The Detroit Tigers' ongoing rebuild might be a lot closer to completion right now had they chosen to sell high on Michael Fulmer two years ago.
Multiple persons with knowledge of the trade discussions at the time told Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press that the Tigers declined a pair of game-changing offers for Fulmer in 2017. The Houston Astros are said to have offered third baseman Alex Bregman to Detroit for Fulmer and reliever Justin Wilson, while the Chicago Cubs supposedly dangled a three-player package that included infielder Javier Baez, Fenech reports.
When these offers were supposedly made, Fulmer was following up his 2016 Rookie of the Year campaign with an All-Star 2017 season. His growth as a pitcher and status as a controllable player made him a hot target in both 2017 and 2018. Bregman and Baez, meanwhile, were both known names at the time, and Baez already owned a World Series ring, but neither had become the superstars they are today.
Since then, things have gone downhill for Fulmer and the Tigers. Elbow injuries sidelined the right-hander in August 2017 and again the following year as his production declined. The 26-year-old underwent Tommy John surgery this spring, and won't return until some time next year.
Baez has since morphed from a defense-first wizard into an all-around machine who finished second in NL MVP voting last year. Bregman helped the Astros to their first-ever championship in 2017, led the majors with 51 doubles in 2018, and has the sixth-best WAR among all position players this year.
The Tigers are coming off consecutive 98-loss seasons and enter play Sunday sporting the worst record in baseball. While they dealt Nicholas Castellanos and Shane Greene before Wednesday's deadline, they opted to not trade left-hander Matthew Boyd, who generated plenty of interest.
General manager Al Avila was signed to a multi-year contract extension last month.
