Jarrod Washburn a Tiger: Detroit Trades for Pitching Help

Today the Detroit Tigers made an 11th hour move to save the season. With Halladay commanding such a high price, the Tigers went with the cheaper route and traded left-hander Luke French and minor-league prospect Mauricio Robles to the Seattle Mariners for Jarrod Washburn.

This trade immediately makes Detroit the team to beat in their division. Washburn is another left handed pitcher that will fit in nicely with Verlander, Jackson, and Porcello in our rotation.

He is 8-6 on the season with a 2.64 ERA. Hopefully, he isn’t just a rented player and we sign him to a long-term deal.

French was a great pitcher for us, going 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA in five starts with Detroit. I never really could put a finger on how good a pitcher he will become, but I believe he is a fourth starter for most teams in the league.

Robles will take some time; he is just a prospect at only 20 years old. This season he is 8-6 between A and advanced A ball. He has pitched 91.1 innings and has a 4.24 ERA. He has been pitching well lately and just last week made the mlbprospectwatch.com list.

Honestly, I believe that this is a great deal for both teams. Detroit needed help in their rotation and they have just traded for a great pitcher. For the Mariners they lose a top notch pitcher but gain two prospects. One of which is already in the big leagues.

If they didn’t trade Washburn today they would have lost him for sure at the end of the season to FA. This deal helps give Detroit four good starters, so hopefully we don’t need to use the bullpen as often early in games. Now as long as we can get our hitting going I think we will be in good shape.

Did yesterday’s deal of trading Anderson for cash help play into this deal? Maybe.

http://www.mlbprospectwatch.com/mlb_prospect_watch/mauricio-robles/

The Associated Press contributed to this report.