Last night, the Tigers landed right-hander Joakim Soria from the Rangers in exchange for two of their top prospects — right-handers Jake Thompson and Corey Knebel. Detroit has long been said to be in pursuit of relief help, and they’ve now added one of the top bullpen arms on the market. Here are some reactions to the deal as well as a few additional bits of info about the Tigers’ trade talks…
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that Soria was the Tigers’ primary bullpen target, and they didn’t pursue former Tiger Joaquin Benoit all that aggressively before landing Soria last night.
- Likewise, ESPN’s Jayson Stark tweets that the Tigers were never in on Philadelphia’s Jonathan Papelbon all that seriously.
- Soria himself is very excited to join the Tigers, agent Oscar Suarez old FOX Sports’ Jon Paul Morosi (Twitter link), specifically mentioning excitement over a chance to win. That excitement isnt surprising for Soria, who didn’t have much of an opportunity at the postseason early in his career with the Royals (he wasn’t with the club for their recent improvements).
- The Tigers have the prospect depth to add another relief arm if they wish, but it will depend on the asking price, writes Jason Beck of MLB.com. Beck notes that Detroit probably wishes to avoid too much long-term depth to the farm system, but he mentions Chad Qualls as a possibly more affordable option to pursue. Beck also reports that the initial asking price on Soria was higher than the one the Tigers ultimately wound up paying.
- ESPN’s Keith Law understands the deal for both Detroit and Texas (Insider subscription required and recommended). While the Tigers paid a steep price, he notes that Soria will be worth about an extra win over the remainder of the season and will be featured in some very high-leverage postseason innings. From Texas’ standpoint, they get a raw but projectable 20-year-old in Thompson who needs to learn to get more plane on his fastball and develop a changeup to succeed as a starter, plus a controllable potential seventh- or eighth-inning reliever in Knebel.
- Jim Callis of MLB.com “loves” the Rangers’ end of the deal, calling Thompson a potential No. 2 or 3 starter and noting that Knebel has closer upside (Twitter link).
- Soria’s value in the postseason could be significant, writes Fangraphs’ Dave Cameron. Cameron examines the usage of teams’ best relievers in last year’s playoffs, noting that while a typical elite reliever throws about five percent of his team’s innings during the regular season, that number increases in the playoffs due to more off days and the increased importance of late innings. The Red Sox used Koji Uehara for 9.6 percent of their postseason innings, which translates to about 140 innings during the regular season (a value of 246 innings when accounting for the increased leverage index).
- R.J. Anderson and Jordan Gorosh break down the trade over at Baseball Prospectus (subscription required/recommended). Anderson notes the steep price Detroit paid as well and wonders if the Tigers are done adding relievers. If Dave Dombrowski is serious about truly upgrading the bullpen (which he clearly seems to be), the Tigers should look to add another arm, Anderson opines. Meanwhile, Gorosh feels that Thompson could make an appearance on the back end of B-Pro’s offseason Top 101 prospects list, writing that he has the potential to be a “very strong No. 4 starter” and could have been the best pitching prospect in Detroit’s system (thereby implying that he likes him better than Robbie Ray).
Rangers need young depth from a pitching stand point. Looks good on paper, hopefully it can translate. Daniels really needs a strong showing from here on out, the local fan club is getting awfully restless.
I really dont see how Keith Law can like this trade but dislike the Houston Street trade so much. The Tiger gave up, arguably, much better prospects. Law place far too high a value on SS, Rondon has yet to make it above class A ball and would have been an unranked prospect in any system other than the Angels.
Just regarding Rondon’s value: maybe you would like to check again, as he is now ranked #8 in Padres System, which happens to be among the top 10 farm systems. I agree he’s only at Class A and a lot of things can happen, but not just for worst, he could shine also. That’s why they are called prospects, take nothing for granted.
Yeah, he’s actually ranked higher than Lindsey who was given a B grade by Sickels going into the year. Compared to Knebel and Thompson who both received B- grades. Then you throw in RJ Alvarez who looks like a high leverage reliever and you have yourself a much better deal than what the Rangers got back. Not saying that it was a bad deal for the Rangers just that the Padres got more value, but maybe Street just had greater value than Soria.
Agree. Have a nice day.
He must of had greater value to the Angels.He was the guy they wanted above all. Just like Soria was the #1 choice for the Tigers. I wonder if “matchups” is a the big factor in alot of deals. Tigers have pitching prospects to deal and Texas wanted/needed pitchers. Angels wanted/needed both pitchers and position players. Texas has plenty of infielders.
Who has published said farm system ranking since the trade? Law labeled Rondon the “eighth-youngest regular in the California League” but didn’t rank him in the Padres system in his analysis of the Street trade.
Rondon is ranked #8 and Lindsey #9 in Pads site at mlb.com.
About the farm system ranking, it is not after the trade, but post draft (padres are ranked #8 best system), according to bleach report. I guess they didn’t drop places by adding some decent prospects.
I would like the Tigers to keep Robbie Ray’s innings in check until August… then promote him as a Lefty Reliever.
Good chance that Ray can out pitch both Coke and Krol this year.
That way, they do not not have to trade for another reliever. That is exactly what they did with Smyly. If Ray is that good… get one inning out of him every couple days starting August.
I am sure Ray is on their radar once the rosters are expanded.
But that would be too late for playing in the post season.
As long as you are the roster by Sept. 1 you are playoff eligible!!
He’s been pretty shaky in Toledo his last few starts, not sure I’d count on him being a massive BP upgrade at this point, even over Krol/Coke.
I think he could be tuned to be an “all out” 1 inning left handed pitcher for the rest of the year.
It would also have the benefit of keeping his innings low.
It wouldn’t totally shock anyone who has watched DD the past few years if he goes out and gets a starter and moves Smyly to the pen. It would also set them up for the post-Scherzer era.
Smyly is a starter . Just because Smily was in the pen last year it doesn’t mean he is a relief pitcher. Most relief pitchers are just that because they only have 2 reliable pitches. Smily has 4. Smily was in the Tigers pen last year because he was the #6 starter and a lefty. He has 4 reliable pitches and our #5 starter this year. During the post season your #5 goes to the bullpen(Porcello last year). We wanted a Lefty in the rotation and Smily is that guy. DD may get another bullpen piece and can pick from a lot of options now that he got exactly who he wanted first.
I was thinking that way too but it comes down to price. I was hoping for A Miller to come back.
I might lose it if one more Tigers fan acts like Smyly belongs in the BP and not the rotation. Smyly isn’t going to the BP, he’s a starter now and for the future. There is a LOT of starting pitching depth in FA next season. In addition to Max is Lester and Shields who can both fit that ace/#2 category, and a number of other solid options.
The Tigers don’t need to deal for a starter now, as they don’t need another starter or BP arm to win their division. They need BP help for the post-season, not regular season, and Smyly will be in the BP for the playoffs anyway. All a starter now would do is move Porcello to the BP too come the playoffs (which isn’t happening).
I would love the Rangers end of the deal, too…
The Rangers got the better end of the deal long term. However, the fact Detroit is using Soria to set up Nathan is sheer insanity, it’s been proven Nathan cannot get the job done this year. Soria deserves to close.
see how long that last…