Outfielder Tigers Gave Away Has More Home Runs Than Any Tigers Hitter

DETROIT — Just when you didn't think the Al Avila could era could get any worse, it has.

Not only is infielder Isaac Paredes, who the Tigers traded away last season for outfielder Austin Meadows, playing exceptionally well for the undefeated Tampa Bay Rays, but a player the Tigers traded away last season for basically nothing is hitting the ball better than any current Tiger.

Former Detroit Tiger Trayce Thompson hit his fourth home run of the season Wednesday night for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who acquired the 31-year-old outfielder from Detroit last June for simply cash, not even a player.

Thompson is also hitting .316 with a .478 OBP and a 1.000 slugging percentage. When combined to OPS (on base plus slugging) his 1.478 OPS is twice as much as any Tiger except two: (backup catcher Jake Rogers and outfielder Kerry Carpenter).

The Tigers have just two players with two home runs each, and just eight homers on the year. They don't have a single player hitting .300, including $140 million shortstop Javier Baez, who is hitting a measly .100.

The Tigers have started the season 2-9, the worst record in the majors, and have scored the fewest runs through the first 11 games, again. Collectively, the Tigers are just not seeing the ball well at the plate, but you know who is, Thompson.

Of course Thompson couldn't have propelled the Tigers to the playoffs himself last year, which is why no one seemed to care when Detroit traded away.

But someone, somewhere, missed something, as Thompson was hitting .299 with a .352 on-base percentage and .639 slugging percentage during his brief stint in Triple-A Toledo. He also mashed eight home runs and seven doubles in just 25 minor-league games.

Although it's still early, just 11 games of a 162 game season, and Thompson probably wouldn't make much of a difference for the Tigers this season, it's just another bad move for a team that's seemingly less rebuilding.

Rebuilding in baseball is typically done through the farm system, but if the Tigers keep missing prospects like Paredes and Thompson, the rebuilding process just goes on and on. And that means a lot more anger from fans.