Report: Tigers unlikely to trade Michael Fulmer despite interest

The Detroit Tigers are slowly falling out of contention as the trade deadline nears, and they will likely be fielding plenty of calls from teams that expect them to be sellers. If those calls are about Michael Fulmer, they may be ignored.

According to Jon Heyman of FanCred Sports, several teams have checked in on Fulmer but a rival executive believes the chances of Detroit trading the right-hander are very low. The exec noted that the Tigers are “treating (Fulmer) like a No. 2 starter.”

Fulmer is just 25 and under team control through 2022, so you can understand why the Tigers might prefer to hang onto him. That said, they have a number of highly-paid veterans like Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and Jordan Zimmermann, and they may not be able to unload any of that money without a willingness to deal younger players like Fulmer.

While he has an injury history some teams might find concerning, Fulmer has looked like a quality MLB starter over the past three seasons. His ERA is up to 4.20 this year, but he has a career 3.62 ERA and has shown plenty of promise.