Detroit Tigers News: The Tigers ‘must’ trade Matthew Boyd, and prospect rankings

A plethora of prospect lists was unleashed upon the populace these past few days, beginning with MLB Pipeline’s top 100 list which was released on Saturday, followed by Tuesday’s offering from FanGraphs, detailing team-specific rankings for the Detroit Tigers. The former placed four Tigers farmhands in the overall top 100 among all teams in Major League Baseball, while the latter added a wrinkle by ranking Matt Manning as the top prospect in Detroit’s development system.

A couple of other publications also took a stab at charting the hierarchy of the top youngsters in the Tigers’ minor leagues, starting with a familiar friend.

The Athletic’s top 30 Tigers prospects

Emily Waldon over at The Athletic published her top 30 prospect lists on Monday, and while her list does not deviate too far from the others, much like FanGraphs she boldly chose Matt Manning as her top prospect in the system — a choice Bless You Boys editor Brandon Day and I could not agree more with.

Waldon’s top five consists of Manning, Casey Mize, Riley Greene, Tarik Skubal and Isaac Paredes, in that order. She rounds out her top 10 with some exciting and familiar names, with the remainder of her roster filled with some interesting rankings for the rest of the guys.

Baseball Prospectus’ top 101

Baseball Prospectus also released its top 101 MLB prospects on Monday, and much like MLB Pipeline’s list, four Tigers placed among the best in the league currently. Casey Mize ranked the highest at No. 12, with Matt Manning following behind with a ridiculous ranking at No. 47, Riley Greene at No. 49 and Tarik Skubal taking up the rear at No. 76. It is also quite likely that Isaac Paredes just missed the list by a spot or two.

Can the Tigers avoid trading Boyd?

On the topic of Baseball Prospectus articles, Matthew Trueblood published a piece on Tuesday suggesting that the Tigers “can and must” trade Matthew Boyd. Not only is the assertion absurd on its face, in our opinion, his argument has more holes than the RMS Lusitania in May of 1915. Here is one such example.

The chances of all of those arms blossoming into solid big-leaguers are similar to those of Fulmer suddenly bouncing back and re-emerging as a stud—which is to say, they’re infinitesimal.

To assume that none the four best arms in the Tigers’ system — all of whom have already conquered Double-A — will pan out into “solid” big league pitchers is quite ludicrous on its face. Long story short, going against Betteridge’s law of headlines, the answer to the question is “yes,” the Tigers can absolutely avoid trading Boyd if the right offer does not come around.

Jeimer Candelario wins Dominican League team MVP

Old School Cool

Some food for thought

Base hits

• 2020 BYB Tigers prospect #16: 2B Kody Clemens is at a key point in his development. Clemens will need to shake off an unspectacular 2019 season and take a step forward this year.
• 2020 BYB Tigers Prospect #15: 3B Nick Quintana is still a quality prospect. Quintana’s post-draft performance was nowhere near expectations, but he is starting with a clean slate in 2020.
• In Triple A, Tom Prince’s ‘John Wayne’ mentality will lead the next generation of Tigers. The advance scouting report on the first-year manager of the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate could not have been more accurate.
• Detroit Tigers once had the bat they need. Now he belongs to the Reds.

Around the horn

A look at players who could rise to next season’s Baseball Prospectus top 101. A look at a different side of the late Kobe Bryant — evolving storyteller. Here are Baseball America’s 2020 College Baseball Preseason All-Americans. Baseball America’s top 100 international prospect signings of 2019. Kris Bryant loses grievance against Cubs, won’t be free agent until after 2021 season.

Baseball is awesome