Detroit Tigers Absurd Trade Proposal Sees Team Sell Entire Farm For Star Ace

The Detroit Tigers for the first time in a very long time enter the dog days of summer looking like a team who could be a legitimate World Series contender.

If the Tigers can not only keep up their current level of production but also make the right moves to add to the core, it's not out of the realm of possibility at all for them to enter October as the team to beat in the American League.

Coming out of the first month of the season, Detroit looked like its starting pitching was going to be the bread and butter, however injuries reared their ugly head and all of the sudden they are expected to add a starter at the deadline.

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How big of a swing the Tigers want to take in acquiring another arm remains to be seen, but at least one media member wants them to go all the way in to get one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Reigning National League Cy Young winner Chris Sale is having another tremendous season for the Atlanta Braves, however the Braves are not in contention.

Sale actually being dealt remains unlikely given the fact that he is still under team control next season and Atlanta believes him to be a key piece of next year's team, but that has not stopped people from speculating what it could take.

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Mike Valenti of 97.1 The Ticket suggested an absolutely absurd proposal to get Sale to the Motor City which involved a return package that is hard to believe would even be considering by Detroit.

Valenti wants the Tigers to deal one of Max Clark or Kevin McGonigle, one of Bryce Rainer, Josue Briceño or Thayron Liranzo, the next three top prospects after that, and prodigeous 17-year-old international signing Cris Rodriguez.

Mind you, this is all for a year and a half of a pitcher who while dominant, is 36 years old and on the twilight of his career.

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The idea of going all in and trying to win a World Series this year makes sense on the surface and pairing Sale with Tarik Skubal and Jack Flaherty would make Detroit a tough out.

Beyond that though, this is a completely ridiculous proposal.

The reality is that the Tigers are ahead of schedule and are set up to be very competitive for the next decade-plus. Great teams become great through homegrown talent, and Scott Harris is not going to mortgage the future of the organization for a shortsighted one-year window in which the team still has other holes.

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Nobody is saying Detroit should not be aggressive in pursuing improvements to try to win this year, however completely emptying the best farm system in baseball for Chris Sale is not the way to do that.

The Tigers could and should be one of the teams to keep an eye on when it comes to the deadline which is just over a month from now.

Those making the decisions in Detroit though are not completely insane, and that is exactly what this trade would be.

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