While the Mariners made a major move Wednesday night for slugger Eugenio Suarez, the Tigers made a mild one for reliever Rafael Montero. Despite sitting at the top of the American League, Detroit is taking a conservative approach to its first trade deadline as buyers under Scott Harris.
"What I was told consistently on the Tigers in the last several days is that they’re engaged in working on trying to upgrade the team, but they’re not going to pay significant prices for rentals," MLB insider Jon Morosi said Thursday morning on 97.1 The Ticket. "And that’s exactly what Suarez is."
The Mariners parted ways with three prospects for Suarez, who has 36 home runs and an MLB-best 87 RBI, but none in the top-100, per MLB Pipeline. The Tigers, who were also reportedly in on Suarez, were more comfortable trading minor leaguer Jim Jarvis for Montero, who has a 5.40 ERA in 39 games this year.
"The big takeaway from what I’ve been told, at least to this point — things can change before the deadline — is that Scott Harris has been pretty disciplined about what he’s willing to do. And to this point, the Tigers have not been going all-in," Morosi said.
While Detroit's top prospects Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark are clearly off limits, as well as fellow top-100 prospects Bryce Rainer, Josue Briceño and Thayron Liranzo, "the interesting group of players," says Morosi, starts with the likes of Max Anderson and Hao-Yu Lee.
"There’s enough depth (in their system) where the Tigers can get some pretty valuable players," said Morosi, "but the general sense is that they’re going to be quite cautious, especially as it relates to rental players."
The Mariners gave up their Nos. 9, 16 and 17 prospects, per MLB Pipeline, for Suarez. Asked why the Tigers wouldn't have been willing to pay a similar price given the opportunity in front of them in the American League, Morosi said, "That's the big question ... It's just not the way that (Harris) wants to run the organization, to give up even a top-10 prospect in the organization."
"Someone like, I think, Max Anderson would have probably gotten the deal done, or close to it, at least that range of player," Morosi said. "We can debate if it’s the right way to do things or not, but the way that they want to run the organization is to not give up your top-10 prospects for rentals."
"I think it’s very reasonable to say, 'Hey, shouldn’t you really go all-in when you’re in first place, when the Yankees look pretty flawed, when the Red Sox are good not great, and there’s a path there?' I think that’s a very fair question to ask," Morosi said.
With the deadline Thursday at 6 p.m., the Tigers are "allocating most of the conversation" on adding help to the back of the bullpen, preferably in the form of controllable arms, "not as much on the offensive side," per Morosi. They've been engaged with the Pirates on David Bednar and Dennis Santana, both of whom are under team control through next season.
"In general, they’re looking for bullpen but controllable bullpen, and if it’s going to be an expiring contract for a bullpen piece it’s going to be someone in the range of Rafael Montero who did not cost a lot in terms of a prospect," Morosi said.