looking at the Tigers catching situation, Jake Rogers has developed as “defense-first” catcher that struggles to hit at the minor league level. After being promoted to the Triple-A ballclub, Rogers has not seen a ton of improvement on his hitting. The defense is the best part about this kid, and the organization is going to push to develop him at the rate he needs while also trying to get him big-league ready. The main thing to note about Rogers is that his defense has been big-league ready for some time now, but the very slow developing bat is what has killed him.
Perez is one of Detroit Tigers better pitching prospects behind the organization’s slew of draft picks in Alex Faedo, Casey Mize, and company. Perez is still young, kicking around in High-A ball where he is developing. He is a dark horse in the Verlander trade someone who could develop sneakily into a quality impact arm for this Tigers team if all goes well.
Putting these three together and it’s essentially the best return package. Avila has gotten in any trade so far during his tenure as the Tigers front office leader.