Over the weekend it was announced that Jose Iglesias will miss at least the first four months of the regular season due to a chronic shin injury. On Monday it was confirmed that the Detroit Tigers shortstop has stress fractures in both legs and may miss the entire 2014 season. This puts the Tigers in a very bad situation as they are now left to look for a starting shortstop with only 2 weeks to go until Opening Day. When the Tigers decided to pass on bringing Jhonny Peralta back, they basically went all in on Jose Iglesias being the everyday shortstop and playing the majority of games. The news today has severely hampered that possibility and have left Tigers fans mulling over this question – Who should replace the injured Jose Iglesias?
Inside the organization – Speaking yesterday to reporters, Tigers President Dave Dombrowski said that the team would look within the organization to replace Iglesias. As a Tigers fan and somebody that follows the Tigers system fairly close, that option does not exist right now in the Tigers system in my opinion. Their main options for this route include veteran utility man Steve Lombardozzi , who was acquired in the Doug Fister trade. Another choice currently within the organization is Hernan Perez, who is by trade a natural second basemen and only has 33 games of major league time under his belt.
The Tigers got Steve Lombardozzi to do what he has done over the course of his career, which is to be a utility player that can play various positions and give a starter a breather every once in a while. If they tag Lombo as the every day shortstop they lose a very valuable piece to their roster’s puzzle. Lomardoozi has posted a career slash line of .264/.297/.342 and his highest WAR total for any year was in 2012 when he posted a robust 0.6 WAR. The Tigers would be silly to think that he is the answer at shortstop for the time that Iglesias will miss and they should keep him in his utility role.
Hernan Perez came up last year and played mostly second base while Omar Infante was hurt. While his defense was acceptable and comparable to Infante, his offense was brutal. Perez slashed .197/.217/.227 over 71 plate appearances and struck out in 21% of those appearances. Perez is obviously a player that needs a little more seasoning at the minor league level and it would be downright atrocious for the Tigers to hand him the starting shortstop job. For a team that is supposed to be competing for a World Series title, Perez simply does not look or play the part.
Stephen Drew – Stephen Drew’s name has come up as a potential replacement as well. However, at this point all indications are that the Tigers will not pursue him, which is a very wise move in my opinion. The asking price that Drew has set right now is far too high for an injury prone, slightly above average offensive player. Drew was horrible in the playoffs last year for Boston and is a career slasher of .264/.329/.435, hardly $14 million-a-year type of numbers, regardless of how good a defender he really is.
Reports are that he already turned down a one-year, $14 million offer from the Mets in the hope of finding a long term deal. The Tigers simply cannont afford to give in to his demands as they would also lose a first round draft pick if they signed him. They can’t pay $14 million for a four-month rental. If Drew was to reduce his asking price, and by that I mean by around half, than it would be understandable for Detroit to take a flier on him. But as a Scott Boras client, the odds of that happening are slim to none. Pass on Stephen Drew.
Nick Franklin – In the past few hours, Twitter has been abuzz over the rumors of the Tigers talking to the Mariners about Nick Franklin. Franklin seems to be the odd man out on the Mariners infield and could be traded soon. He is a switch hitting prospect who came up last year and provided some pop for Seattle. Franklin hit 12 homers, scored 38 runs, stole six bags and drove in 45 runs in 412 plate appearances. His slash line was not great at .225/.303/.382, but that is to be expected as a first year player.
He is nowhere near the defender that Iglesias is, but really who is? He would hold his own at shortstop and be more of a bat first type of player which the Tigers might actually need this year. I think so highly of Franklin that when there was trade talk between the Mariners and the Rays, I was hoping that Franklin would be the centerpiece of any trade sending David Price to the Mariners. Before he got called up to the big club in 2013, Franklin posted a .324/.440/.472 slash line and had a wRC+ of 147. He is an elite prospect that in my opinion would be much better than Jose Iglesias offensively in the short and long term.
I’m not sure what it would take to land Franklin. Some reports are saying that the Mariners are asking for a major league ready arm and a hitting prospect. Dave Dombrowski has worked magic before his some of his trades, I would love to see him work a little magic one more time and acquire Nick Franklin.
The Detroit Tigers have some tough decisions to make and time is ticking. Two weeks from now there will be baseball at Comerica Park and hopefully in the next few days we get an answer to the question we all want answered – who will be the Tigers everyday shortstop?
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