In July of 2017, the Tigers traded J.D. Martinez to the Diamondbacks. He has made every All-Star Game since. A month later, they traded Justin Verlander to the Astros. He has made three of four All-Star Games since. These are the necessary evils of a rebuild. The harsh reality for the Tigers is they have little to show for it.
Five years later, their best prize from a pair of trades that yielded six prospects is a 27-year-old catcher recovering from Tommy John who's played 73 games in the majors: Jake Rogers.
Rogers arrived in the Verlander deal along with headliner Franklin Perez, a 24-year-old pitcher the Tigers released this spring (and later re-signed) after numerous arm injuries, and Daz Cameron, a 25-year-old outfielder toiling in Triple-A.
The headliner of the Martinez deal was Dawel Lugo, a 27-year-old infielder playing in the Mexican League. He arrived with Sergio Alcantara, a 26-year-old infielder who was waived by the Tigers last winter, and Jose King, 23-year-old infielder in A-ball.
But we digress!
Point is, both Verlander and Martinez have only gained steam since leaving Detroit, two of four former Tigers who have been chosen for this year's All-Star Game.
Verlander, selected via the player ballot, is still dominating baseball at age 39. He has a 2.00 ERA, 0.871 WHIP and leads the majors with 11 wins. As if that wasn't enough, he's holding batters to a .190 average, better than when he won MVP, Cy Young and the AL Triple Crown for the Tigers in 2011. Come on.
Martinez, chosen Tuesday as an injury replacement for Astros DH Yordan Alvarez, remains one of the best hitters in the game at age 34. The Red Sox slugger is batting .313, fourth in the AL, and leads the league in doubles for the second year in a row. (This year, he is not tied with Jeimer Candelario.)
The other two former Tigers in the All-Star Game are a bit more obscure: C.J. Cron and Joe Mantiply.
Cron's time in Detroit was short-lived. The first basemen signed a one-year deal with the Tigers ahead of the 2020 pandemic-shortened season and played in just 13 games due to a knee injury. Too bad they didn't bring him back: Cron went to the Rockies on a minor-league deal and has an .899 OPS and the 11th most RBI in the majors the past two seasons.
The 32-year-old was chosen for his first All-Star Game this season by MLB, touting 20 homers and 67 RBI, third most in the bigs. With respect to rookie Spencer Torkelson, think the Tigers could use a slugging first baseman? (Cron, to be fair, has done the bulk of his damage with the Rockies in the Rockies.)
Mantiply wasn't with the Tigers for long either, at least not in Detroit. But he came up with the organization as a 27th-round draft pick in 2013. He debuted for the Tigers in 2016, only to be waived that offseason despite consistently strong numbers in the minors -- which didn't seem like such a big deal when Mantiply failed to throw a single pitch in the bigs the next two seasons, in part because of Tommy John.
Look at him now. The 6'4 lefty reliever, who landed with the Diamondbacks after stints with the Yankees and the Reds, has a 2.08 ERA with 34 strikeouts to two walks in 34 1/3 innings this season. His strikeout-to-walk ratio isn't just first in the majors (min. 30 innings pitched); it's more than twice as good as that of anyone else.
In the past, Mantiply's success would have stung more for the Tigers. At least they can take solace in having one of the best bullpens in baseball this year -- and an All-Star lefty reliever of their own in Gregory Soto.
If you want to really feel pain, just consider this: In 2009, the same year the Angels drafted Mike Trout 25th overall, the Tigers spent the ninth overall pick on ... pitcher Jacob Turner. And in 2013, the same year the Yankees drafted Aaron Judge 32nd overall, the Tigers spent the 20th overall pick on ... pitcher Jonathan Crawford.
Turner appeared in seven games for the Tigers and retired in 2018 with a 5.37 career ERA. Crawford never reached the big leagues.
Alas, we digress.