The Detroit Tigers, despite dropping three of their last six games, remain at the top of the American League Central — as well as all of MLB — with a 42-24 record.
Led by a pitching staff with the fourth-lowest ERA (3.15) and an offense that has pushed across the fourth-most runs (325) in baseball, the surprising Tigers would seem to have no urgency to make moves at the trade deadline, or before.
But that doesn’t mean they should stand pat. That’s why ESPN’s top baseball insider, Jeff Passan, says Detroit should acquire Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette — if only as a “luxury item.”
Bichette has been the subject of frequent trade talk all season, mainly because the 27-year-old son of four-time All-Star Dante Bichette — who played for five teams in a 14-year MLB career — is in the final season of a three-year, $33.6 million contract extension with the Blue Jays, the team that made him a second-round draft pick in 2016.
The younger Bichette signed the extension before the 2023 season, allowing him to avoid arbitration with the Blue Jays — but still letting him become a free agent after this season.
“Bichette’s gap-to-gap power would play well at Comerica Park and lengthen a lineup that has scored more runs than anticipated,” Passan wrote in his roundup of anticipated trade deadline deals.
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“After a homerless April, Bichette whacked seven home runs in May and slugged better than .500,” Passan continued. “The Tigers don’t need much. With their prospect depth, though, they can afford a luxury item.”
The Blue Jays would be likely to insist on an impressive return of prospect assets for Bichette, but the fact that the shortstop would be a “rental” for the remainder of the season perhaps brings his price down.
Detroit’s No. 2 overall prospect is also a middle infielder. But 20-year-old Kevin McGonicle is estimated by MLB Pipeline to be two more seasons away from big-league readiness.
But McGonicle plus a major league ready pitcher such as No. 10 prospect Troy Melton — who has posted a 3.30 ERA in 43 2/3 innings for the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens this year — may be enough to land the two-time All-Star Bichette.
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