Jon Morosi is reporting that the Tigers are gearing up for the trade deadline, and are doing their homework on the Marlins.
#Tigers have scouted and done preliminary work on #Marlins available starters. Miami has rotation depth to trade.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 2, 2015
Just a few days ago, he reported that teams had started to inquire about several of the Marlins pitchers; specifically Mat Latos, Dan Haren, Tom Koehler, and reliever Brad Hand. We now know that one of the interested teams is the Tigers, which makes perfect sense given their middle of the pack starting rotation. It ranks 15th overall in terms of fWAR, and one of their starters, Alfredo Simon, has started to regress significantly.
It's also hard to count on Justin Verlander, as our own Mike Bates writes. With his future uncertain, Simon's value decreasing, and the lack of a reliable fifth starter, it's imperative for the Tigers to make at least one upgrade to their starting staff.
In addition to their rotation, they desperately need help in their bullpen. Detroit ranks 29th overall in bullpen fWAR with a value of -0.5, and their lack of shut down relievers was greatly exposed down the stretch in 2014. A larger problem however may lie with the manager, Brad Ausmus, who apparently values "stuff" over results.
#Tigers Ausmus on Chamberlain's stuff: pic.twitter.com/CcjhlidRoV
— Catherine Slonksnis (@CSlonksnis) July 2, 2015
Dave Dombroski doesn't have a lot of prospects to deal, as three of the players listed on Baseball America's top 10 have already been traded to other teams. However it shouldn't take much to pry Latos or Haren away from the Marlins. Both are free agents at the end of the season, which dramatically drives down their price. As for their bullpen, Jordan Freemyer has the top 10 relief pitchers to watch at the deadline, one of whom could potentially find himself with the Tigers.