The MLB trade deadline is coming up this Sunday (July 31st).
The Tigers still seem prime to make a move for pitching help after acquiring third baseman Wilson Betemit from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for some minor league players.
Jason Churchill of ESPN.com however believes that the Tigers may be in play for a shortstop in addition to pitching help.
Here are some potential short stop trade targets this deadline
- Rafael Furcal, Los Angeles Dodgers
- Jose Reyes, New York Mets
- Jason Bartlett, San Diego Padres
J.J. Hardy, Baltimore Orioles- Jack Wilson, Seattle Mariners
- Juan Uribe, Los Angeles Dodgers
Tigers fans are probably wondering why Churchill would name the Tigers as being in the market for a shortstop after Jhonny Peralta is having a career year at the plate. I’m wondering myself why the Tigers would be in the market at this point after the play of Peralta this season and after acquiring Betemit in a trade last week. If they were to acquire a shortstop at the deadline they would have to do some serious lineup shuffling.
One thing the Tigers cannot do is move Jhonny Peralta from the shortstop position. We’ve heard leading up to the deadline that the Tigers could explore the possibility of moving Peralta to either third base or second base. However if the Tigers were to move Peralta they could probably expect his production at the plate to seriously suffer as a result of the move. This is the same thing that happened in Cleveland when then manager Eric Wedge moved Peralta to third base. This eventually led to Peralta’s departure from Cleveland via trade to the Tigers.
The Tigers really have no business acquiring another infielder at the deadline. It would be irresponsible considering the fact that they still have a hole in their starting rotation and a need for improvement in their bullpen.
Source: ESPN