Detroit Tigers: Taking A Look Back On Al Avila’s Trades From The Past
By Tyler Kotila
In a move of total savagery, Al Avila trades away his own kid to the Chicago Cubs and then in the offseason opts to not re-sign him. It does not seem like fans are complaining, but the man traded his own son.
On July 31st, 2017, the 2017 trade deadline, the Tigers sent Alex Avila and Justin Wilson to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Jeimer Candelario and Isaac Paredes. This trade at first seems like a complete win for the Tigers (not counting Candelario’s struggles this year) until you look at the price paid for Wilson.
In the fall of 2015, the Tigers traded for Wilson from the New York Yankees giving away Luis Cessa a former New York Mets prospect from the Michael Fulmer trade as well as Chad Green. Anyone who follows the current Yankees knows that Green has become a lights out reliever that could hold a much higher role on a team that is not as stacked in the bullpen as the Yankees are.
So to mix the trades together to look at the full profit/loss on the deal, it would look like this…
It’s not the best look for the Detroit Tigers in terms of what the organization lost in Cessa and Green, but the net gain on the Wilson/Avila to the Cubs is a good look for the team. In terms of what the Tigers have gotten out of Candelario, it’s not that bad. Candelario is twenty-five years old, in the second full season of his MLB career and is going to come around. He may not be the best prospect the team has traded for, but he will undoubtedly be better than he is now.
Paredes is currently struggling in the power department, but his hitting has been decent. Not where the Tigers would like it but the price paid to the Cubs only was not bad for Candelario and Paredes in return. The team could have been better keeping Chad Green or flipping Cessa later on, but Avila made the trade and based on the other trades this was a good return for the Tigers.