Like everyone else, A.J. Hinch has heard the trade rumors about the Tigers. In a year Hinch hoped they would be buying at the deadline, they are poised to sell.
"That's the reality," Hinch said Wednesday on the Stoney & Jansen Show. "The reason guys are moved off your team is you haven't won enough, and we've put ourselves in a position where teams are going to come calling on our guys."
The latest rumors concern Tarik Skubal. The Tigers are reportedly dangling the 25-year-old pitcher as bait for everyday position players. The Athletic reported Tuesday that the Tigers have made 'just about everyone' available, Skubal included. ESPN reported Wednesday that multiple rival GM's expect Skubal to be dealt. What's fact and fiction ahead of the Aug. 2 trade deadline remains to be seen.
"Now, a lot of the rumors can be flushed down the toilet," said Hinch. "A lot of people love to drum up a lot of interest in a lot of different guys. But I would expect things to change. I don't know what's going to come to fruition. Trades are really hard to come by and to pull off, but we can't keep doing the same thing over and over again.
"We don't have the team that we expected. We haven't played well enough to earn the right to add to the team, so subsequently we get talked about in the media about guys getting traded away. And that sucks, to be completely honest with you."
Skubal would bring back a haul, if Al Avila and the Tigers are indeed willing to move him. He's an ace in the making who's under team control for four more seasons. In other words, he's a piece to build around. But the Tigers have built so little across the rest of their roster that they might be better served dealing Skubal for more assets.
Asked if he trusts Avila to make such a trade, Hinch said, "We talk a lot about what's possible. Obviously we have a whole department of guys that are looking at various situations, which teams come calling and who's going to add, who's going to subtract. To me, you gotta rely on the people around you to pull off moves that are going to improve you either today or tomorrow.
"We have a lot of work to do and a lot of internal work to do to put our organization in a better position."
Hinch, for his part, isn't rattled by the rumors, truthful or not. He said the fact that the Tigers have players being talked about on the trade market "shouldn't even be news to anybody on the team."
"In baseball, everybody is talked about," he said. "I've been on both sides of the conversations in the front office and on the field. That's just the reality, and you kind of have to be tough enough to handle it and deal with it. There's probably too much access to these players and too much access to social media these days, and some people accept some narratives as facts.
"I try to get our guys to just deal with the task at hand. Tarik Skubal is about to face Manny Machado, Jake Cronenworth and the Padres. He's gotta stand tall on the mound today, let alone worry about what somebody drums up on social media."
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