One AL Central team has THE starting pitching chip this trade deadline season – the Detroit Tigers. Holding on to Tarik Skubal after completing the fastest recovery from loose body removal in his left elbow using the “Skubal scope” (the name given to the arthroscopic procedure to remove bone chips), maybe the doctor who performed the surgery should be considered the real MVP. 

Moving out?

The Tigers trading Skubal for a king’s ransom is a foregone conclusion at this point, and you have to imagine to a lesser degree they are going to further trade from their pitching and deal Jack Flaherty to any team that will listen. Flaherty should make a team with mid to back end rotation needs happy at the deadline, and should command a mid level prospect or two in return. 

Two outfielders that are of significant interest to acquiring teams are the all around hitting Riley Greene and the mashing Kerry Carpenter. Both should find their ways to new teams this deadline and provide instant pop and offensive prowess to those needing a six or seven hitter.

What use does a veteran middle infielder have on a team that needs to retool? As such second baseman Gleyber Torres makes a ton of sense to move out of Detroit and thus make some space in the crowded infield for an up and comer. In a league short on available right handed bats, first baseman Spencer Torkelson could also give an anemic offensive team the shot in the arm they need, especially if a team thinks he will be capable of returning to thirty homer form in a new environment. 

Moving Up?

One of the more exciting pieces that could have debuted this year, twenty-one-year-old catcher and first baseman Josue Briceño tore a tendon in his right wrist this past offseason and needed surgery. It was entirely within the realm of possibility that he could have been up already from Double-A Erie to Detroit at this point in the season, to provide a mature approach and potent bat at the big league level if it weren’t for this injury. But nevertheless, with this setback comes a great opportunity for fantasy owners to buy low on him. In 2025, he had an .883 OPS with twenty home runs and a 66:87 walk to strikeout ratio. An offensive talent like that should not be slept on, and should be held in all formats, yet in many he is currently being flat out cut from rosters, let alone traded. Make a deal for him now or you may regret not pulling the trigger on this earlier!

This may be a hot take, but it seems that the minor league talent in Detroit takes a bit of a fantasy value dip after Josue Briceño. Yes, that is including outfielder Max Clark in that group.

Although he is just twenty-one years old, already playing for the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, he is playing a bit under the expected level for a hyped seventh-rated prospect in all of baseball. His .736 OPS and sub .400 slugging percentage belies his first round, third overall, pedigree. Yes he is very fast, and yes he appeared to be made of swagger in spring training this year with his smeared eye black and copious amounts of bling (which, honestly, go off king), but he seems to have an overlooked deficit in his game; the ability to impact the baseball. In fantasy baseball, slug is king, and although his OBP is fantastic with a balanced strikeout and walk rate, he may leave fantasy owners wanting for more. That’s why I am thinking that he may be a fantastic candidate to move off of when his call to the majors comes – which I think will be sooner than later given the likely dealing of a major league outfielder from the roster. 

Two players who are way down the list of interest, but still could provide some meager value for owners to watch are infielders Jace Jung and Hao-Yu Lee. I have been beating the Lee drum for a long time, and despite his major league results to this point I am still going to (perhaps more gently) beat that drum. Likely these two players are two sides of the same utility player coin, with some more upside in Jung’s case, and probably are worth just monitoring for hot streaks. Perhaps if Torkelson, Torres, and/or Keith get traded one of these two could finally work their way into the everyday lineup and become an established everyday player. 

Last but not least, my favorite category of player – the deep sleeper. John Peck, a twenty-three-year-old shortstop currently playing for the Erie Seawolves, hits. He was considered initially a glove first prospect, garnering below average grades across the board in the offensive categories, yet all he does is hit. In every season he has played more than fifty games, Peck has had an OPS above .760. This year he has a .283/.328/.509 slash line, good for a 116 wRC+ and an ISO of .226 (meaning that he can impact and slug the ball at a higher than average level. That may be because he is repeating the level, but in fifty-three games having ten home runs, sixteen doubles, and nineteen stolen bases makes you a real offensive presence. That’s a pace of 30 home runs, 48 doubles, and 57 stolen bases! He is also Rule 5 draft eligible this offseason, so if he doesn’t make a debut with the Tigers this year maybe he will next year with an organization that wants to take a chance on him. 

The Tigers hold a lot of cards with their MLB level talent they are poised to sell off. It will be interesting what approach they take, but if they do a full sell off we could see a large number of very talented minor leaguers make their debuts and make the “rebuild” in Detroit seem more like a bump in the road than a long detour.