The Detroit Tigers have played well in the last week, and the hope is that this recent uptick in wins will continue. If it does and the Tigers are in the race for a second straight AL Central title come July, you can bet they will be on the lookout for potential trades to improve their roster. Last year, a deadline move to acquire Doug Fister turned out to have a huge positive impact, and something like that this year with their hitting or bullpen would be nice, to say the least.
The interesting dynamic for the Tigers this year is that they could acquire players later in the summer that improve their team without giving anything up. How? Well, they'd be acquiring them from the disabled list. Guys like Victor Martinez and Al Alburquerque have been out all season, but if they were able to return this summer, the Tigers would be getting hitting and bullpen help without even making any trades. This, according to Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski, could factor into whether or not they do make any actual deals.
"The possibility (of Martinez returning) exists in a strong enough fashion that you have to give it some thought, but I don’t really know where that stands – and I don’t know that we will know until July," Dombrowski said in an interview Sunday morning. "We may get Martinez and (Al) Alburquerque back. Those would be two pretty good acquisitions, and our bullpen actually has pitched pretty well in recent times."
The latest update on Martinez came earlier this month and stated that he is planning to have an MRI on June 28. The Tigers should get a better idea of if Martinez will be able to return this season following that MRI. It probably won't provide a concrete answer about a possible return, but if the Tigers are given an indication that it's likely Martinez will be able to play come August or September, then making a trade to acquire somebody like Carlos Quentin might not be necessary.
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