2026 Trade deadline

[casimir]

4 hours ago, monkeytargets39 said:

Here’s the problem with everyone saying we are only X games out of the Wildcard….

So is every other team besides the Royals and Angels.  They all have reason to think they can make up ground as well.  There are going to be A LOT of potential buyers, so the smart thing to do is fleece them while still trying to be competitive this year 

There are a lot of teams to climb over, no question.  But there are games remaining against most of not all of those teams.  And a good stretch of 2 weeks should catapult them upward in terms of games behind and surpass a handful of those teams.  Easier said than done, sure.  But at this point, there’s still hope for that to occur.

And I think we can all agree that the hole they’ve dug themselves is a combination of underachieving and injuries.  How much of one vs the other, how much one might have created the other, that’s all debatable.

But it doesn’t change the fact that the Tigers at this point of the season still have a good amount of control of their own destiny.  And they have not yet had a torrid stretch of games.  They’re somewhere at the top of the AL since June or something like that.  But it’s not a record that’s indicative of a team going on a rampage like we see out of numerous teams in a season.

With all of these teams in the thick of it, I can’t imagine how much conversation there could be within and amongst these teams trying to decide what to do between now and the deadline.  And add in the variable of the CBA ending this offseason and that uncertainty.  I wouldn’t think it should be of primary concern, but I would imagine some teams are going to do it a bit in their dealings.

[Motor City Sonics]

So wait, we have this minor league reliever that is looking great at Toledo, while we have a shaky bullpen and we trade him for cash?   WTF? 

[Edman85]

14 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

So wait, we have this minor league reliever that is looking great at Toledo, while we have a shaky bullpen and we trade him for cash?   WTF? 

They both had an upward mobility clause. Dime a dozen...

[chasfh]

24 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

They both had an upward mobility clause. Dime a dozen...

Is there anyone on the current 40 you would have considered replacing with Go? Yilber Diaz, maybe?

[AlaskanTigersFan]

23 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Is there anyone on the current 40 you would have considered replacing with Go? Yilber Diaz, maybe?

Yiber

Haniffee

Bailey Horn

Burch Smith

Ricky Vanasco

Jacob Waguespack

Javier Baez
Trei Cruz
Jamai Jones
Wenceel Perez
James Outman

Ben Malgeri

 

Sorry that's all I could come up with off the top of my list...... None of those guys will be any part of the team going forward. 

 

[Edman85]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

Is there anyone on the current 40 you would have considered replacing with Go? Yilber Diaz, maybe?

Yilber at least throws 100. But adding somebody to the 40 also means adding another salary to the 40, and I have talked enough about the ragged edge tax situation they face.

[Sports_Freak]

3 hours ago, Edman85 said:

You should push in when you have the chance, because the next year things can just go awry.

Thats why a lot of fans wanted to be serious buyers at last year's deadline. We were so close....and you never know what next (this) season will bring.

[casimir]

1 hour ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

Yiber

Haniffee

Bailey Horn

Burch Smith

Ricky Vanasco

Jacob Waguespack

Javier Baez
Trei Cruz
Jamai Jones
Wenceel Perez
James Outman

Ben Malgeri

 

Sorry that's all I could come up with off the top of my list...... None of those guys will be any part of the team going forward. 

 

4 of those names are currently on the 60 day IL, so releasing them does nothing to activate an open spot.  So, you failed there.

Like it or not (and I don’t), Outman is currently the best defensive CF vs RHP right now.  Malgeri is currently the 2nd RHB platoon OF.  He’s just been added to the 40, so it’s highly doubtful that there’s a rational decision to immediately remove him when he isn’t a part of the bullpen problem.  So, go ahead, remove either one of them from the 40, but who replaces them on the active roster?  I know, I know, chess pieces thrown at your checkers argument.

Cruz was also just added to the 40 and probably is in line to be the next McKinstry albeit at league minimum.  Again, highly doubtful he gets bumped.

Jones should be removed, but who replaces him?  He’s probably a warm body until someone else shakes free on the waiver wire or trade acquisition.  If he doesn’t start hitting and or isn’t replaced until a healthy 60 day IL position player becomes available, it ain’t a good sign.

Waguespck can go, that’s fine.  Vanasco, Hanifee, sure, same jam.  But Go is out of the organization now.  We can only hope he becomes part of the return for Skubal at this point.

[1984Echoes]

5 hours ago, 4hzglory said:

...  That gives us a month to make up 2 games.  If we ...

Not to throw a wrench into your timeline here... but it's 3 weeks with an All-Star game in between.

 

The deadline is August 3rd. And Harris in not going to be frantically calling teams on the very last day saying "hey, make me an offer on 5 of my pending free agents", trying to pull together a deal or several. Especially a complicated one if Skubal is involved. Something might "come together" in the last hour, but at least multiple, multiple days will be required of negotiating and such, to put together not only possibly one, but possibly several trades.

So, on just a WAG, a decision needs to be made by roughly July 27th/28th/29th?

Pick a date. It's three weeks away. 17 games. 19 if you want to go all the way to July 29th or 30th (no game on the 30th).

If the Tigers go backwards and are 12 games under by the 27th, I think it's an easy call: sell off pending free agents. I would start with Skubal, who has made it clear he will be going to FA with Boras and most likely will be unaffordable. I might even hold onto Mize because I'd be happy to offer him a QO and have him back for 1 year or a 3-year contract if he was amenable. If he signs elsewhere, I'm guessing the comp pick might be just as good as any deadline trade return for him so those are my 2 cents.

If we go .500 or so in the next 3 weeks I'm still of the mind we might end up selling.

If we go 12-5 over the next 3 weeks I think it's most likely an easy call by Tigers brass to keep going and shoot for the playoffs with the guys we got.

But it's that in-between area that is too gray to call. What if we go 9-8 or 10-9 (17 or 19 games)? 10-7 or 11-8? Is that good enough to keep pushing? There's a gray area between .500 and a real 3-week hot streak that could go either way, IMO.

[Edman85]

45 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Thats why a lot of fans wanted to be serious buyers at last year's deadline. We were so close....and you never know what next (this) season will bring.

But again, there was nothing available and teams were asking for Melton and McGonigle...

[AlaskanTigersFan]

19 minutes ago, casimir said:

4 of those names are currently on the 60 day IL, so releasing them does nothing to activate an open spot.  So, you failed there.

Like it or not (and I don’t), Outman is currently the best defensive CF vs RHP right now.  Malgeri is currently the 2nd RHB platoon OF.  He’s just been added to the 40, so it’s highly doubtful that there’s a rational decision to immediately remove him when he isn’t a part of the bullpen problem.  So, go ahead, remove either one of them from the 40, but who replaces them on the active roster?  I know, I know, chess pieces thrown at your checkers argument.

Cruz was also just added to the 40 and probably is in line to be the next McKinstry albeit at league minimum.  Again, highly doubtful he gets bumped.

Jones should be removed, but who replaces him?  He’s probably a warm body until someone else shakes free on the waiver wire or trade acquisition.  If he doesn’t start hitting and or isn’t replaced until a healthy 60 day IL position player becomes available, it ain’t a good sign.

Waguespck can go, that’s fine.  Vanasco, Hanifee, sure, same jam.  But Go is out of the organization now.  We can only hope he becomes part of the return for Skubal at this point.

None of those guys are close to a replacement level player. All are trash and have no right near an MLB team under any circumstance.... Let alone a Tigers team trying to get to the playoffs...................

 

Sure, they might be the best we have right now. THAT is the problem!

Edited July 7 by AlaskanTigersFan

[Tiger337]

Go is 27 years old, has never pitched in the majors and has been dropped by two other organizations.  I don't think we'll miss him.  

[AlaskanTigersFan]

15 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Go is 27 years old, has never pitched in the majors and has been dropped by two other organizations.  I don't think we'll miss him.  

I think the bigger point is that 30% of our 40 man roster is Complete trash and shouldn't be anywhere near a Major league team.... not fixating on Go...... Jus Sayin.....

[4hzglory]

1 hour ago, 1984Echoes said:

Not to throw a wrench into your timeline here... but it's 3 weeks with an All-Star game in between.

 

The deadline is August 3rd. And Harris in not going to be frantically calling teams on the very last day saying "hey, make me an offer on 5 of my pending free agents", trying to pull together a deal or several. Especially a complicated one if Skubal is involved. Something might "come together" in the last hour, but at least multiple, multiple days will be required of negotiating and such, to put together not only possibly one, but possibly several trades.

So, on just a WAG, a decision needs to be made by roughly July 27th/28th/29th?

Pick a date. It's three weeks away. 17 games. 19 if you want to go all the way to July 29th or 30th (no game on the 30th).

If the Tigers go backwards and are 12 games under by the 27th, I think it's an easy call: sell off pending free agents. I would start with Skubal, who has made it clear he will be going to FA with Boras and most likely will be unaffordable. I might even hold onto Mize because I'd be happy to offer him a QO and have him back for 1 year or a 3-year contract if he was amenable. If he signs elsewhere, I'm guessing the comp pick might be just as good as any deadline trade return for him so those are my 2 cents.

If we go .500 or so in the next 3 weeks I'm still of the mind we might end up selling.

If we go 12-5 over the next 3 weeks I think it's most likely an easy call by Tigers brass to keep going and shoot for the playoffs with the guys we got.

But it's that in-between area that is too gray to call. What if we go 9-8 or 10-9 (17 or 19 games)? 10-7 or 11-8? Is that good enough to keep pushing? There's a gray area between .500 and a real 3-week hot streak that could go either way, IMO.

I still say 2 games by the deadline, or even Edman’s mark of greater than 33% odds is my determining line.  Making up 2 games in 19 isn’t that impossible and if they can’t, then they should move Skubal if they get a decent return.

[Sports_Freak]

6 hours ago, Edman85 said:

But again, there was nothing available and teams were asking for Melton and McGonigle...

Yeah, thats what I hear. All off-season too, nobody available. 

[Edman85]

1 hour ago, Sports_Freak said:

Yeah, thats what I hear. All off-season too, nobody available. 

Well? How are those highly paid free agents from the offseason doing?

[Sports_Freak]

12 hours ago, casimir said:

There are a lot of teams to climb over, no question.  But there are games remaining against most of not all of those teams.  And a good stretch of 2 weeks should catapult them upward in terms of games behind and surpass a handful of those teams.  Easier said than done, sure.  But at this point, there’s still hope for that to occur.

And I think we can all agree that the hole they’ve dug themselves is a combination of underachieving and injuries.  How much of one vs the other, how much one might have created the other, that’s all debatable.

But it doesn’t change the fact that the Tigers at this point of the season still have a good amount of control of their own destiny.  And they have not yet had a torrid stretch of games.  They’re somewhere at the top of the AL since June or something like that.  But it’s not a record that’s indicative of a team going on a rampage like we see out of numerous teams in a season.

With all of these teams in the thick of it, I can’t imagine how much conversation there could be within and amongst these teams trying to decide what to do between now and the deadline.  And add in the variable of the CBA ending this offseason and that uncertainty.  I wouldn’t think it should be of primary concern, but I would imagine some teams are going to do it a bit in their dealings.

4 of the 6 teams are a game and a half ahead of us in the wildcard race. Catch them and make it very interesting. Our next opponent, the A's, are a game ahead of us. 

[Sports_Freak]

1 minute ago, Edman85 said:

Well? How are those highly paid free agents from the offseason doing?

Yeah, hindsight is wonderful. There were a whole lot of free agents signed, not just a few cherry picked ones with bad stats. And some teams even made trades...

[Edman85]

I just took the top 30 WAR position players and top 30 WAR pitchers from the trade deadline to the end of the season last season. Exactly zero of those 60 players were acquired at the deadline.

The only free agents signed over the offseason who are in those lists for 2026 are Luis Arraez, Ranger Suarez, and Michael Siroka.

[Tiger337]

13 hours ago, 4hzglory said:

Which goes back to the fact that over the past 2 1/2 years, the Tigers are a 95 win team with Carpenter and almost a 100 loss team without him.  He has made more of an impact on the lineup than he gets credit for.   No he’s not a 10 war player, but our lineup has been much much better over the past 2 1/2 years with him than without him.

Going back to the beginning of 2024,Tigers record with Carpenter: 153-131 .539 

That is one on the better records for Tigers hitters.  Even better is: Baez 128-102 .557

https://www.baseballmusings.com/cgi-bin/PlayerWL.py?StartDate=3%2F01%2F2024&EndDate=07%2F05%2F2026&GameType=all&PlayedVs=0&Park=0&PlayerID=6

I think records like that are largely coincidental.  On the negative side, their record with Dingler in the line-up: 117-119 .496

[Tiger337]

Tigers record with Rod Allen: 13-2 .867

Here's the best one - Tigers record with Duane Singleton in the line-up 0-18.  

[Sports_Freak]

28 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

I just took the top 30 WAR position players and top 30 WAR pitchers from the trade deadline to the end of the season last season. Exactly zero of those 60 players were acquired at the deadline.

The only free agents signed over the offseason who are in those lists for 2026 are Luis Arraez, Ranger Suarez, and Michael Siroka.

Yeah, I get it. No quality players were available. But my point is that nobody could look into the future and say players like Bregman were going to struggle. Looking at some stats may have given a hint but...you just never know. With the way this lineup struggled during our 2025 collapse, it made sense to try to improve our hitting. What did we get? Pitching ...Valdez, JV and Jansen. All pitchers who have really struggled and literally cost us games.

[chasfh]

8 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

Go is 27 years old, has never pitched in the majors and has been dropped by two other organizations.  I don't think we'll miss him.  

Yeah, teams rarely miss guys in their late 20s who don’t make the majors by then, like Ryan Krei … er, no, I mean like Liam Hi … err, never mind …

😉 

[Sports_Freak]

14 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Tigers record with Rod Allen: 13-2 .867

Here's the best one - Tigers record with Duane Singleton in the line-up 0-18.  

There was even a point where we were something like 6-1 when Perez came back from injury.....our savior. 🤣🤣

[chasfh]

8 hours ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

I think the bigger point is that 30% of our 40 man roster is Complete trash and shouldn't be anywhere near a Major league team.... not fixating on Go...... Jus Sayin.....

Let’s see …

 

… that’s 30% percent of a 40-man roster which equals 12 guys who you say “shouldn’t be anywhere near a major league team”, which leaves 28 guys who should.

A major league roster consists of 26 guys who belong anywhere near a major league team, with 14 in emergency reserve in case there’s an injury or other need for a player to fill the role temporarily.

Yep—the math checks out.