The Tigers may have helped develop a front-line starter in left-hander Matthew Boyd, whom they acquired from the Blue Jays in a deal for David Price in July 2015. At the time, fellow southpaw prospect Daniel Norris was seen as the best part of the Tigers’ three-player return, but it’s Boyd who has since emerged as the superior major leaguer. Now, with the noncompetitive Tigers amid a rebuild and not likely to return to contention in the near future, they may have to consider trading Boyd this summer.
Boyd debuted with the Blue Jays the same season as the trade and wound up turning in 57 1/3 innings of 7.53 ERA/6.59 FIP ball between Toronto and Detroit. He was much better over the next three seasons, including when he totaled 4.3 fWAR in 305 1/3 frames from 2017-18, yet still didn’t look like much more than an average starter. But Boyd has found another gear in 2019 – his age-28 season.
Across 83 2/3 innings this year, Boyd has already put up a career-best fWAR (2.8) that trails only Max Scherzer among starters. Thanks in part to a lethal fastball-slider combo, Boyd’s also third in the league in K/BB ratio (6.93), sixth in K/9 (11.16) and BB/9 (1.61), eighth in FIP (2.93), 15th in ERA (3.12) and swinging-strike percentage (13.4), and 25th in contact rate (73.2). Furthermore, there’s almost zero difference between Boyd’s weighted on-base average/expected wOBA against (.272 versus .271).
Based on his production to date, the 2019 version of Boyd has been an ace – and a cheap one at that. Relative to his performance, Boyd is earning a pittance ($2.6MM) in his first of four potential arbitration-eligible years. Considering Boyd is breaking through as a top-flight starter who’s under control through 2022, it wouldn’t be remotely surprising to see the Tigers go forward with him. That said, there’s a case for Detroit to cash in its best trade chip this summer, when Boyd would outrank Marcus Stroman, Madison Bumgarner and others as the most desirable starter on the block.
Even with Boyd in the fold, it doesn’t look as if the Tigers have nearly enough quality building blocks in the majors or minors to work their way back into contention over the next couple years. There’s hope in the Tigers’ starting staff in the form of Boyd, Norris and Spencer Turnbull. But the team’s premier reliever, Shane Greene, isn’t signed past this season and may find himself on another roster in the coming weeks. Switching to the offensive side, Brandon Dixon and Nicholas Castellanos have been the Tigers’ only league-average batters this season. The 27-year-old Dixon has struck out 37 times and drawn three walks in 98 plate appearances, indicating his bubble’s going to burst. We know Castellanos can hit, but he’s a free agent-to-be whose overall value is limited by his defensive shortcomings. Down on the farm, the Tigers do have prized righty Casey Mize – the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft – but Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs still don’t see a special system in place.
While the Tigers don’t boast an elite collection of farmhands, trading Boyd would change that to a certain extent. He’d command a massive return right now, though it would be an agonizing call on the Tigers’ part to let him go. However, with Boyd’s value perhaps at its zenith and Detroit seemingly not nearing a return to relevance, general manager Al Avila may have to think about putting his club’s ace on the block. What would you do in Avila’s position?
(Poll link for app users)
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The haul they could get right now off this trade would seriously jumpstart their rebuilding stage! It would be foolish to hold on to him when they’re at least 3-4 years away from competing. Don’t risk injury depleting his value, cash him in for a kings ransom!
Boyd has been decent only 1/3 of one season out of parts of 5 seasons in the majors. The Tigers probably won’t get a prospect in the Top 100.
Look for a couple of guys from the back end of some teams Top 20 prospects.
Lmao you are an absolute clown. There’s zero chance Boyd would be dealt out of Detroit for a couple back end top 20 guys in a farm system. That’s a complete joke. Lefties with those kind of numbers and controllability do not come cheap.
I strongly second that opinion. Detroit has no need for back of the farm type prospects. If Boyd is indeed more valuable than Bumgarner and Stroman as Connor stated, it seems to me like it would take at the very least two top-100 prospects.
I strongly strongly doubt it will take two top 100 guys. He does not have the track record to pay that steep of a price but you will have to pay. There’s no incentive for the Tigers to give him up for a couple backend top 20 .org guys. That just makes no sense. He has 3 years of control left and he will be relatively cheap next season if that’s the kind of lowball offers they’re getting. Patrick Corbin was undoubtedly better than Boyd was prior to his Breakout but that man just got himself 140MM and he was far from elite aside from last year. Boyd certainly has trade value.
Exactly.
As a pirates fan, I’d be fine with dealing Reynolds and a top 5 for him
It would take Hayes and Swaggerty to get Boyd.
That sounds about right. Look at what Al has gotten back so far in all of his trades. I count maybe one in the top 100 and he has been hurt ever since the Tigers acquired him and he is no longer in the top 100.
Candelario was a top 100 prospect before losing prospect status (MLB)
Paredes is now a top 100 prospect (MLB and BA)
F Perez is a top 100 prospect despite injuries (MLB)
Daz Cameron is a top 100 prospect (ESPN)
That is from just two trades by Avila.
This comment is exactly why the Tigers won’t trade Boyd.
Lol not even close to accurate. that is your opinion and view on his talent and worth which if fine but the baseball world laughs at that opinion imo
Nope, Boyd is ABSOLUTELY bringing back at least one top 100 MLB prospect and 2-3 other from a teams top 10. You are 100000% wrong.
Boyd isn’t going to bring back 3-4 top 10 team prospects either that’s as ludicrous as what he said.
Yes, to Atlanta.
Boyd for Pache and Anderson?
Not likely. Maybe Beck or Ynoa and Cruz.
Yeah right…You guys highly underestimate Boyd’s value.
Koamalu stop trolling this thread. You are wrong. Stop being wrong.
That would be a big no by Atlanta.
That is fine but it takes two of the prospects you do not want to give up so counter.
Pache and Anderson is far too steep but you have a top pitching prospect to include. The Braves system is obviously very pitcher heavy so it very well could be 2 arms going back for Boyd. The tigers system is also heavy on pitchers so there may be a better match elsewhere unless a guy like Drew Waters was the headliner and I don’t believe that will be the case.
I think the braves view Waters about the same as Pache.
Yeah I would not expect either to be apart of a trade for Boyd. Would be shocked if that were the case. I’m just not sure if Detroit will be targeting hitters from other organizations for Boyd instead of ATL’s pitching prospects. Other than those 2 and Contreras(C of the future) there aren’t really any high end hitting prospects. Which is to be expected considering they recently graduated Acuna, Riley, Albies and they have 2 more promising OF’s in the pipeline.
Drew Waters OF and Kyle Muller LHP. Braves are deep in young lefty hurlers… Muller is rated 11th on the Braves prospect list and the 4th lefty and 7th pitcher. Waters is their second highest OFer.
I think a deal to the Astros would be better. They have many starter questions coming up with Cole leaving and Mchugh and Miley as free agents, get someone that will be there a while. Plus, he’d have a solid coaching staff. OF Alvarez and 1B Beer for Boyd. It’s a steep price, but the Astros are deep with prospects. Alvarez is the third OFer prospect behind Tucker and Fisher (maybe 4th with Myles Straw). Beer is a DH that is mediocre at 1B. Not a demanding skill set, but his hitting is badly needed in Detroit.
Good Atlanta counter would be Waters and Muller but not sure Detroit would do that. From Houston a Tucker+ or Alverez/Martin combo.
You have to look at it from the Tigers perspective: they need bats, not arms, thats why Boyd is on the table to begin with, because Mize and Manning are right there. Pache has to be in the deal, Anderson can be subbed out for any one of like 10 pitchers, and then an additional prospect bat gets it done.
Teams should be very skeptical of Boyd. It’s still a very small sample of dominance.
Boyd is #2 in WAR for starting pitchers. Why are none of you warheads talking about that?
Giolito #1!
Boyd has the pedigree and has long been known to have a high ceiling, thats why he was traded for Price. Why are you not bullish on him? Show your work for once other than being wary for no reason.
Remember when this same question was asked about RoY Michael Fulmer just 2 seasons ago Tigers Fans?
You trade Boyd and you trade him Right Dang Now…
Besides, in 2021 the rotation (years of control) will look like Mize (5) Manning(5) Turnbull (4) Faedo (1 or 5) and a nice FA signing like Bauer or Back to the Future w Robbie Ray (4 or 5 either), with maybe Fulmer as a 6th and Franklin Perez being a devastating Opener or Closer…
Between drafting Riley Greene, next year’s #5 or so pick, plus what they can get for Boyd, Castellanos and Shane Greene, added to Christin Stewart, Jake Rogers, Daz Cameron, Isaac Paredes and maybe Parker Meadows, they have a really nice chance to set things up right for a long run. Then just imagine Chris Illitch spending like Daddy did…
You had me goin until “Chris and spending” appeared in the same sentence.
How ya doin Weas?
Right as rain, Pdono. Goin on a cruise tomorrow. Life is good.
Remember when yankee fans were tired of Sanchez and wanted a different catcher. Fullmer will be back, too. The Tigers need to build with the young players, not trade them. I still havent seen the Sale trade work out for the white sox. They were scrapping to get to .500 before the trade, and since. Build around Boyd, and look to extend him.
Excellent take.
I like the idea of extending and building around Boyd but with Boras as his agent and needing hitters for a unbalanced farm system makes lean trading Boyd for the right offer.
“I still havent seen the Sale trade work out for the white sox.”
Bro, the Red Sox would 10000000% take Yoan back in a nanosecond, you are dead wrong.
Lmfao! No way the Red Sox would redo that trade. They’d have to give a World Series championship back with it.
Lmao what? They’d take Yoan back now? After they’ve won a WS and got 3 extremely productive years out of Sale. I hate to break it to you but the Red Sox made that move for those past 3 seasons when Moncada was useless. That’s just a nonsense comment
He won’t be worth near as much as Tigers fans think because he is 28 and this is his first decent season, but the Tigers have no other trade pieces worth more than a borderline prospect so they should move him.
Boyd is not going to get a top 100 prospect with a career 4.77 ERA in 100 starts, but he could get them a couple of pieces that are towards the back end of some teams top 20 prospects.
I said this above, but I will say it again: The writer, Connor Byrne, believes Boyd is a more valuable asset than Stroman or Bumgarner. If that is indeed the case, why wouldn’t they get a top 100 prospect or two?
You’re obviously agreeing with Connor’s analysis of Boyd’s value, while Koamalu and a few others are not.
The suggestion that Boyd may fetch only a couple prospects from the low end of another team’s Top 20 is being made on the premise that Boyd is *not* substantially more valuable than Bumgarner and Stroman.
Ok but their premise is based on what he’s done several years ago when Connor’s analysis, other sites, and many advanced statistics show his breakout is real. The people who are doubting Boyd’s value even though their is evidence he’s good are like Dyatlov in the show Chernobyl people present evidence and they ignore it.
My mistake there not their.
That Dyatlov/Chernobyl reference alone is enough to excuse 100 there/their typos, champdo!!
exactly right Koamalu
Trade Proposal Mike Trout for a backend top 100 prospect. Oh I’m sorry based on your comment I thought we were playing a game where we make bad trade proposals. His career Era doesn’t matter because his breakout is real. All you have to do is look at the advanced stats instead of focusing on what he did years ago.
Then it is not worth trading. A bird in the hand is worth more the two lower level prospects.
You have made this same post 5 times in this same thread, we get it, you have a personal hatred of Boyd that zero people agree with. WE GET IT. STOP POSTING.
Boyd will definitely get more than a couple of pieces at the back end of some teams top 20 prospects as several teams will be shopping for pitching at the deadline and Boyd has 3 1/2 years of control… Also Detroit does not have to trade him. Detroit will get a good package from someone.
I like Boyd for an Astro. Just for selfish. They have the knowledge for develop and polish. Boyd would become world class in Houston. Tigers give him up for three good/great AAA Astro prospects. Do it!! A lot!!
To MIL for Ashby and Grisham?
Connor how is he a front line starter now with this being the only season hes had any success? Only a small sample size this year hes been good. Its just like saying Jordan lyles is a front line starter because he got a mid 3s era this year so far. I remember wade miley having a stretch like this for dozen starts and he went back to his old bum self. He has no success prior, so i need to see alot more starts like this before hes considered front line
Because there’s more than just bottom line success. Wade Miley had horrible peripherals and those numbers were completely unsustainable. Matt Boyd’s 2019 numbers would comp him favorably to what a guy like James Paxton has done over the past few seasons. 11K/9 less than 2BB/9. 3 more years of control. That is a valuable commodity. It won’t cost multiple top 100 prospects but they will get much more than a “couple back end top 20 farm guys.”
Jbigz… You cant compare Boyd to Paxton lol. Hes had less than 80inn of descent ball, He throws 90-92. his numbers will get back to his usual. His stuff is avg, he’s just had a good run. Hes still a #5 SP fella
I assume you’ve hardly ever or never seen Boyd pitch. He is hardly a number 5 starter. Here is how you can tell his breakout is for real. He has a Fip of 2.76, a Whip barely above 1. His batting average on balls in play is another reason to think his breakout is genuine. Average Babip for both pitchers and position players is .300. If it’s significantly higher, it means a pitcher has means the been unlucky, and if it’s considerably lower, it means they’ve been lucky and will regress. Boyd Babip is .295, meaning he really hasn’t been lucky. You and others have harped on Boyd’s fastball being in the low 90’s, but that isn’t the full story. If you read Fangraphs, you would have seen that Boyd has changed his arm angle resulting in his fastball having much more spin. Boyd’s fastball spin is in the 81st percentile which is really good.
boyd sucks, he sure did have a great outing tonight. a lot more to follow, his era will be back to the mid 4s before season end
Hey fella rumors are jordan Lyle’s changed his arm slot and now is pitching alot better his peripherals are better in 19, so im thinking he will demand some top prospects too right?? lmao
As a Tigers fan, I would hate to see Boyd go. He looks legit, and all the peripherals back up his dominance. But if we could pull a Alec Bohm from Philly or a Luis Urias from SD, Avila would have to consider it.
i could see boyd for corey ray from Brewers. Def no alec Bohm tyle caliber prospect lol. What you chiefing on fella?
What am I cheifing on? A few weeks ago all the Philly papers were like “Hey we should trade Alec Bohm for Matt Boyd.” It seemed like a very reasonable prospect to them. Of course, seasoned Philadelphia sports writers are clearly not as knowledgeable about MLB as comment trolls like yourself.
Lol KRay no thank you. Mil would have to offer Hiura and another good prospect for Boyd.
People are way underestimating Boyd’s value right now around baseball.
There is zero chance Hiura would be in that deal. Perhaps with Shane Green thrown into the same trade MAYBE but even then i would doubt it.
They will get not only pitching but positional players as well. A system as depleted as theirs needs more than pitchers. At minimum you would see a top 50 pitching prospect and two top 100 position prospects probably with a fringe thrown in to boot. He’s still controlled for another three years through arbitration. They will make a haul for him. It may take a three team trade for some to pull it off if they want him.
You lost your mind man lol. Top 50 & 2 top 100 for career 4.77era soft tossing lefty.
So your position is that career ERA is the best possible way to value a pitcher? No wonder you don’t see the value in Boyd.
In 2014 Justin Turner was a career .684 OPS in 926 PA, I bet you hate players like that!!!
How does it feel to not know anything about how baseball works? lol
Norris was 18th overall in Baseball America’s midseason rankings, and Boyd and Jairo Labourt were 11th and 19th best in the Toronto system when they were traded for a stretch-run ace in David Price.
You’re suggesting on the basis of fewer than 100 strong innings and a few more years of the unproven Boyd would fetch a potentially stronger return than Price?
2015 Mike Fiers and Carlos Gomez for Josh Hader, Adrian Houser, domingo Santana and Brett Phillips
2016 Matt Moore for Matt Duffy, Michael Santos, and Lucius Fox
2016 Andrew Cashner and Colin Rae for Josh Naylor, Luis Castillo, Jarred Cosart and Carter Capps. Rae for Cosart were a do over because of injury.
Colin Rea for Castillo was the do-over.
Yes, because Price was traded with 2 months left of control. Boyd gives you 3 relatively cheap years after 2019. This was not that hard to understand.
Trade Boyd! Look what the Rays got for Archer….an ace in Glasnow,,an MVP candidate in Meadows and a first round stud in Baz. Boyd is much better than Archer.
Whether or not we “should” trade our best player depends on the offer. Don’t just give the guy away but if there’s a good offer he shouldn’t be off limits. No one should. We suck. If someone blows us away with a good offer than there’s no reason not to.
The Tigers do not have to trade Boyd unless a team offers them a deal they can’t refuse. The Tigers have Pitching Prospects, they will want position players in return.
I voted to trade but I really hope they keep Boyd. A Team will have to over pay to pry him away.
Boyd & Greene to Boston
Boston doesn’t really have any top 100 guys, Would much rather trade with Atlanta or Phillie.
What about Chavis?
When is the circle of doom going to stop! Trade for prospects; trade prospects that produce for more prospects (many who never make it); and on and on as the Tigers continue to lose big as their rebuilding plan is a complete failure under Avilia!
It’s really funny how all these guys are talking down Boyd when I doubt any of them have seen him pitch this year. I know for a fact a lot of scouts love him and love his contract him making no money for the next 3 seasons…… teams will pay a pretty steep price for that
The only way someone gets Matthew Boyd is if they take Jordan Zimmermann too. In return, the Tigers will get an offer they can’t refuse. Boyd is not a “flash in the pan” and he is not an out of shape Michael Fulmer. Still, I want the Tigers keep Matthew Boyd.
The Tigers will soon be trading Shane Greene and Nicholas Castellanos. I hope they get some quality position future players and avoid acquiring free agents; they make a habit of failure. Miguel Cabrera will continue to be a big wrench in the rebuilding plan.
I agree. Don’t be in a hurry to trade Boyd. You can do that in a few years. Besides let’s be honest, you will get far back less than you traded. In the last couple of years we traded Price, Verlander, JD Martinez, and others and so far, out side of possibly Boyd is all we have to show for it.
who takes Casty? If the Tigers barely could deal JD, who would take Casty for propsects? Answer that one. Also, you don’t trade Boyd and Zimmerman…you ruin the only chance to get a big return forcing a team to take Zimmermen. Also, zimmerman is done after 2020. Miguek Cabrera was acquired in 2007 a year before he hit free agency and the Tigers signed him to a long term deal. It is the second deal that was the problem and he wasn’t close to free agency.
Tiger fans overvalue Boyd. Plus, he has not done anything for an extended time. He had a mediocre career until last year, started with two hot months, and then was pretty mediocre. This year, again two hot months, even hotter than last year. You can make any analytic case you want that this represents a ‘true’ break out, but until he carries this into the hot months of summer, it means little. People argue his value will never be higher, but that would be wrong. The rest of the league knows Boyd as well or better than we do, and will not be offering a ton for him until he is able to perform at his current level for a much longer time. So if he can continue to pitch this well, his value would likely be higher this off season or next trade deadline. He would still come at a reasonable cost and a decent amount of control.
So I don’t see the Tigers trading him unless another team goes crazy and makes them an offer they cannot refuse. Avila will at least listen though, because he is listening on everyone, even the hot dog vendor in RF.
There’s nearly two months to the trade deadline. If this performance keeps up they’ll have plenty of calls. There’s no statistical reason to think he can’t be a pitcher with an ERA in the low 3’s so I really don’t expect that to change.
In what video game did Archer win CY? IRT he never finished higher than 5th.
All this fuss over a guy with a 4.76 career era who has never really toe’d the rubber in a meaningful game.
Could see him netting a teams top 20 prospect and international slot $. Perhaps they could absorb a bad contract from a team to get a decent prospect.
I feel the Tigers need to trade Boyd at some point in the near future. I was also on the Fulmer trade bandwagon until he blew up with injuries. Detroit needs more star prospects and the only three way of getting those are draft, international signs and trades. The draft and signings takes a player 3-6 years to make it, so they need to trade Boyd to speed up the rebuild. Avila was burned once by not dealing Fulmer early and I have to think that will weigh on him with Boyd. I feel Boyd has improved each of the last three season and is a solid #3 or decent #2 longterm. With this, you should pull what White Sox got for Quintana…a Top 50 positional prospect and top 100 pitching prospect. at that time. Jimminez would go on to be a top 10 prospect and Dillion Cease would be a top 50 guy too.
You don’t trade guys with multiple years of control at club friendly salaries to accelerate a rebuild. You trade guys 30+ on expiring contracts or, better yet, with 1 yr before FA. Other teams are not going to send anyone a top prospect unless that player is blocked by an All Star at the MLB level. Prospects are called that for a reason, they haven’t proven they can play despite what any scout or commentator claims. Just ask the White Sox about Moncada. He was a can’t miss prospect who’s been moved to 3B after butchering 2B last year and is finally starting to hit after 1000 MLB PA including 217Ks last year.
they need to trade him this year, they can’t wait around and miss out on the opportunity like they did Fulmer. I think they could get a top 100 prospect but somewhere around 65 to 100. and possibly another teams 10 through 15 prospect.
I think a good trade would be to the Brewers for Corey Ray and Trey supak
I’m sure you do. Fortunately Avila’s smarter than that. Ray is JaCoby Jones with less defense and Supak wouldn’t even rank in the top 20 of the Tigers system. The Brewers would have to include Hiura to do make it interesting for the Tigers. An an injured OF that can’t hit & a 5th starter won’t do it.
Dude get of Boyd’s ball bag stat_head. The dude is trying his hardest to get his career era to 4.50 by the end of the season. Hes on a nice little stretch but…. Hes still just your run off the mill SP. NO ace and his stuff is below avg. At the end of the season when you look at the back of his ball card and you see 4.15era for 2019, you will maybe realize he just that #5 picture he was coming into the season
The Angles should cash in on Lastella, he got good peripherals, he adjusted his loft in offseason to get more ball flight, hes a beast now, lol hahahaha let me guess he going to get 3top hundy prospects too right stat head? I mean look at the ops who cares about his other 8years lol
I remember when Brandon inge had like 20 hr at the all-star break , and he joined the derby. i knew he was just having a lucky stretch, and the dude might of hit 3-4 after the break lol. The problem is everyone nut rides dudes who all sudden gets a good run going
your blither is not compelling.
If I were to trade Boyd to the Brewers I think maybe Ray, Dubon and Nottingham would be enough to get him or maybe add Devin Williams too .That would definitely put the Tigers on a good path
Not a good trade for Detroit by any means. Ray simply is a K machine and a overrated prospect and Dubon is a solid prospect at best.
Boyd is legit. He’s Top 10 in WAR among all MLB players and his peripherals are excellent. This defintely came outta nowhere though so obviously teams could be hesitant.
Still could net some Top 100 prospects though, likely outside of the Top 20 range.
Some reasonable packages could include:
SD: Urias + Naylor
ATL: Waters + Anderson
HOU: Alvarez + Martin
However if Boyd is packaged with Shane Greene than that could deliver an even stronger return.
Those would be reasonable packages. They might require a 20-30 prospect or an older prospect like Hill to be included but they would make sense for both teams.
Boyd will not get any top prospect. you see his outing tonight more of follow there jerky
hahahaha Alvarez? there is no way man. He is about to be moved to top 10 prospect. Boyd is by no means capable of landing him.
That means the Angels could land a bunch of prospects for Lastella right?? lol nah just because of small sample size of being good don’t mean there Worthy of all these prospects like people are saying
So prospects work out 100% of the time?? Using your logic, prospects have zero sample size. For people that look past career ERA, Boyd has put up impressive numbers for last season & improved this season.
PB your view of Boyd as a backend starter whose start to the year is a fluke is your opinion and if you were a MLB GM would scoff at the Tigers asking price and in time could be vindicated or you might regret not jumping on a LHP in his prime just breaking out into a true #2SP with years of control.
If Boyd is traded this year it will be to a team that believes in Boyd’s year as a true breakout and will give up the pieces for that type of asset.
I could see the Braves dealing Adam Duvall, and top MLB ready pitching prospects MLB#27 Kyle Wright and MLB#75 Bryce Wilson for pitcher Mathew Boyd and outfielder Nico Goodrum or Christin Stewart.
Horrible. Duvall is AAAA old trash and doesnt fit a rebuild, while Stewart is part of their rebuild. Do people even think or just vomit nonsense…
Wright and Waters for Boyd is a solid offer from Atl
Just trade all of the players named above (with the exception of Mize) to any team that is willing to eat the entirety of the malignant cancerous albatross of a contract that has the no hustle overeater Miggy Cabrera who is getting paid $32 mill a year for the next half decade for a player that at best is a .300 or so hitter which only occurs during the once in a blue moon occasions that he puts down the Twinkies long enough to stay baseball ready healthy. Imagine how bad is that contract is gonna be when he’s 40? They were only able to acquire him from the Marlins in the first place because Miami (Florida back then) realized he was going to eat himself out of baseball shape. Detroit will never win anything with that contract on the roster. If all of those guys aren’t enough to get it done then (I know it is an unbelievably hard pill to swallow) trade Mize to any team that is willing to take on the 2nd highest paid player on the team (who is also injured. What a surprise.) in addition to Miggy. That way the Tigers basically just sold Mize for over $200 mill. Mize will be great but it won’t matter if his entire team is being dragged down for 5 years. Cut the dead weight and rebuild for next year. Otherwise Detroit is waiting around to see what happens 5 years from now. The year after that Mize will likely be gone anyway. Tigers fans should thank their lucky stars that they were able to unload Prince Fielder on Texas when they did. They should have said nevermind the return and forced Miggy on the Stros when they were trading Verlander… even if they had to give up a couple additional prospects. Mark my words: the Detroit Tigers will never contend for a Championship at any point they are paying Miggy’s full contract.
Sorry for that extreme run on sentence. I just really wanted to encompass how bad that contract was for Detroit. Especially when it is attached to that particular player at such an old age.
Why do you care about his contract? It won’t stop them from any moves the want to make. It was only an issue when they were above the luxury tax threshold. I’d much rather watch Miggy pass 3,000 hits, 500 HRs and other milestones than gut the farm to save Chris I money.
As a Tigers fan, why can’t we have nice things? No one was putting the Yankees or Phillies young studs up for trade. I never saw an article about what Betts could bring if traded. Castellanos and Boyd show they can play, and it’s instantly what will they bring on the market. The Mets are struggling. Where’s the Alonso article? Other than the white sox moving Sale, Eaton, Quintana and Sieman while they were young and cheap, rebuilding teams build around young players who succeed, they don’t trade them. But, hey, Detroit’s not a major market, so why should they actually try to contend?
When you are a writer who only watches the AL East, Houston, & the Angels everyone else is apparently a farm club for teams they deem worthy.
they only have to look at michael fulmer to see why they should cash in on boyd now before its too late
Should they trade Mize & Greene too? They might get hurt.
fulmer was once the most in demand SP on the trade market. the tigers were not a good team but they held onto him and now he will not give them the value on the field and he wont return the prospect capital he could have once got. just a mismanagement of assets for the tigers
Hind sight is always 20/20
Maybe we could get future TJ patients back, like the white sox did. That does wonders for a rebuild.
i also would not be surprised to see boyd bring back a chris archer type of return. not 3 top prospects, because archer had his future salaries locked up while boyd could get very expensive in arbitration, but i could see two top-100 top guys being moved for boyd
To the fans of teams in-contention: do you trust Matt Boyd?
Do you trust Boyd over Bumgarner? Stroman?
Do you trust Boyd can handle the AL East if he were to be traded there? How about Colorado? Maybe the competitive NL Central?
For those commentors above with the trade scenarios….I don’t know how much a competing GM will pay for Matt Boyd. However, 1/3 of a season accounts for very little despite the years of control. It’s the Jeff Samardzija situation all over again, kinda.
I wouldn’t give up a lot for Boyd. I do not trust him or the season he has had to hold up if he is forced to leave the AL Central. May as well take on proven big game pitchers instead.
Com’on I hear some of you. But you fools who say keep this guy? Your typical idiot Tiger fans. How’s the Micheal Fuller situation looking? How about the haul he would have landed 2 YEARS AGO? Let’s go back a few years!!! Umm a team TORONTO wanted Ryan Perry and Rick Porcello for Doc Holliday. Hmm bet we’d have a championship had we done that. But NOOO lets hold on to guys that are a flash, like Quintin Berry. Ya fools. In 3-5yrs when this teams ready to compete if EVER under Avila, Boyd will be getting $25-30 million a year. You guys a fools that believe in keeping him!!!
The Tigers lost the playoffs because Jim Leyland couldn’t manage.
How much did Kyle Hendricks sign for. Like Boyd, he’s not the hardest thrower, so he accepted less. I would look at Boyd as a Mike Buehle type
Help refresh my memory. What offers did they get for Quinton Berry?
They didn’t. But in typical fashion I heard fans acting like he was the second coming of Vince Coleman. Point is Detroit fans see one game from a guy and he’s a HOF’er.
KisClub…, Not only are your assumptions baseless, you think you have to resort to name calling while something as simple as an opinion poll sets you off.
Really? Watch Detroit fans and how they act when a nobody has a 4 hit game. Or a nobody scores 25, a player has 2-TD’s in a game. Obviously you don’t watch or listen to the fans. When those things happen, it’s like hearing them speak of Barry, Al, Isiah. I mean if you know who they are. Trade the guy. The second 1/2 of the season he’ll have a 5+ era and lose 8 games. Teams adjust. Watch Garry
White Sox should pick up Boyd.
Covey out and Sox not yet bringing up Cease for whatever reason !
If the Tigers had a competent GM, I’d say trade him. But considering the dismal returns that Avila got for Verlander, JD Martinez, Ian Kinsler, etc., I have no faith in this front office to actually get any value in return for Boyd.
Tiger’s will not trade Boyd for anything less than 2 players in the top 100 overall. They are at a point where they need more top tier prospects and not depth pieces. If the trade is not there to get the deal done, Tiger’s will simply keep Boyd around since he is controlled for quite a while and cheaply.
Shane Greene is under control next year too. It’s his last year of arbitration.