Blue Jays: If the Detroit Tigers blow it up, give me Nick Castellanos

Gone are the days of the Detroit Tigers being a virtual lock to make the post-season year in and year out. The Tigers had their shot at winning multiple World Series with some extremely talented teams, but they always came up short.

It’s getting to that time where the Tigers truly blow it up and trade assets like Ian Kinsler, Victor Martinez, Nick Castellanos, Jose Iglesias, and James McCann. It’s possible you could throw Miguel Cabrera in there as well. Regardless, should the Tigers officially blow it up, you better believe the Toronto Blue Jays should be involved and targeting Nick Castellanos.

The Detroit Tigers farm system isn’t one that will blow you away. Some of their major deals where they’ve sold off players like David Price and Yoenis Cespedes has seen some of those prospects reach the majors like Daniel Norris and Michael Fulmer. Though they’ve for the most part panned out, there is still quite a prospect gap and not many young hitting prospects coming through the system anytime soon.

That is where the Blue Jays can help out as they have some organizational depth on both the pitching side and the hitting side. The question would then be is whether or not the Tigers are intrigued by some of the players in the Blue Jays system (outside of Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette) because if the Tigers are ready to blow it up completely, I’d be looking at Nick Castellanos as a top target.

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Nick Castellanos is only 25 years old and given the likely length of time it will take for the Tigers to be relevant again as well as his club control, the Tigers could get a haul that would likely be pretty good. Perhaps even better than what Castellanos is worth. He’s coming off of a season where he was worth 1.7 wins, had a wRC+ of 111, 26 home runs, 101 RBI, and a .320 OBP. He seems to be finally putting it all together at the plate.

The Blue Jays need an outfielder for 2018 and beyond. Castellanos could slot in nicely in the outfield so they don’t have to rush Teoscar Hernandez or Anthony Alford and also keep Steve Pearce in a platoon role. The added benefit to Nick Castellanos is that he can play at 3rd base as well, so he’d provide the Blue Jays with positional flexibility.

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If Castellanos is moved, I can see it taking 2-3 mid-level prospects. You could perhaps see if you could get a bullpen arm in that deal as well like Shane Greene or Alex Wilson. However, Nick Castellanos would be my top target due to his age, control, and positional flexibility. Combine all that with some pop in his bat and the need for an outfielder, you have a guy who would check off a lot of boxes for the Toronto Blue Jays.