Tigers trade deadline takeaways: Was bullpen improved enough?

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DETROIT — The timer ran out. The trade deadline has passed.

The Detroit Tigers had one of the more … interesting … approaches in the league, not only staying true to their pragmatic identity but largely bargain shopping rather than making strong upgrades to their MLB roster.

But like everything with the Tigers, there are layers to these decisions.

Here are the biggest takeaways from the Tigers at the deadline:

If this isn’t prospect hoarding, what is?

The Tigers entered deadline season with serious needs in the bullpen. We can keep repeating the stats: A 4.99 ERA from relievers since June 1. The worst whiff rate among relief pitchers in the American League. And still a first-place team in a wide-open American League with a realistic path to a World Series berth.

Rather than make splashy bullpen upgrades, the Tigers shopped around the edges.

Their bullpen moves:

• RHP Kyle Finnegan from the Washington Nationals in exchange for low-level pitchers RJ Sales and Josh Randall (Detroit’s No. 15 prospect, per MLB pipeline)
• RHP Paul Sewald from the Cleveland Guardians for cash considerations or a player to be named later
• RHP Rafael Montero from the Atlanta Braves for infield prospect Jim Jarvis
• RHP Codi Heuer from the Rangers for cash considerations

Detroit also traded for 41-year-old right-handed starter Charlie Morton at the buzzer in exchange for minor-league left-hander Micah Ashman.

Finnegan, formerly the Nationals’ closer, was the best addition of the bullpen bunch. He has a 4.38 ERA and 20 saves this season, but his whiff rate ranks in the 24th percentile, so he doesn’t exactly help the Tigers’ mission to get more swing and miss in the late innings.

Montero has a 4.76 lifetime ERA but induces swing and miss at an admirable clip. He was stellar for the Astros back in 2022, but has one of the highest walk rates in the league. He’s a project the Tigers hope can get right down the stretch.

They also traded for Sewald, a proven MLB pitcher, but also one who has thrown only 15 1/3 innings this season. He is on the injured list with a shoulder strain, and the Guardians allowed the Tigers to view his latest MRI. The Tigers immediately transferred him to the 60-day IL to clear a 40-man spot for Finnegan. This means Sewald won’t be eligible to pitch for the Tigers until at least Sept. 10. Chalk that up to a low-cost lottery ticket.

Heuer, meanwhile, is having a good season in Triple A, has some real upside and will first report to Toledo as depth for the Tigers.

All these pitchers could help the Tigers. Let’s not discount that. Bullpens are fluid and volatile things. There is some strategy here in what proved to be a competitive market for top-flight relievers.

“We felt like it was a better approach for us to attack it in volume with some guys that are doing some things under the good that we really value and that are predictive of future performance,” Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris said.

Might this quantity-based approach be more prudent than sending over a large prospect package for a more flashy reliever, only to gain a few more decimal points of WAR?

That’s the optimistic view.

“I think if you study every deadline over the last 10 years, I think one thing you’ll find is oftentimes the flashiest moves generate a lot of excitement at the time and fail to impact the team as much as you would have hoped, as much as you would have liked,” Harris said. “I’m not saying that’s all the time. There are certain anecdotes of a move changing the trajectory of an organization. I’m just arguing that that’s the exception, not the rule.”

But this is a competitive industry, however, and the Tigers were lapped by other contending teams willing to take bigger swings. Ryan Helsley, Jhoan Duran, Tyler Rogers, David Bednar and even Mason Miller, among others, went elsewhere. In all those deals, buying teams were willing to part with various levels of prospect capital.

As the deadline came and went, the Tigers did not simply hold onto their top prospects. They kept their farm system almost entirely intact.

“A lot of the moves we passed on felt like moves that were going to haunt us for many years to come,” Harris said. “We felt like we have one of the best, if not the best, farm system in all of baseball. … We felt like, at this moment in time in this organization, giving up young players to chase short-term fixes is not in the best interest of the Tigers.”

For all the value in the minor leagues, it’s funny to look at who they designated for assignment to initially make room for Sewald on the 40-man roster. That was Matt Manning, once a No. 9 overall pick and a touted top prospect. Manning’s development never fully clicked. He leaves the organization with a 4.43 ERA in 50 career MLB games. After his DFA, the Tigers traded him to the Phillies for minor-league outfielder Josueth Quinonez.

The Tigers evaluate and draft differently — and by all accounts, better — than they did under the regime that drafted Manning. But the point about the uncertainty of prospects still stands.

Here, after the deadline, the Tigers acquired players to deepen and perhaps help their bullpen. The team is at least somewhat better. The future remains bright.

But it’s worth wondering: Are Detroit’s middle-tier prospects really worth more than a high-level relief arm?

And if this isn’t prospect hoarding, what is?

“There will be times in my tenure where we do chase the flashiest name, and we go land the flashiest name and it does really help us,” Harris said. “But only if it fits our needs and it fits what we need to address in the second half leading up to October.”

Trusting what got you here

The Tigers did not add any position players at the deadline. If they were not willing to make an aggressive play for Eugenio Suárez, perhaps that is not the worst thing. They could have tried to add a platoon hitter slightly more proven than, say, Jahmai Jones. That would fit the winning-on-the-margins style this team prides itself on.

Instead, the Tigers seem content rolling with a versatile lineup that scored the third-most runs of any American League team in the first half. Since the All-Star break, though, the Tigers rank 25th in the league with a .671 OPS. The worst of their cold spell seems to be over — they are now winners of four straight — but they are also banking on players such as Zach McKinstry to continue exceeding their career norms.

As for offensive improvements, the Tigers seem to be hoping players such as Matt Vierling and Parker Meadows (now on the injured list with a quad strain) can get going in the second half to make up for any dropoff elsewhere.

“I think as we explored the market, the central question that we asked ourselves over and over again is, ‘Is the player available better than the player we have? Do we believe in the player available more than we believe in the player we have right now?’” Harris said.

In terms of position players, the Tigers’ answers seem clear.

Do they have enough in the rotation?

In addition to Morton, the Tigers traded with the Twins for right-hander Chris Paddack and minor-league reliever Randy Dobnak earlier this week. Paddack, viewed as a back-of-rotation starter, had a nice first outing with the Tigers on Wednesday, going six innings and surrendering only one run.

Adding Morton at the buzzer was a slight surprise, given the Tigers hadn’t been seriously linked to any starting pitchers. But he could add helpful depth to this rotation. Morton is on a one-year, $15 million deal — the same money the Tigers gave Alex Cobb, who has yet to pitch this season due to injury. Morton, who pitched for A.J. Hinch in 2017 and 2018, was a disaster to begin the season, posting an 8.35 ERA in his first 11 starts. But after a brief foray in the bullpen, Morton has been better since returning to the rotation, posting a 3.88 ERA in his 11 most recent starts.

In Detroit, Tarik Skubal is the unquestioned ace. But with Reese Olson out for the season (that was the motivation for getting Paddack) the Tigers will look to up-and-down starters Casey Mize and Jack Flaherty to find more consistency down the stretch.

José Urquidy, who signed this offseason but is still rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, could pitch for the Tigers in August and September. Rookie Troy Melton is now slated to move to the bullpen, and Detroit might even still be hoping Cobb can give them something before year’s end.

In case it’s not clear, the Tigers are relying on young pitchers and arms past their primes to round out both their rotation and their bullpen. They are trusting their models and clinging to their prospects.

Looming in the backdrop of all this: Skubal is perhaps the most dominant starting pitcher in the game. Next season will be his last under team control. As a Scott Boras client, Skubal could be difficult to re-sign.

Bright as the future appears, would it be more beneficial to go all-in while you have Skubal and while you have a first-place team in front of you?

“I think this idea of a window is an illusion,” Harris said. ” I think All-Star break to All-Star break, we have the most wins in all of Major League Baseball. And Tarik Skubal is most certainly leading the way and he has been leading the way here. … I’m not looking at this as a window. It doesn’t mean I’m shorting the present for the future by any means. But this whole idea of a window is not really filtering into my head because it’s my job to get to the postseason every single year if I can.”

This time last year, the Tigers were sellers and ended up making the postseason.

This year, they were clear buyers who chose to purchase quantity on the margins.

Are they the ones operating better than the rest of the league?

Or is this passive deadline approach going to come back to haunt them?

“I think specifically when we lined up deals with other teams, the asks were some players that we think might actually be better than the players that we would be acquiring,” Harris said. “They’re obviously on different timelines, but it’s really important that we continue to build through development and we continue to build through growth that we can access from within.

“It’s one of the reasons we’re here right now. It’s one of the reasons why the organization is so healthy and we have a nine-game lead and a farm system that’s winning a ton. So I got to balance that. That’s the job. And if that subjects me to criticism, I totally understand it.”

(Photo of Kyle Finnegan: Greg Fiume / Getty Images)

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