Tigers Trade for Pitching (But Not a Closer)

The Tigers came to Las Vegas looking for a closer, and for a little while, it looked like they might get one. Before the Mariners, Indians and Mets pulled off their monster, 12-player deal that sent J.J. Putz to New York, the Tigers were trying to land Putz with a three-way of their own involving the Mariners and the Rays.

As Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times tells it, the deal fell apart when the Tigers refused to part with outfielder Matt Joyce ... which makes the trade Detroit did pull off all the more confusing. On Wednesday evening, the Tigers sent Joyce to the Rays for 25-year-old Edwin Jackson, a perpetual project of a pitcher who's posted a 5.15 ERA through parts of six seasons.

Sure, Jackson is coming off a career year, but that just means he looked like a league average pitcher: he posted a 4.42 ERA (101 ERA+) with an unsightly 1.50 WHIP. While it's true he tied for the team lead with 14 wins, he was an afterthought in Tampa Bay's playoff run, getting left off the roster completely in the first round and combined for fewer than five innings pitched in the ALCS and World Series.

What's the appeal? For one, he throws really hard, which I'm sure has scouts and pitching coaches drooling over what he might be able to do with just a little guidance. But the truth of the matter is that he simply doesn't miss bats and he's shown no progress whatsoever in improving his control. He's still relatively inexperienced (he's throwing just 456 career innings) but at this point he looks like back of the rotation fodder, which is fine, but probably not worth sacrificing the future for.

To be fair, it's not like Joyce was a blue chip prospect, but he's an above-average fielder and left-handed slugger who has a little pop in his bat -- he hit 25 home runs between Triple-A and the big leagues last season. He would have been relegated to a reserve role with the Tigers, but given Detroit's brittle and aging outfield, finding at-bats shouldn't have been a big problem, and he seemed like a natural candidate to inherit a job in the future. Considering he's not eligible for free agency for five more years, there was no hurry to move him. But the Tigers did, and they did so without addressing their biggest need.

(via Bless You Boys)