Detroit Tigers may be interested in Oakland Athletics starting pitchers

The Detroit Tigers have made a few moves to bolster their starting lineup, rotation, and bullpen arms ahead of the 2022 season. As of recent, they have made a few smaller signings to try and add some depth in terms of starting pitching.

However, it seems that the Detroit Tigers may not be done adding to their list of offseason transactions and could have a trade on the horizon. The Tigers seem to be very well in on two starting pitchers from the Oakland Athletics, according to some rumors.

While neither of them is Luis Castillo of the Cincinnati Reds, both would drastically improve the team’s rotation. The Oakland Athletics are in a fire sale like the Reds and are shopping Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas, who have both garnered interest from several American League Central teams.

The Tigers may be in a bidding war against division rivals like the Kansas City Royals, but it seems that the team is going to make a push to bring in another starting pitcher of note. The question is, which of the two is the team going to push more for?

Detroit Tigers are targeting Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas from Athletics.

While no deal is imminent, it seems that the Tigers are one of the team’s in the mix to make a move. That being said, let’s take a look at these two arms.

Sean Manaea – LHP

Sean Manaea is a six-year veteran of the big leagues who has been with the Athletics the whole time. He’s been all over the map in terms of performance but has seemingly dialed things in after a tough 2020 season, statistically.

In 2021, Manaea made 32 starts where he accrued 179.1 innings pitched and would pitch to an 11-10 record. He had a 3.91 ERA, a 1.23 WHIP, and would manage 194 punchouts on the season as well. It’s hard not to like the performance, which is similar to that of Eduardo Rodríguez, who the team signed this offseason.

However, another left-hander in the rotation with Rodríguez and Tarik Skubal might be a bit much. But if the price on Manaea ends up being cheap enough for the Tigers to grab him, it’s hard to look at it as a negative.

Frankie Montas – RHP

On the other hand, the team could be looking into acquiring Frankie Montas, another six-year veteran of the big leagues, though he had to sit out 80 games after testing positive for performance-enhancing substances. Similar to Manaea, he had quite the bounce-back season in 2021 after a rough performance in 2020.

Montas made 32 starts in 2021, where he had a 13-9 record and logged 187.0 innings pitched for the Athletics. He would manage to punch out 207 opposing batters while pitching to a 3.37 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP.

It was quite the jump in performance and one that makes him an attractive option for the team to add to the rotation. Keeping him in the middle or back of the rotation would hopefully take some pressure off and allow him to pitch with similar statistics as he recorded in 2021.

As Opening Day nears closer and closer, the Tigers have to be in on these two arms from the Athletics. Getting a deal done and avoiding both of these guys pitching against the team in 2022 seems like an excellent decision for this Tigers team, to really bolster down the rotation.