Detroit Tigers: Jose Iglesias appears a likely trade candidate
By Brad Faber
Since the start of last summer, the Detroit Tigers have traded many veteran players. It appears that long-time shortstop Jose Iglesias may not be sticking around for the rebuild either.
In the summer of 2013, the Detroit Tigers acquired Jose Iglesias in a three-way deal with the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox. Iglesias provided an immediate replacement for Jhonny Peralta, who was getting ready to serve a 50-game PED suspension at the time. It was also a move that appeared to be made with the future in mind.
Although Peralta rejoined the Tigers for the final weekend of the season and the playoffs, he signed a free agent deal with the St. Louis Cardinals the following offseason. Iglesias seemed poised to take over the starting shortstop job heading into the 2014 season. Unfortunately for the Tigers, he ended up missing the entire year with injuries to both shins.
Overall, however, the trade for Iglesias has ended up serving the Tigers relatively well. During the past three seasons, Iglesias has come back to do a very admirable job at shortstop.
In 2015, Iglesias earned his first All-Star nod and batted an impressive .300/.347/.370 through 120 games. Since the beginning of the 2016 campaign, however, he has hit a combined .255/.297/.353 (74 OPS+), which is probably a better indication of the type of hitter that he indeed is. Though he is hardly known for his power, it is worth noting that Iglesias belted a career-high six home runs last season as well.
Iglesias’ biggest asset on the field is his glove. Among all qualified shortstops in baseball last season, Iglesias ranked second with a 10.7 UZR/150.
The 28-year-old Iglesias is under team control through only the coming season. It now appears unlikely that he will be sticking around through the full duration of the Tigers’ rebuild. According to Will Burchfield of CBS Detroit, GM Al Avila recently appeared on 97.1 “The Ticket,” and Iglesias’ future was one of the topics that discussed.
"“He’s one of those guys that, quite frankly, probably will not be with us in the long run,."
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Avila said of Iglesias at one point. Avila also claimed, however, that Iglesias will likely be the Tigers’ Opening Day shortstop, but suggested that he could be moved by the coming season’s trade deadline. Iglesias could be a great addition to a team that is looking to shore up their infield defense.
There are ways in which the Tigers could replace Iglesias as well. Dixon Machado is currently the favorite to take over for Ian Kinsler at second base, but he could easily be moved to shortstop if that is what the Tigers choose. Dawel Lugo, who was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of the J.D. Martinez trade, has played both second base and shortstop in the minors. A future middle infield of Machado and Lugo seems a likely possibility.
The Detroit Tigers have other young infielders who were acquired in recent trades, but they are further away from the majors than Lugo. While Lugo has yet to log an at-bat in Triple-A, he slashed .277/.321/.424 with 13 homers in Double-A last season.
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The Detroit Tigers are apparently in rebuild mode, so if replacements are available, it would certainly appear to make sense for them to move on from the Iglesias-era.