Detroit Tigers - From Worst to First

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I am going to keep an eye on these three guys to see if any of them can develop!

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After receiving a message from the owner "reviewing" the goals he set to start the season (which to this point I had not even thought about) I went looking at the trade block for a 3B upgrade.

Rangers were looking to trade Asdrubal Cabrera so I clicked on "Make this work now!" and one of the players was "Ulrich Bojarski".
I had never heard of this player before (his profile is below, and the OSA isn't much higher on him than our scout).

Rangers somehow will also pay the remainder of Cabrera contract which is a major win!!!

Asdrubal is putting up amazing stats through 76 games (OPS+ of 177).

Jeimer Candelerio has been sent to AAA (.202/.293/.350/.642 in 229 plate appearances in MLB in 2019).

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What to do with Nick Castellanos?

When I made the trade to get Gurriel/Biggio from Toronto before the season started my idea was to play Gurriel at 2B until we (inevitably) trade Castellanos, then move Gurriel to LF and callup Biggio to play 2B (who I was playing at 3B in AAA for a bit).

Nick has not had a good start to the year and probably is not worth much around the deadline. I think I might try to move him sooner than later.

Take a look at his stats below and let me know what you think.
He has been a blackhole in LF, so I am going to switch him to DH and put Christin Stewart in LF (his bat has died off too unfortunately).

[WarningTrakPower]

So... I was looking around to see what I could get for Castellanos and this trade is available.

Yuli also has 55 OF Range / 50 OF Error / 60 OF Arm (even though he only has one start in LF in MLB career).

Should I pull the trigger? Or wait it out and see if a better option comes around?

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Still pondering making this trade. Anyone have any insight?

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So the Astros retain 80% of Gurriel for 2019 and 2020, plus we pickup a decent SP prospect who is MLB ready in Perez.

Plus we dump 3 players from the 40 man that we have zero use for.

[WarningTrakPower]

So I pulled the trigger and added in Rogelio Armenteros!
I think if he doesn't work out as a starter, he has good upside as a backend bullpen option!

Let me know what you think!!

I will post an update of stats around July 1.

[WarningTrakPower]

Below is a few of the highlights from the July Development Report!

Also, this is a look at a few of the International Amateurs (334 of them for some reason for 2019).

I will post a team update next!!

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Below are some of the player stats as of July 2nd!!!

The "lefty specialist" is a wasted roster spot. So I might just release Dan Jennings (since we owe him nothing) and maybe call up another batter.

Since we traded for Jennings he has faced 2 batters (walking one and striking out the other).

I am going to adjust the "General Strategic Tendencies" (under the "League Settings" / "Stats & AI" tab) to see if maybe the bullpen gets more usage (and maybe the starters don't go as deep).
I had set "hook for SP" to "Default" and "pitcher stamina" to "Normal" before starting. This must be causing the lack of bullpen usage (IMO).

[WarningTrakPower]

Decided to leave this as it was, and just adjust our team strategy. Gardenhire's "hook for SP" was just too high and hence lack of bullpen usage.

I went through a lot of the other teams bullpens and didn't look like as large of a discrepancy.

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Tyson Ross was ready to come back from rehab assignment, so I decided to see what I could get for him (and dump the remainder of his $5.75 million dollar contract).

Phillies had Juan Nicasio on the trading block and they were willing to pay out the remainder of his contract!

Decided to throw in Dan Jennings (we weren't paying him anyways) to free up a spot in the bullpen so I didn't have to send someone down to AAA.

Juan Nicasio is now the closer and Gardenhire is going to use Shane Greene as a middle reliever, so I might dump him near the deadline (not interested in keeping him for 2020 at this point).

Also, Philly was in need for starting pitching help (so I may look to trade with them again sooner than later). They have Craig Kimbrell in the rotation (even though he hasn't started a game yet).
They have Nola near the end of a rehab assignment and Pivetta coming back in less than a week too.

[WarningTrakPower]

So this trade has been presented to the Tigers from the Cardinals...

I went in to the "Discuss Trade" option and it appears they would take 30% of DeJong contract (without adding prospects/players to make them possibly retain more).

Below is his current ratings (from our scout not OSA) / batting stats and a look at his contract (without retention).

Would you take on a soon to be 26 year old Paul DeJong if you knew you'd have to pay him $8.75 million (12.5 x 0.7) in his age 31 season?

I don't plan on resigning Mercer (might try to dump him before deadline anyways) and I had looked at someone like Marcus Semien a couple times this season as a potential trade target.

Also, we have a defense first SS prospect currently in AAA with Sergio Alcantara. He needs Rule V protection this offseason and could be in the 2020 plans.

Matt Boyd is under team control for 3 more season after this one. I think he could be part of the team long term and has been troubled by a high BABIP in 2019.

Let me know what you think!!!

[WarningTrakPower]

Turns out if I remove the prospect they offered, they will retain 85%!!!

I might see if I can give them Jordy Mercer, since I would have no use for him if I pulled the trigger.

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Before deciding on DeJong I wanted to see what I could get for Jordy Mercer before trying to send him to St. Louis.

I could take Dan Jennings back... and even just release him, since Braves are covering 100% of his contract.

That just feels cheap though. I could just keep Mercer as a backup IF option (though I'd have to send someone down).

[WarningTrakPower]

STL retains 60%

Don't have to give up Matt Boyd.
We can replace Diekman with Jennings (who we can get back for Mercer).

Candelario will have no options remaining for 2020. I'd like to keep him since he is very good defensive 3B, but his bat just hasn't been good enough.

Is this a smarter move?

[WarningTrakPower]

So since we were offered DeJong I have decided to go ahead and find a good trade for him.
I had high hopes for Candelario, but sometimes it just doesn't work out.
I am going to hold on to Matt Boyd for now, and had no interest in resigning Matt Moore (was injured and has only made 6 starts so far in MLB this season).

I dumped Jordy Mercer to get Dan Jennings back (since we had to include Jake Diekman to get STL to retain more money).

Also, we had no use for Shane Greene anymore, so we sent him to Washington for a 24 year old 3.5 star potential reliever "Jhon Romero" (who we are sending to AAA).

Matt Hall has been recalled from AAA after 6 starts and a sub 3 ERA (one day after his 26th birthday too).

Also, "John Schreiber" has been called up from AAA. He has yet to play in the MLB, but he has been lights out in AAA to a 1.36 ERA/0.94 WHIP.

[WarningTrakPower]

Added a new LF at the deadline.

Not sure what we are going to do with Christin Stewart yet.
He has a .720 OPS at the end of July with below average defense.

This "John Valente" doesn't look like someone who will turn in to anything usable.

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Below is the player development report for a few notable players.

And the stats of our hitters and pitchers.

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Couple new adds to the 40 man roster:

Rogelio Armenteros - Came from Astros with Yuli Gurriel and Cionel Perez in our trade of Nick Castellanos. Made 12 starts in Tuledo with decent results. Overall this year he had a 3.89 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, good homerun suppression and doesn't walk too many guys (2.8 BB/9). He's had over 300 innings in AAA, time to see how he does in MLB. I am going to try and get him a few starts in September. Matt Hall has been moved to the bullpen and Cionel Perez is taking his spot in the rotation for September.

Jhon Romero - Came from Nationals in our trade for Shane Greene. He only knows two pitches (65/70 Fastball and 70/75 Slider). Probably could have left him in AAA until next year. But I want to see what he can do in MLB.

Willi Castro - 22 year old switch hitting 2B (maybe backup IF type as he could probably man SS/3B in a pinch). He has hit at every level so far. In about 600 plate appearances at AAA this year he put up a .317/.362/.478/.841 for a 130 OPS+. Right now he might be our starting 2B in 2020, if we move Biggio to 3B. At worst, he is our backup IF.

Ronny Rodriguez - Was on the 40 man all season, but he looks like a "AAAA" kind of player. In 259 plate appearances in AAA he put up a .324/.331/.492/.823 for a 124 OPS+. He still has 2 option years left, but he will be 28 next year.

[WarningTrakPower]

Finished regular season at 74-88 (Third in AL Central)!
I am pretty happy with that, we were able to be competitive and led by surprisingly solid pitching all season.

Below are the 2019 MLB Pitching / Hitting Stats!!!