Holliday in Detroit?

The Tigers lost 2-1 for second consecutive day to the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners have had a good season, but it’s always disappointing to score a total of two runs in a two-game span. Let me highlight the Tigers woes:

• Since the All-Star Break the Tigers have scored a total of 16 runs in six games. Nine of those runs came in one game, so they’ve actually been even worse than they appear. This slow start to the second half has caused the Tigers to go 1-5 against the Yankees and the Mariners.
• Of players with at least 100 at-bats, Miguel Cabrera is the only member of the team to have a batting average above .265. Think about that! The guy who is hitting .265 is Marcus Thames. I love Marcus Thames, but if he’s second on the club in batting average then the Tigers clearly have some major problems.
• There are 14 teams in the American League and the Tigers are 11th in team batting average. Trailing the Tigers are cellar-dwellers like the Royals and Athletics.
• The Tigers are 10th in team on-base percentage and are ninth in team slugging. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out this team is having trouble hitting and putting runs on the board.

Matt Holliday of the Oakland Athletics is a free agent at the end of this season. He’s also a career .316 hitter. Holliday is on the trading block as the Athletics are clearly out of the playoff chase.

Over at Bless You Boys, Ian notes that should the Athletics just let Holliday walk as a free agent at the end of the season they will get two compensation draft picks for their loss. That means that the A’s will want more than two players in any trade or two guys that are equal to the talent they would find in the first round of the draft. That’s a hefty price tag.

If the Tigers are serious about making a push for the playoffs then trading for Matt Holliday sure seems like a good idea. Holliday is skilled defensively and is a good/great offensive player. If it means giving up Rick Porcello, then that’s probably a bit pricey.

If you take a look at Holliday’s numbers, they are pretty close to what Magglio Ordonez did in his 20s. Holliday is currently 29 and would almost certainly be a good partner for Miguel Cabrera in the Tigers' lineup.

The clock is ticking.