The Cubs and Astros reportedly offered Javier Baez and Alex Bregman for pitcher Michael Fulmer in 2017, but the Detroit Tigers turned it down. Here’s more on the biggest mistake in franchise history.
We always hear about the biggest mistakes a team made in regards to a bad trade, but this one is one for the ages– and not for making a bad trade but by not making a trade.
Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reported on Sunday that the Cubs and Astros offered Javier Baez and Alex Bregman, respectively, for Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Michael Fulmer.
Fulmer was coming off of a 2016 Rookie of the Year award and a 2017 All-Star Game appearance.
Since then he has been riddled with injuries including being sidelined this season with Tommy John surgery.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
Even with the Rookie of the Year and the All-Star appearance, Fulmer was never a guy who struck a lot of guys out and he has yet to have an ERA under 3.
In 2018, he had a rocky third season. In 24 starts and 132.1 innings, Fulmer went 3-12 with a 4.69 ERA.
But let’s get back to the 2017 reported offers. I bet Theo Epstein and Jeff Luhnow are laughing at the Tigers so much right now for not accepting the offers.
One because one of them could have been fired if they traded away Baez or Bregman based on their success and Fulmer’s demise.
Granted Javier Baez was not the Javier Baez he is now. In 2017 he had just a .317 on-base percentage and was on a Cubs team that had a crowded and talented infield in Addison Russell and Ben Zobrist.
So, with that in mind, I could see why the Tigers did not want to trade their All-Star pitcher for Baez but right now Detroit looks really dumb.
But the one that is more interesting is the Bregman offer two years ago. Alex Bregman was drafted #2 overall and made the Futures Game so he was always going to be a cornerstone for the Houston franchise.
It is hard for me to believe that the Astros would offer Bregman for Fulmer who was not an established future Hall of Famer like Justin Verlander was when Detroit traded him to Houston in 2017.
So, for Houston, it would not be a smart move on any level to acquire Fulmer because Bregman was going to be a star and they had a really good team that eventually would go onto win a World Series and Bregman was a huge part in it.
Regardless, the Detroit Tigers seem really dumb right now but not accepting the offers from both the Chicago Cubs and the Houston Astros that would have brought future stars to their franchise.