Detroit Tigers News: Justin Verlander placed on revocable waivers

A lot is made of the July 31 MLB trade deadline. Teams make a flurry of moves at the last minute to help bolster their rosters for a potential playoff run. Or, in the Detroit Tigers’ case, they use the deadline to help restock their farm systems. However, players can still be traded after July 31’s non-waiver trade deadline. To do so, they need to pass through waivers, which significantly limits the pool of players who could feasibly be moved.

One such player is Justin Verlander, who was placed on revocable waivers on Wednesday. The Tigers fielded offers for their ace throughout the month of July, but talks never seemed to progress. General manager Al Avila didn’t rule out a potential deal in August, but another month probably won’t change anyone’s mind, especially given the current landscape.

The Houston Astros seemed to be the frontrunners for a potential Verlander deal throughout July. However, they opted for a short-term fix by trading for lefthander Francisco Liriano, who has struggled to the tune of a 5.88 ERA and 4.72 FIP this year. The underwhelming landed them on Grant Brisbee’s list of trade deadline losers and drew the ire of ace Dallas Keuchel.

Houston is the most likely destination for Verlander if an August deal gets done, but his contract and the Astros’ thousand game lead in the AL West still make it unlikely.

Prospects!

The Tigers have them now. In particular, Dawel Lugo has impressed in the early going at Double-A Erie.

“I’ve been very impressed,” said Erie manager Lance Parrish. “You never really know what you’re going to get but I assume, since he was the guy in that deal, that he was going to be pretty talented and he has not disappointed me at all. Solid third baseman. Got a strong arm and looks like he moves pretty well over there.”

At the major league level, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News thinks the deadline deals will give Joe Jimenez a shot at some high leverage innings. I’m all for that, especially since he won’t accrue saves that would ultimately make his arbitration years more expensive.

Baseball America rates Isaac Paredes as the best prospect the Tigers received at the deadline, three spots ahead of Jeimer Candelario at No. 13. Lugo is right behind him at No. 14, and all five infielders are within the top 30.

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That’s how you end up with suggestions like moving Nick Castellanos to the outfield.

For your free time

FanGraphs looks at how the free agent market is shifting. One can imagine this would also reflect the weird market we saw during this year’s trade deadline. James Paxton is good at baseball and everyone is writing about him. The Baltimore Orioles are on fire right now, and play the Tigers next. The New York Mets called up top prospect Amed Rosario.

Baseball is awesome