In the coming weeks, the Tigers will have to decide on a course of action regarding starter Matthew Boyd. That was the case last winter as well, but Boyd’s disastrous 2020 season puts the Detroit organization in a much less favorable position this time around.
Boyd was one of the most commonly-referenced trade candidates around the 2019 deadline and during the subsequent offseason. The rebuilding Tigers held firm on a lofty asking price for the controllable strikeout specialist and ultimately kept him in the fold. Unfortunately, Boyd struggled through an abysmal twelve starts in 2020, no doubt dealing a heavy blow to his trade value.
The southpaw pitched to a 6.71 ERA across 60.1 innings this past season. A fly-ball pitcher, Boyd has always been vulnerable to home runs, but the long balls spiked to an untenable level in 2020. Even more concerning, the swing-and-miss stuff that had made Boyd so appealing fell off substantially. His strikeout rate dropped from an elite level (30.2%) in 2019 to slightly below-average (22.1%) last year. Boyd still generated whiffs at a solid clip on a pitch-by-pitch basis, but his 238-strikeout 2019 season now looks more like an outlier than an indicator of an upward trend in performance.
With teams having to decide whether to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players by December 2, the Tigers have to determine if Boyd can get back on track. Arbitration salaries are tougher than ever to project this offseason, but MLBTR’s Matt Swartz pegs Boyd for something in the $5.5MM – $7.8MM range. That’d be great value for a high-strikeout, mid-rotation workhorse. But it’s not an insignificant amount of money for a player with a career 5.08 ERA/4.75 FIP. If Detroit feels Boyd’s 2019 season was something of an aberration, the organization could look to move on.
That could still take the form of a trade. Surely, the Tigers wouldn’t recoup anything close to what they would’ve received six months ago. It’s easy to envision other teams having interest in buying low, though. Boyd’s still only 29 years old (30 in February). He comes with another season of arbitration-eligibility beyond 2021, so there’s some long-term contractual upside if he figures things out. Notably, Boyd’s velocity and spin rates weren’t marginally different in 2020 than they were in 2019, so it’d be easy to hope for a rebound.
Robbie Ray, another high-strikeout southpaw who endured a similarly miserable 2020 season, could be an instructive case. Ray signed a one-year, $8MM deal with the Blue Jays shortly after entering free agency. Which one of Boyd or Ray one would rather have on their team is debatable, but that $8MM mark might be an approximate figure for Boyd’s current market value. That’s right around the high-end range of Boyd’s arbitration projection, making this an interesting dilemma for the Tigers.
they should have expected he’d regress. same reason why the Marlins waited too long to trade Caleb Smith
I mean it worked out for them as they got Marte
yeah but they very well could have dealt Smith for prospects, then dealt some of those prospects for Marte and had Marte plus prospect(s). Smith ended up being only part of the package for Marte, but had more value then that before.
Humberto Mejia is a pretty notable piece. He would have started the year at Double-A had there been a minor league season. He lost a year of development in 2017, but a pretty notable prospect. Although I don’t think the D-Backs got back what they paid for the outfielder, you’re too focused on just Smith.
Diamondback always gives up way too much in trades. They always lose in trades.
The martel trade was a great trade for Arizona. Not always
Ketel has had 1 good season and he couldn’t follow it up. That trade is only good because of the cheap extension he signed.
We’re talking about Starling.
JD Martinez for Dawel Lugo, Sergio Alcantara and Jose King
Did that really work out for them? He wasn’t very good after the trade, now a likely non contending team has a declining veteran. What’s the benefit?
declining based on what?
Age
It was a 112 plate appearance sample size. Before the trade he was hitting .311/.384/.443 with a 121 OPS+.
Yea his Marlin stats mean nothing. He’s at the decline age. He could be that outlier that is good into his mid thirties, but the odds say he’s about to decline based on age alone. I’m not basing this on his stats, just his age. Decline often isn’t the gradual slide many assume it will be, often it’s sudden. And the Marlins probably need another year or two before they step into their “window”.
I’d say it just depends on their intentions for 2021. If they’re competing, it makes sense to take what you can get or cut bait. If not, no harm in throwing $6m at a guy who can eat innings. Yea, the kids are getting close, but rn, the Tigers dont have immediate options to eat innings effectively. Bring him back to let him try to regain some value, pick off a cheap innings eater after the deadline and try to sell them off at the deadline
By the way, wrong link to Matthew Boyd
Thanks for the heads up!
Avila overplayed his Boyd hand. Might as well give him the $5-7M to see if the new pitching coach/staff can do anything with him. Could be an intriguing long-relief guy if his starts don’t pan out.
Avila always overplays his bag. Should’ve traded Fulmer when he was at his peak value and they weren’t close to competing, they instead decide to hold him and his value is as much as a $2 scratch ticket. Same with Boyd.
So true avila always wants a kings ransom and ends up with nothing.
They weren’t trading Fulmer for a bag of balls; either pay up with prospects or there is no reason to make that trade.
You monday morning QBs are pathetic.
No one was saying trade him for a bag of balls. Fulmer back then could’ve easily netted the Tigers a great package of players. There were even talks that the Astros were willing to talk Bregman for Fulmer before Bregman broke out, and Avila declined. Now the same with Boyd, could’ve probably gotten a really good package in a market desperate for starting pitching, then decided to hold off on him. Now you’d be lucky to get a Top 150 prospect for Boyd.
If you believe that idiotic rumor about Bregman you are simply looking for reasons to hate on Avila or are actually Fenech’s account. The obvious and most likely scenario was Avila asked for Bregman & Luhnow told him to pound sand.
If a trade isn’t going to make your team better then there is no reason to do it; Boyd has value because he is inexpensive.
The trade packages that you are naming are just rumors and nothing more.
Regardless it’s clear as day that the ask for Boyd and Fulmer at their peak value was ridiculous. You can’t go asking for a guy like Gleyber Torres right in the middle of a superstar breakout. Boyd and Fulmer each could have easily netted the Tigers at least two of a teams top 20 prospects and a lottery ticket but Avila blew it.
And for people like Hard To Walk who will act like those discussions never happened.
cbssports.com/mlb/news/yankees-tigers-have-discuss…
bleacherreport.com/articles/2847800-yankees-trade-…
12up.com/posts/tigers-absurd-asking-price-for-matt…
detroitjockcity.com/2019/07/29/previewing-gleyber-…
This is true and Yanks wanted him. I recall even last year many Boyd fans lambasting Yankee fans for saying Boyd wasn’t a frontline starter.
Welp, don’t let the door hit you where the Good Lord split you,Matt Boyd. Yanks will go with someone else. We are grateful for Avila’s integrity with not overselling Boyd to us.
And they wanted gleyber+ prospects for Boyd hated that Idea then now it sounds ridiculous
No harm in Tigers being patient for another year. Their payroll is miniscule. I read somewhere they actually made money last year. Hopefully the new coaches can ‘fix’ him. Fulmer as well(fingers crossed).
In all fairness, Fulmer hasn’t had a normal season since 2017.
I really doubt any team made money last season with zero fans in the park.
“Made money” is a relative term. Some owners won’t call it a profit unless the total revenue is over X# of dollars, while others will call it a loss under the same criteria. But yeah, overall you’d certainly have to think that the bank accounts of the owners will all be a little less fat going into 2021.
The Tigers’ revenues definitely exceeded their expenses last year.
They are one team that benefited from the drastically reduced payroll, as they had some bloated contracts on the books with declining gate receipts.
We’re reading comments from Manfred and many owners claiming they “lost money”, which is only accurate in the context of taking in less revenue. But that’s not a net loss. What is missing from these misleading statements is the fact- and it is a fact- that TV revenues still easily exceeded player expenses in MLB overall and in many MLB markets.
id love to see a poll on the pitching pipelines of DET and KC as to whose is better.
Of course they keep Boyd, need innings eaters with so many young pitchers with limited innings allowed. He still could return to form, it’s not like he’s Zimmerman.
To the Cubs he goes.
New pitching coach should play Cold Play “Fix You” on their first day working with these two
Does he play Carole King’s “It’s Too Late” after the first workout?
Not much of decision this year. Boyd is a mediocre pitcher at best but they need him for at least another season. So yes, they will tender him a contract.
But Boyd never had much trade value and thus was always more valuable to the Tigers than anything they would have received in return. Yes, he has amped up his strike out totals in 2018 and 2019. But he gives up the long ball and only seems to pitch really well in April and May. At best they would have received a mid level prospect back for him and even if he rebounds from a bad 2020 that is all they will get for him this year. So don’t blame Avila for holding him. Maybe Fetter can get him straightened out and get him back on track this year. In the past, Boyd was worth more than that mid-level prospect, but if the younger pitchers develop as expected this year that won’t be the case come the end of July.
But Boyd never had much trade value and thus was always more valuable to the Tigers than anything they would have received in return.
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I’d be shocked if he had low trade value. At the deadline, he had a 3.94 with a 178/29 K/W in 132 IPs. Those are huge numbers. With 3.5 years left. At that point, it looked that he was going to be a good #3, with upside of a #2.
Well you can make the same argument with the Mets and Syndergaard. Pitching is so flimsy that if youre not going to be a contender or the guy wont sign an extension you gotta trade them. Always sell high.
Boyd has Oakland A’s written all over him.
The Astros would kill him in that division.
And the Angels and As
The Angels are garbage and they won’t “kill” any team.
He was the most overrated pitcher to be on the trade block that I have seen in years.
Have you read the Boyd stories from 2019? Strong comedic reading material from the pro-Boyd crowd who’ve suddenly disappeared.
Boyd had a good couple of months, but he has always been a 4 or a 5 in a rotation. I never heard anyone claim he was an ace, but there were a whole bunch saying he wasn’t
I’d even argue he’s a borderline #5 and someone who should be a swingman. The only stat he has that’s below 4.5 is his SIERA at 4.29. He might get a decent amount of K’s and doesn’t have bad control, but his 1.62 HR/9 is the fifth highest in baseball since 2017 (min. 400 innings).
In a change of scenary trade, Matt Boyd for Steven Matz straight-uo
Straight up
Torres for boyd was one that I couldn’t stop laughing at. They didn’t want Frazier back then they probably hate that decision now. No not this tigers they probably think they can trade him for Tatis Jr. And prospects from San Diego.
The yanks think they can trade for anyone due to their overrated prospects; didn’t happen just like their championship.
I’ll agree there. More than the wild Atlanta crowd for several years asking the world for a hyped up Teheran they seemed to think was some front end starter type when was at best a NL mid rotation piece.
I’m not sure why so many people thought he was a good pitcher. Sure he strikes guys out but he also gives up tons of home runs
I think the Tigers let the cat out of the bag when Hinch started talking about him. There are some teams that the Tigers need to watch him, like the White Sox and Yankees who are both rh heavy power hitting teams that give Boyd the most trouble.
Boyd has the most ridiculous L/R splits for a starter. It’s sad that he has to face so many RH hitters.
I found it interesting recently when AL Avila was on High Heat after the Tigers hired Hinch and Al was discussing next year’s team he didn’t mention Matt Boyd. Seemed like he mentioned everyone else, even Daniel Norris who the Tigers have dicked around. Not sure if he simply forgot about him or there was a reason he wasn’t mentioned.
Judging by the link to his player page, he struggled to even get college hitters out last year. I think it’s time for the Tigers to move on.
For that kind of $ the Tigers are better off non tendering him (unless they both agree to a lesser amount).
Boyd to the Cubs for Kris Bryant and Parker Meadows. Who says no? As a Cubs fan, I say “Yes!!!!”
The Tigers already have a Parker Meadows.
I meant Meadows and Boyd going to the Cubs for Bryant.
The Cubs say no.
Man, don’t sell your assets short. Bryant’s value is down, but it’s not *that* down. If you’re willing to spend 5m bucks you can easily find 20 clones of Boyd in FA- serviceable 5th starters.
True, Boyd is not truly as good as he was in 2019, but I think he’d be good in a role of long relief / spot starter. Part of the reason for trading Bryant would be using that money somewhere else. For $20 million, the Cubs could have Matt Boyd, resign Jose Quintana, and sign La Stella. The Cubs sorely need more contact hitters and more pitching depth. I’m pretty sure out of all the playoff teams, they had the fewest pitchers with positive WAR.
Also, non-tender Schwarber and sign Jackie Bradley (or get something minimal in a trade; however, if Brad Hand could have been had by any Major League team, and all teams had to do was pick up his $10 million salary, and they all passed, that means money will be tight. In short, I don’t think anybody is giving up anything significant for Kyle Schwarber). Move Happ to left, and instantly the outfield defense goes from being a liability to being solid with Happ, Bradley, and Heyward left to right.
Also, Parker Meadows could be a solid contributor in CF for the Cubbies alongside Brennan Davis.
Trading Boyd last year would have been ideal for assets but would have devastated the Tigers. Even though his year was awful, hindsight is 20/20. If he bounces back, he can be flipped at the deadline. His optimum window is probably gone but a nice bounce back year puts things in a better situation. He was never an ACE and AA had a sell high moment with Fulmer & Boyd but choked twice. He’s-in better position now to do it with Mize Skubal and Manning almost ready.
He isn’t “bouncing back” he had a good 3 month stretch the first half on 2019. Take that run out and he has been below average for his career. 2020 was him bouncing back to reality.
Of course if they traded Boyd and he ended up being a stud they they’d be catching crap for being morons and trading away a stud.
He wasn’t traded because he was never a stud. Even on his best day.
@Oscar Gamble.. It’s wrong that you’re using that name without a profile pic. Best fro in the game!!
Ain’t that a fact Joe. During gamble’s Tribe days, when he had that massive fro, how did he keep that hat on? Super Glue? HAHA. The hair looked like porcupines sticking out 8-10″ in all directions from it, making the ball cap appear more like a skull cap. It was wild looking for those who have never seen his picture from those days and he was an outfielder back then. Had to routinely lose the ballcap running patterns in the field.
They used to call the part of his hair that stuck out of his helmet “Afro puffs”.
Tigers overplayed their hand badly. A guy who pitched great for two months with no track record was suddenly “valuable” to contending teams. Made zero sense and GMs didn’t buy into Boyd, and rightly so.
Because the Tigers overplayed their hand, Avila should be on the hot seat.
How did they over play their hand? I live in the Detroit market and never heard of an offer that they should have taken. You don’t just trade away a pitcher for anything offered. If Fulmer, Boyd and Norris had all been healthy and lived up to expectations, they would likely be contenders in the weak central now. Health just didn’t happen.
@stymeedone
You’re such a homer. Boyd isn’t even a one-year wonder, he’s half-a-year wonder. He has a good strikeout rate, which is fine if he didn’t get lit up almost every game. His numbers are bad and he pitches in a pitcher’s park. Imagine how bad his numbers would be if he pitched in a hitter’s park.
It should’ve been a no-brainer for him to get traded at his peak. He was already regressing even before the trade deadline last year, that should’ve been their clue to move him.
At least Fulmer had the numbers before his TJS. Norris is meh.
You should be more excited about Mize, Skubal, and Manning. If these 3 even come close to their potential, they will make Boyd, Fulmer, and Norris look like scrubs.
When you can get a return on a #5 acting like a #3 with years of control you make it happen. You heard nothing because the Tigers were offered next to nothing for a nothing starting pitcher. A next to nothing offer isn’t working leaking to the press.
I actually agree with you that the Tigers can contend in 2021. All they need are two bats and at least one starting pitcher. Whatever they can do to make Boyd a reliever.
Boyd was always way overrated. The Tigers should’ve taken the best offer and ran away laughing.
The Tigers made the same mistake with Boyd that they did with Fulmer. They were a rebuilding team that didn’t properly value either asset and trade them at peak. There was great interest in both but the Tigers asked for too much. Boyd should have been gone at the 2019 trade deadline, but they valued him as if he was one of the top pitchers in the league. Boyd had a 5.67 ERA over the last four months of 2019, so his struggles this year wasn’t a complete surprise. He was still missing bats though, so he still had trade value in the offseason, but reduced from mid-season. Now his market has collapsed.
Beyond beating this dead horse (our favorite hobby down here in the comment section), I wouldn’t non-tender him. If his value was at his highest at the July 2019 trade deadline, it’s at its lowest now, made worse by all teams financials due to COVID. I’d expect a rebound of some, so I’d roll the dice with the goal of trading him this coming July.
Yeah, but some dead horses deserve to be beaten.
Tender him a contract. Let new Tiger pitching coach Chris Fetter work his analytical magic on him.
The only people that thought Boyd was a good trade target were pundits. Fans knew he was terrible and that the Tigers wanted way way way too much for him.
Anyone remember the tigers wanted Glyber torres for this guy last year LOL
I remember the rumor. I didn’t believe it then, either. Never saw anything to substantiate it.
it could have been a GTFO price for the yankees
They should just contender him. But I’d like to see a Cards/Tigers swap of Boyd/Cmart. Maybe just maybe the change of scenery would help.
No chance that happens from the Cards. CMart has more talent in his ear than Boyd does his whole body
Non-tender candidate…
Nah. Why non tender the guy after one oddball season of poor performance? He was very good in ‘19.
he had a good half. otherwise he’s been a 5.00+ ERA pitcher
Yea he’s very up and down (perhaps mostly down). I wouldn’t count on him as anything other than a good back end of the rotation guy, but I certainly wouldn’t non tender him. A guy who can give you 150 innings of ~5 runs per 9 is oddly valuable in this day and age.
If you’re Detroit you’ve got to tender him. Even if Boyd just rebounds back to around his ’18/’19 form, he’ll have value on the trade market next season — especially considering he’s controllable through 2022.
Mid 4 era ? That’s trash
In that case, the majority of starting pitchers in MLB are just trash.
As a career there is nothing impressive about boyd. All he is an innings eater, a meh starter and perfect for a rebuilding team
The Tigers made the same mistake with Michael Fulmer. They held out for a king’s ransom for a decent but flawed pitcher, and then their values both fell off a cliff. Imagine how much deeper their system would be if they had traded one or both of them.
Boyd is a 5th starter, a #4 at best. I don’t think we have seen a more hyped mediocre starting Pitcher than Boyd over the past few seasons.
Here’s how I look at that.
With 15 teams in the league, name 45 starting pitchers in the league who are better. If he ranks No 50, he is a top third No 4 starter.
If he’s a No 5 starter, there must be at least 60 starting pitchers in the league who are better. That’s just the AL.
There aren’t.
If all pitchers are healthy we can certainly find 90 starting pitchers in baseball better than Boyd to push him to being a #4 at-best. It’s not as hard as you think. Might be able to push him to the #5 threshold he has earned.
But all pitchers aren’t healthy, and that’s part of Boyd’s value.
Just 61 pitchers in MLB qualified with 162 IP in 2019- the last full season.
Boyd ranked No31 in fWAR. and 53 in ERA.
Drop the innings to just 120 and he’s 35 in fWAR and 78th in ERA.
My point is not that he’s a great pitcher, but it’s not as easy to find a No 3 or 4 starter as some make it out to be.
He’s not effective enough to have value. That is why interest in Boyd was minimal in the first place. Plus, you’re using WAR metrics which is a mathematical equation to measure fake value to skew narrative and talking points. He is what he is; a less than mediocre pitcher on a bad team.
Not sure what everyone else heard, but I never heard a single offer for Boyd that was turned down. Also… the only reason Boyd is the Tigers “Ace” is because they had nothing even close to being an ace. He’s a 4 or 5, nothing more. Some people must have been mesmerized by the spinny thing or his other pseudo stats.
Robbie Ray has great spinning action on his pitches and landed a fat contract for a year. Unfortunately he likes getting behind hitters, walking them or serving one up. But the spins! The spins!
Boyd needs a change of scenery, good pitcher, trade him 2 Reds, they could turn him around and be our number 3,4 or 5 guy, we have some talent they could use
They could use a corner outfielder like Jessie winker? Yes
I still don’t understand what all of the hype was about with this guy. I remember a couple seasons ago people suggesting the Braves should trade the farm for him. I posted here that he was the most overrated trade chip out there and got roasted for it. Now, he’s been in the league for 6 seasons and has had 6 mediocre to ok seasons. This is what he is and has always been.
There is no decision to make here.
– The Tigers have $51 million coming off the payroll, which was barely $100 million last year, prorated to about $40 million.
– The Tigers made money, no matter how much they want to cry poverty. It is a simple fact that their TV revenues easily exceeded expenses in 2020, and will again in 2021.
– Boyd ranked 22nd in the AL in fWAR, meaning that he is about a mid rate No 2 starter.
– Boyd was a top 5 pitcher in innings pitched and strikeout ratio
– The Tigers finally got a decent pitching coach, who might be able to do something about that systemic “pitch to hard contact” philosophy that they’ve used under Rick Anderson
– Boyd has two years left under team control.
– Boyd’s big issue has been a ridiculous HR ratio. Make that even average and he’s a border line all star
Yes, $ 7 million IS an insignificant amount under the circumstances. Letting Boyd go would be a cheap “f you fans” move, deserving of a full scale fan revolt.
The issue on Boyd ranges from let him go to allow our new pitching coach a chance with him. The reason he will be back and why he’s penciled in as one of our five starters is the first half of 2019, a few starts from 2020 and his K rate. The Tigers need starters and they will most likely sign a FA SP. At least four of our prospect SPs will see time in 2021. Boyd will be part of the rotation until he proves he can’t.
Unless someone is gonna give you a deal you can’t refuse, he’s worth another year.
Like Anibal Sanchez, the Tigers will non-tender Boyd, he’ll get a cut rate deal somewhere….say $4-5 million (we all should be so “cut rate”) and pitch well enough to get a 3 yr/ $30 million deal in ’22.
Everyone pitches better after they leave Motown.
For all those saying that Al Avila held out for too much for Michael Fulmer and Matthew Boyd, you haven’t been paying attention at all to the Tigers.
The Tigers traded away large salaries not controllable low salaries. The low salaried Fulmer and Boyd weren’t on the market unless they were given an offer they couldn’t refuse. They could trade Fulmer and Boyd for players who might develop into players similar to Fulmer, Boyd and Daniel Norris.
More than anything else, the Tigers need Quality Starts. Since 2016, other than Mike Fiers, the Tigers have signed a multitude of pitchers who have flopped. Jordan Zimmermann, Mike Pelfrey, Travis Wood, Zach McAllister, Matt Moore, Tyson Ross, Zack Godley, Ivan Nova and so on…
They could trade Fulmer and Boyd for players who might develop into players similar to Fulmer, Boyd and Daniel Norris.
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That’s the idea, imho. The Tigers won 47 games, and had very little talent. You don’t run out a string of last place finishes while wasting service time on valuable assets.
Instead of .395, .292, and .397, you lose another 5 games a year, and have 3 top-100 prospects to show for it. Then when you develop a new crop of pitchers, like they are currently doing, you have additional pieces to add in.
So, your argument is that a team should trade away its MLB talent for players who MIGHT be MLB players in the future (Most MiLB players never reach MLB) so the whole team can suddenly emerge at once, I get it, the idea of steadily building and improving is outdated.
Al Avila waited too long to trade him. In a city where all but one team is run by an incompetent GM, Avila might just be the most incompetent of them all.
right… because when he took over a team with a huge payroll of aging players along with one of the worst farm systems in all of baseball YOU expected him to win a championship.
You are just as awful as a fun as you believe he is a GM.
Exactly how many teams would size up Al Avila to be their GM if he became a free agent executive?
My over/under is a firm zero. What has he done?
Whatever talent he brings up does not seem worthy of a roster spot. There doesn’t seem to be effective coaching of anyone they draft. Certainly there is no evidence of that compared to what you see what young players come up and excel for many other teams.
Even Casey Mize, their prize, was brought up only to be hammered like any one of his new teammates.
AJ Hinch must disagree with all that, but whatever he sees is not evident to this observer.
What has he done?
Well…. he inherited a massive payroll that was filled with aging players and a farm system that was one of the worst in all of MLB.
What did you expect a championship?
What HAS happened is the Tigers have lost a ton of games, got plenty of high draft picks, traded away heavy contracts and reduced payroll by over a hundred million, now have one of the best farm systems in all of baseball, just hired a quality manager, and have money to spend when the timing is right.
Do you even follow what is going on?
They should have traded him for whatever deal was offered when he had value. He has short flashes of brilliance and they got greedy and held on to him. Now he has no value. He’s a mop up reliever at best.
Read a long article on Boyd, It stated that . 2020 was a “developmental year” for Boyd. The short Covid season and lack of Spring Training set Boyd’s development back more than most other pitchers.. Boyd, his catcher Romine, and the Tigers Manager and coaches put Boyd on a plan to develop and use and air out all his 4 pitches,
instead of just relying too heavily on his devastating slider. Boyd had good stuff this year, but his control was off when pitching in the zone. Tigers with AJ and a new pitching coach will get Boyd back on track in 2021. The Tigers will not be taking any “lowball offers” for Boyd. The Tigers think that they can get Boyd back on track with his high strikeouts to innings ratios, better coaching, better control in 2021.
I expect Boyd, Fulmer, Mise, Manning, Skubal, Norris all to take steps forward under AJ Hinch and the New Tigers Pitching coach i 2021.
If Boyd is ever traded, then it will ONLY be after he re establishes himself as a top of the rotation starter for the Tigers.
Fulmer had tommy john and knee surgery and was innings limited in 2020.
I expect Fulmer do bounce back to his Rookie of the Year and All Star performances.
Boyd had an off “Covid 19 year” and is expected to bounce back to his strike out dominance in 2021 (In 2019 he fanned 13 Yankees at Yankee stadium in only 7 innings)..
Norris regained form in the pen as he was “innings limited” because of prior injuries
and can dominate out of the rotation or the bullpen.
Mize, Skubal, Manning, Wetz and others are top of the rotation starters who should see MLB innings in 2021 .
The Tigers have a lot of talent both pitching and position players in their “top 5” farm system and pipeline that is almost ready to “break through”…
AJ Hinch is no fool.
He joined the Astros at a similar point in their rebuild.
Don’t be surprised to see the Tigers become the next White Sox
in going from bottom to top of the Central Division in the next few years..
.