Detroit Tigers Trade with Los Angeles Dodgers Has Been A Rare 'Win-Win'
The Detroit Tigers sold one of their pitchers to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the recent MLB trade deadline and so far, the deal looks good for both sides.
Brian Murphy of MLB.com ranked the best additions at the deadline and Jack Flaherty came in at the sixth spot. He hasn't been dominant, but has still been quite good.
"Putting together his best full season since 2019, Flaherty has exceeded expectations all year long and should play a prominent role on a Dodgers staff that will be burdened with sky-high expectations once the postseason begins. He, much like [Yusei] Kikuchi and [Zach] Eflin, has provided a significant boost to banged-up rotation," said Murphy.
The 28-year-old made the most of his short stint with the Tigers, building a lot of confidence after a couple of lackluster campaigns and a really disappointing close to last season.
Over his final nine games with the Baltimore Orioles a year ago, he finished with a 6.75 ERA over 34.2 innings pitched.
He's already had better success with the Dodgers, with a 3.49 ERA over 28.1 innings in five games. Along the way, he's striking out slightly less batters than he was with Detroit and is giving up a few more hits. Overall, though, Los Angeles should be happy with how things have gone.
In exchange for the solid starter, the Tigers were able to pick up two solid prospects that have had different starts to their time in the Detroit system.
The center point of the trade for the Tigers was catching prospect Thayron Liranzo, who now ranks as the sixth-best player in the farm system. It was a position of need and Liranzo has come out of the gates firing on all cylinders in the minor leagues.
Over his first 19 games for High-A West Michigan, the 20-year-old has a very impressive .359/.512/.656 slashing line. That's way up from when he was playing for the Dodgers' affiliate, where he sported a .700 OPS.
The power was something they hoped would develop and it already has with four home runs so far. He hit 24 a year ago. He has a strong arm as well, which bodes well for the catcher side of his game.
Detroit also picked up Trey Sweeney in the trade, a rookie that has taken over shortstop duties following the Javier Baez Injury. Sweenery has a .182/.206/.303 slashing line over his first 11 career games.
DYLAN SANDERS