On the same day that the Tigers lost their starter, Rick Porcello, they quickly replace him as they trade away Eugenio Suarez and minor-league pitcher Jonathon Crawford for Alfredo Simon of the Cincinnati Reds. Simon is projected as the #5 starter for the Tigers, as of right now. As for the Reds, Suarez will serve as a back-up infielder and Jonathon Crawford will have to work for his spot on the 40-man roster. Crawford will not be missed by the Tigers as he is 22-years-old and still in single A, but Suarez will be missed as he played an important role as he went back and forth with Iglesias for the starting SS position.
What the Detroit Tigers get in a guy like Alfredo Simon is a big intimidating figure on the mound that has transitioned very well from the bullpen to the starting rotation in 2014. Simon stands at 6 foot 6 inches weighing in at 265 pounds. He throws up to 95 MPH, but he is not a big strikeout pitcher as his K/9 was 5.8 as the NL league average for starters was 7.7.
What he does best is give you a good start for about 6.1 innings pitched, as he had 22 quality starts out of his 32 games started in 2014. One other aspect that that makes him valuable is his ability to adjusts to different ballparks, as his ERA+ was 105 this year (anything over 100 is good) and the league average was 101. He finished his first year as a starter with a record of 15-10 and a 3.86 ERA, but because of the Reds winning the Wilson Defensive Team of the Year Award, Simon’s FIP (a player’s true ERA if team defense is not factored in) was 4.33. He is an interesting fit for the Tigers and will have to face a tougher offensively driven league in 2015 and put up good numbers if he wishes to get a good payday as he becomes a free agent after the 2015 season. But this is a good pickup for the Tigers as he was very cheap to get.
The Reds on the other hand have lost their newly transitioned starter who they practically gave up for nothing, as Cincinnati was not willing to wait around longer for a better offer to present itself. The Red’s purpose of trading Alfredo was that they were worried that they could not resign him at the end of next year, plus Simon is now at the top of his value, so the Reds thought they could maybe get something valuable back, but obviously that doesn’t matter now as the Red’s got impatient. The two players that they received form Detroit are a sloppy immature shortstop in Eugenio Suarez, who has some potential with his bat, and also an undeveloped 22-year-old who is an unranked prospect still trying to get out of Single A. It is possible that the Reds GM saw something in both of these guys, but adding them together does not equal the rising value in the new found starter Alfredo Simon.
Overall this trade was a B- for the Tigers as they quickly respond in a descent way to the departure of Porcello, but the Reds receive a D+ for the trade as the pieces they were hoping to get back in return for Simon, are not the two youngsters the Tigers gave them.
