FanPost

Should he stay or should he go now? ~Jose edition

Jose Iglesias was signed by the Boston Red Sox as a free agent in September 8, 2009 and several years would be traded to the Detroit Tigers July 31st, 2013. The Tigers were in need of a Short Stop (SS) with allegations swirling around their current SS Jhonny Peralta under suspicion of performance enhancing drug (PED) use. While Tigers were not saying anything at the time about Peralta, their actions spoke louder than words. To acquire Iglesias, Tigers would send outfielder (OF) Avisail Garcia and reliever Brayan Villarreal to different teams to get the deal done. In the end, Iglesias would serve as Tiger's primary SS through the 2018 season as he now hits free agency.

Many have said Tigers should resign Iglesias on a one or two year deal as their prospects are not quite ready for the show. However, what would that benefit the Tigers long-term? That does seem to be the idea Al Avila is swirling around out there with players. Avila was even so bold last off season to already say Iglesias is not in the Tigers plans. The fact that Avila was unable to trade Iglesias this year just further pushes the fact I don't see Tigers resigning Iglesias. Why? Simply because he was not able to net prospects like the other acquisitions in the 2018 off season in additions of Mike Fiers and Leoyns Martin. Tigers are all about getting younger and they are using the free agency to do this. Avila would know Iglesias value better than anyone else as he has been shopping Iglesias for a while now.

In the respect as a fan how do I feel about this? Do I feel the same way as Avila? To put it bluntly, yes. Iglesias is a SS defensive wizard, but the lack of bat production is just too little for me. Defense only goes so far and at some point you need to score runs. Peralta seems to be the type that can add more value to a team. Solid defender that makes the plays he has to, but provides more offensive spark. The recent acquisition of Willi Castro shows just that. Not only that, but Castro is not that far from being able to play at the MLB level.

However, many would say what is the harm then in signing Jose to a one year deal? Well what about opportunity to find another trade chip or perhaps just finding time for a player Tigers already have? We could see Tigers looking at the bargain bin for an up the middle player that could net more than Iglesias (potentially) on the trade market come next July 31st of 2019. That appears to be a risk worth taking since its widely known Tigers will probably be bad again in 2019. Who might that be? Well I am actually wondering if Tigers look at second base (2B) as the hitters in that spot are better this off season. Then I wonder if the Tigers would then try plugging SS with what they have? Goodrum and Rodriguez would get the first shot, with the younger guys potentially getting the call later in the season. If the plan is to get a flippable asset and then get a young guy some playing time in 2019 at some point, then I am good with the Tigers defense looking horrible for the first part of 2019. This might not be a popular opinion, but at the very least Goodrum has shown he has a decent bat. It will also keep him getting reps to see if he could be a solid contributor somewhere in the field.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of the <em>Bless You Boys</em> writing staff.