By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
July 27, 2016

For the last couple of years, you could compellingly say that Detroit Tigers fans were comparable to the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Every year around the trade deadline you hear the same refrain ….

“The window is closing and we have to go all-in NOW before it’s too late and this era of Cy Youngs, MVPs, Triple-Crown winners, ERA leaders and extremely advantageous AL Central payrolls tragically ends without a World Series title.”

That last paragraph has become Tigers’ fans own version of Fred G. Sanford’s “Oh, This is the Big One, Elizabeth” speech during the last couple of seasons.

But with Victor Martinez on the verge of turning 38 years old and Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera both playing in their “age 33” season, that “sky-is-falling” mantra might finally be accurate,  which has put General Manager Al Avila in a precarious position over the last few weeks.

His franchise has a payroll of $200 million dollars. His 86-year-old owner is in poor health but before Mike Ilitch’s body started failing a few months ago he magnanimously agreed to pay MLB’s luxury tax this season when he added Justin Upton.

And even after that huge financial expenditure, it seemed like our last legitmate kick at the can was going for naught. As the July 31st trade deadline crept closer and closer, this team seemed to be walking in quicksand. With 60% of the starting staff recently consisting of Mike Pelfrey, Anibal Sanchez and Matt Boyd, the team couldn’t get on a run.

They lost two out of three at HOME to the TWINS. They couldn’t take advantage of Chris Sale doing his best Al Swearengen imitation on his teammates’ 1976 throwback jerseys and ended up blowing the last two games of the series against the hapless White Sox in walk-off fashion on Sunday.

And this shit-or-get-off-the-pot moment was coming closer with no clarity whatsoever as this team seemed buried in a six-game hole in their own division.

But then something has occurred over the last few days which has crystalized the decision at hand for Avila and the rest of the team’s brass. The Indians have lost four out of five games with their only win coming when human shit stain Jonathan Papelbon couldn’t hold a two-run lead for the Nationals in the ninth inning on Tuesday night.

And remarkably, the Tigers entered their House of Horrors (Fenway Park) and inexplicably swept Dave Dombrowski’s Boston Red Sox. As I type this article, Divot Chin Dave’s former team is only 4.5 games behind the Tribe in the division.

(And if anything could lift FrankenIlitch off that gurney it’s probably his team giving an ass-kicking to Dombrowski’s current franchise.)

The seemingly invincible Indians — who only a few weeks ago strung together a dozen wins in a row — have crashed back to Earth. Maybe the stench of a hateful demagogue polluting the building adjacent to Progressive Field has contaminated the perennial Lake Erie failures.

Or maybe, just maybe, the organization that is only five games above .500 when playing any team not located in our fair city isn’t really that great after all.

Look, I have said for weeks that if the Tigers weren’t within shouting distance of the Mistake by the Lake nearing the trade deadline, every veteran should be put on the block — including JV, Ian Kinsler, Francisco Rodriguez.

But it’s July 28th — an off-day for both Detroit and Cleveland — and it’s become obvious the Tigers need to buy with Jordan Zimmermann, J.D. Martinez and Daniel Norris on the verge of returning to the big club after rehab stints in Toledo.

4.5 games back. Which is within the margin of error of Brad Ausmus. Meaning, if not for the Dartmouth Dummy’s atrocious managerial decisions over the last few weeks, this team could be right there with Cleveland already.

And when you add it all up, it’s time to buy. And not just adding a lefty specialist, another bullpen arm or a capable fourth outfielder.

BIG.

REALLY FUCKING BIG.

And don’t give me this Ken Holland bullshit that the team is getting their trade deadline acquisitions with the return of Zimmermann, Norris and JD-Mart. This team was middling when ALL of those players were on the roster.

And spare me the argument that the franchise doesn’t have a farm system capable of adding a major piece to the puzzle. It’s the same shit we’ve heard before.

And then they added Doug Fister. Or Joakim Soria. And David Price.

Yes, the reason they couldn’t buy in 2015 when they were three games back in the Wild Card race was the minor league pipeline was dry.

But it’s not any longer. Norris, Mike Gerber, Joe Jimenez, JaCoby Jones, Beau Burrows, Christin Stewart, Steven Moya and others could be utilized as trade chips.

Now, I have no idea if the organization has the firepower to add Chris Sale or if his current team would have the inclination to deal within their division. I am not sure Norris (the centerpiece of the Price trade and a Top 20 prospect in 2015), Stewart (currently enjoying a .947 OPS in Lakeland) and Jimenez (a potential future closer) would be enough to obtain an affordable ace under team control through 2019.

Fuck, throw in Derek Hill and a seamstress if that’s what it would take to get that deal done.

But I remain dubious that even all of that would satisfy Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams.

But it’s worth a call. Because the Tigers currently have 20% of the Top 10 AL pitchers in WAR with Michael Fulmer and Verlander.

30% would even be nicer and a huge advantage entering the postseason if they somehow were able to overtake the Indians.

And if Sale is a pie-in-the-sky fantasy (and it surely is if the Sox can get a Julio Urias, Yoan Mancada or Nomar Mazara in a mega-package) move on to Tampa and offer a blockbuster package for Chris Archer. And if a deal can’t be made with the Rays, call and see if you can pry former EMU star Matt Shoemaker away from the Angels.

You see where I am going here? They need another front-line starter. I don’t want to hear about Jeremy Hellickson, Andrew Cashner, Rich Hill (a 36-year-old fluke. A pending free-agent destined to be the next Jarrod Washburn) or Ervin Santana.

Give me a difference-maker.  And then acquire a reliever who can be trusted in the seventh inning. Preferably a southpaw.

Gut the farm system. Again.

Because 2016 might be our last shot at the ring that has been more elusive than the one Mitch Albom was chasing in Mordor.

And I really mean it this time.

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