It's Not Sell! Sell! Sell!, But...

It's become a tradition in the state of Michigan, every summer since the Detroit Tigers sold off J.D. Martinez, Justin Upton, and Justin Verlander in the summer of 2017 (six years ago, which is hard to believe).

When are the Tigers going to sell at the Major League Baseball trade deadline?

Get our free mobile app

In case you haven't been paying attention, and judging by the home attendance you haven't been. Your beloved Tigers have lost nine games in a row (as of the morning of June 12th) and 11 of their last 12. They have gone from 26-28 and in 2nd place in the American League Central, to 26-37 and in fourth place in the worst division in baseball, the American League Central.

And with that losing streak, the calls have started to go up for the team to sell off their top assets who are approaching free agency for future prospects who might or might not pan out.

I don't think they should sell right now, but they need to start thinking about it because they flat-out suck.

Before I tell you why they shouldn't sell right now, you should know that the MLB trade deadline this year is August 1st. Ok here's why they shouldn't sell yet:

THEY PLAY IN THE AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL!!!

Even though the Tigers suck out loud, they are in the worst division in MLB. The Minnesota Twins lead the division with a 33-33 record.

So despite losing 11 of their last 12 games and having fallen into fourth place, they are still only 5 1/2 games behind the Twins. You don't just quit on the season (and I don't think they have) in mid-June when you're that close, regardless of the record.

THEY FACE THE DIVISION-LEADING TWINS 7 TIMES BEFORE JULY

The Tigers head to Target Field to play the Twins for a four-game series this coming weekend. And then the following weekend, they host the Twins for three. Win five out of seven against the Twins and you're a lot closer to the top than you were before.

WHO DO THEY HAVE TO SELL OFF?

Other than starting pitchers Michael Lorenzen (pictured above) and Matthew Boyd, nobody. Eduardo Rodriguez is hurt and may not be back until August (after the trade deadline). Javier Baez and Jonathan Schoop have no trade value. You're not trading any of your younger players (Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, Zach McKinstry, etc.), and you won't get much for impending free agents Chasen Shreve and Jose Cisnero. Maybe Tyler Alexander because he's left-handed (same for the aforementioned Boyd), but that's a stretch.

HOWEVER...

THEY NEED TO THINK ABOUT IT

Once the schedule toughened up in June (Texas, Arizona, Atlanta, etc.), they have been awful. And do you really think they're going to turn it around? With the lack of offense and starting pitching (largely due to injury), they're not going to improve. The Minnesota series' may tell the tale for them. Lose those games to the Twins, and now you're in full-on sell mode.

Like I said in the headline, it's not SELL, SELL, SELL!!! But it's getting a lot closer to that the way they're going so far in June.