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The MLB trade deadline is just over 48 hours away, and Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski continues the waiting game. The Tigers have lost five of their last six games, including two of three against the last-place Boston Red Sox. Tuesday's loss to the Tampa Bay Rays dropped the Tigers to four games below .500 (48-52) and into fourth place in the Central Division as the Chicago White Sox (48-50) have leapfrogged them.
The Tigers are still 4 1/2 games back of the second American League wild card spot, but have four teams sitting between them and the Minnesota Twins. Last we heard, Dombrowski was still planning on contending for a playoff spot, however nothing happened after a 20-minute closed clubhouse meeting following Monday night's game. The Tigers continued to do nothing all day on Tuesday as the following trades occurred around them.
- Athletics trade Ben Zobrist to the Royals - SB Nation, Marc Normandin
- Troy Tulowitzki, LaTroy Hawkins traded to Blue Jays for Jose Reyes and pitching prospects, SB Nation, Catherine Slonksnis
- Angels continue outfield pursuit, acquire David DeJesus and David Murphy - SB Nation, Eric Stephen
- Nationals, Phillies agree to Jonathan Papelbon trade
Lobstein confident he’ll be back this year - Detroit Free Press, Anthony Fenech
While Tiger fans are sick of seeing Curt Casali hitting home runs, the guy that he was traded for, Kyle Lobstein is making strides to return from the disabled list this year.
Miguel Cabrera progressing well with injury - MLB.com, Jason Beck
When the injury was first announced, the prognosis was six to eight weeks. It looks like Miggy will be on the short side of that time frame.
Baseball Hall of Fame makes major change to voting and it's a home run - Big League Stew - Yahoo Sports, Mike Oz
The National Baseball Hall of Fame announced that they are taking away voting right from Baseball Writers Association of America who haven't actively covered baseball in 10 years.
Hall of Fame voter roll purge ... pic.twitter.com/VeKTyEnizr
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) July 28, 2015
Who's the closest current pitcher to vintage Pedro? - FOX Sports, Owen Watson
Spoiler alert: it's Mets' starter Jacob deGrom.
The Best Get Better: Royals Nab Zobrist from Oakland - FanGraphs Baseball, Eno Sarris
The Royals are doing what the Tigers have done for years, trading young arms to improve their biggest weaknesses.
Twins take page from visiting Pirates, embrace geek squad - TwinCities.com, Mike Berardino
Interesting article on how the Twins are embracing advanced metrics by taking advice from a book written by Pirates beat writer Travis Sawchik. Twins are currently in second place in the AL Central and the 2nd Wild Card team in the Wild Card standings.
What factors best predict the variance of ERA-FIP among starting pitchers? - Beyond the Boxscore, Matt Jackson
For those Sabermetric fans out there that like to know the intricacies of advanced metrics, this case fielding independent pitching.