MLB Writer Shuts Down Wild Detroit Tigers Trade Idea With Division Rival for Ace
The Detroit Tigers are entering an offseason where they must aggressively make moves to take the next step towards legitimate contention on the heels of a last month and a half of the season where they became the hottest team in baseball and made the playoffs, eliminating the Houston Astros in the Wild Card round.
Even though Detroit sold at the deadline, the team made due with what they had and went on the historic run, proving to ownership and management that they are not far off from being a real title threat and that investments need to be made now. The Tigers are still an extremely young team and the rebuild is starting to take fruition, so an argument can be made to stay the course and let prospects develop, but Detroit seems to have a rare opportunity to accelerate things.
They already have the best pitcher on the planet in Tarik Skubal, but a lack of anything reliable behind the likely Cy Young winner was ultimately one of the things that did the team in during the ALDS against Cleveland. The Tigers need to add at the very least quality arms behind Skubal, but what if the opportunity to acquire another ace presented itself? Bleacher Report proposed a deal for Detroit to acquire Chicago White Sox ace Garrett Crochet for top prospects Bryce Rainer, Owen Hall, and Ethan Schiefelbein, but Zach Pressnell of FanSided doesn't see this as a good deal for the Tigers.
"Would the frame work for this deal make sense? Yes, it would. The Tigers would love to add a talent like Crochet and the White Sox would love to add a ton of teenage talent," Pressnell wrote. "But this deal only really works in favor of the White Sox. Detroit would be very interested in adding a young ace with the team control that comes with Crochet, but not at the expense of their most talented teenage prospects."
Ultimately, Pressnell is probably correct in saying that this is likely too much for Detroit to give Crochet, who just made his first All Star game in 2024 in his first year as a starter. Crochet put up a 3.58 ERA over 32 starts and 146 innings, striking out 209 batters.
The numbers are encouraging enough to think he can develop into another bonafide superstar to go along with Skubal, but ultimately Crochet probably has not done enough yet to justify sending three blue-chip prospects in return for his services.
