The Detroit Tigers are among the best teams across all of MLB in 2025. Atop the standings with the best record in baseball, there is still room for the club to improve and become a top-tier World Series contender.
A way for the Tigers to do that would be through the trade market. A recent trade proposal from Sports Illustrated’s Michael Brauner suggests that the Tigers should swing a deal with the Washington Nationals for their 2024 All-Star closer, Kyle Finnegan.
Detroit has plenty of prospects to ship to Washington in the pursuit of Finnegan. But the Nationals’ closer is on a one-year deal and will be a very reasonable player to trade for.
Combined with his impending free agency, Finnegan went unsold at last year’s trade deadline and didn’t find a home for 2025 until late in free agency.
Finnegan is 33 years old and will turn 34 in September. He has six years of MLB experience and is in the middle of one of his best seasons of his career. Across his first 23 appearances, Finnegan has a 2.38 ERA and 18 saves.
He also has accumulated 0.8 WAR, just 0.2 less than his 2024 season total of 1.0, when he was named an All-Star. Finnegan, as an older player on an expiring deal, in the middle of a great season out of the Nationals’ bullpen, would be a great asset for the Tigers to trade for at the MLB trade deadline.
This proposal has the Tigers shipping out inconsequential prospects to land the Nationals’ All-Star and bolster their bullpen to gear up for a deep postseason run in 2025.
