The Tigers are preparing to buy at the trade deadline. And Mike Valenti has a target "that I don’t think anyone will argue with ... a player that, combined with Tarik Skubal, would make you the World Series favorite."
"The problem," says Valenti, "is what you’re going to need to give up."
It would be "a hat trick type of deal" for the Tigers, Valenti says: It would make them "the top team in baseball, a team that would be a nightmare for anyone, including the Dodgers or Mets, to face" in the playoffs. It would bring in a player "that enhances and I would argue maximizes the Tarik Skubal window."
"And most importantly, it would allow you to go into a three-game series and be unbeatable. In a five-game series, nearly unbeatable. In a seven-game series, I don’t know that anyone would be favored over you."
And the kicker is that it would not only strengthen the Tigers but "hurt the Yankees, who are really the only team that anyone fears or cares about in the AL," because they're going to pursue the same player.
Chris Sale, anyone?
A year after winning the Cy Young and Pitching Triple Crown in the NL -- like Skubal in the AL -- Sale is having another dominant season for the Braves, who are falling out of the playoff race at 31-39. He has a 2.79 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 80 innings of work. And he has a club option of just $18 million for next season, maximizing the Tigers' championship window before Skubal hits free agency.
The only downside to trading for him, says Valenti, is that "this deal is going to cost you. You’re going to bleed. You’re going to need some frozen peas, if you know what I mean. ... There’s going to be a bidding war. The Yankees are going to go after him. The Cubs are going to go after him." Just to name a couple.
Valenti proposes a trade package in which the Braves get to pick one of Max Clark or Kevin McGonigle, Detroit's top two prospects; plus one of Bryce Rainer, Josue Briceño or Thayron Liranzo; Detroit's next three top prospects; plus 17-year-old international signing Cris Rodriguez.
The reward for the Tigers? It's simple, says Valenti: "Think about your rotation if you can go Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Sale. You kidding me? There’s your three-game rotation (in the ALDS). Expand it to Game 5, I’m gonna go ahead and run Skubal back out there again. Who’s beating you?
"Now we get to the ALCS and I can have Skubal pitch possibly three times and I can have Sale pitch twice. Five out of the seven games, I got the No. 1 or No. 2 pitcher in the sport."