When the Tigers traded starting pitcher Mike Fiers to the Athletics on Aug. 6, it served as a reminder: Just because we’ve passed the July 31 trade deadline doesn’t mean the flea market has closed for the season.
The July deadline gets all the hype because that’s the time when teams can do nearly whatever they want. The only way another team can block the move is by making a better roster itself.
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It doesn’t quite work that way in August, when the rules get a little more complicated but there are deals to be made — even for superstars. Look no further back than Aug. 31, 2017, for that. As the final minutes on the month were ticking away, the Tigers and Astros were finishing up an agreement that would send pitcher Justin Verlander to Houston and bring multiple high-quality prospects back to Detroit to help speed up the rebuild. That deal was made all the tougher because Verlander had the right to block it.
The trick to August deals is that teams have to put players on waivers first. Even if, say, the Red Sox really want to make a move for a player, competing teams with a higher priority can block the deal simply by putting a claim in and failing to come to an agreement.
Most teams flood waivers with a large portion of their roster each year, leading to occasionally interesting but generally meaningless headlines that leave some fans scratching their heads.
Now that we’re nearly midway through the dog days of August, however, we have a pretty good idea about possible moves involving the Tigers.
Fiers was already traded, sent to the Athletics for a pair of players to be named later. Fiers’ time in Detroit worked out pretty much as planned during the offseason. They signed him with the idea he could rebuild some of his lost value by pitching well in Detroit, and be moved to a team making a playoff push later in the summer.
Some fans who first quibbled at the idea of signing Fiers later complained that Detroit didn’t get enough in return for him, but that’s a bit premature to say before the deal is completed. It seems to have worked just as intended.
Most others on the Tigers’ roster are not even up for debate at this point, but there are two players — and possibly one big decision — ahead for general manager Al Avila. Left-handed starter Francisco Liriano, who allowed three runs on six hits and four walks in five innings on Saturday against the Twins, cleared waivers, as did shortstop Jose Iglesias, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press.
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There are others whose names you could at least think about, such as relievers Alex Wilson and Shane Greene, but the team would be better off holding onto both players for now. Their contracts allow for some flexibility, and their value leaves a little room for improvement still. With no reason the Tigers must move them now, this offseason or even sometime next season could result in better nets than anything right now.
Liriano has only a few weeks remaining on his one-year, $4 million deal in Detroit. He’s probably not going to be back next season. This year he has posted a 4.42 ERA and even-worse 5.31 FIP.
His biggest problem is the continued inability to avoid walks, a steadily building problem over the past few years culminating in a walk rate of 13.4 percent of batters faced this season. His rate of strikeouts has fallen too, to 18.5 percent after sitting in the 20s for most of his career, giving him a paltry 5.1 percent strikeout-minus-walk stat. That’s not good.
It seems likely Liriano remains a Tiger through the end of the year, but if another team wants to take a look it’ll come for minimal prospects — and that’s fine. Anything is better than nothing.
That leaves us with Iglesias as the most interesting name. After hype early in his career thanks to his athleticism and some amazing defensive plays, Iglesias hit a few road bumps and quite a few star shortstops passed him by.
This year has been a bit of a renaissance, and his defensive stats have finally caught up to what you’d expect of a player who can seemingly make any play he wants. Now you’ll find him ranked No. 2 on the defensive leaderboard at Fangraphs. That’s not just for shortstops. That’s for all of baseball.
The offense has been better, too, though not necessarily great. With a .264/.304/.391 line in 2018, he has a pretty low walk rate and not a whole lot of power, either. Looking at a metric that captures all the offense a player provides a bit better, Iglesias’ .302 wOBA is lacking a bit, though ranks 11th among qualified shortstops.
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Still, when you put it together he’s putting up his best season in Detroit with a 2.5 WAR (per Fangraphs) this season. He has not posted above 2.0 in any full season in Detroit and had 2.3 in 2013, splitting his time between the Red Sox and Tigers.
He’s in his last year before free agency, so he can walk at the end of the season. That might make him a bit of a risk-free trade for teams looking to bolster their infield defense before the playoffs, but the market for that is still pretty low. There may not be enough return in prospects to make it worth bothering.
Given that, and with no real star middle infield prospects banging down the door to the majors, it is looking more and more like the best move would be signing Iglesias to an extension. Even if he can’t hit, fielding an important position extremely well has value to a team with so few position prospects right now.
So, yes: Just because it’s August doesn’t mean trade season has ended. But looking realistically at the Tigers, it’s hard to see anything happening between now and the end of the month. Dog days, indeed.
(Top photo of Joes Iglesias: By Rick Osentoski/USA TODAY Sports)