RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 3 sourcesWith Jake Rogers designated for assignment Tuesday by the Tigers , the final score can be tallied on one of the biggest trades in team history.
The prospects Detroit received for Justin Verlander nine years ago next month — Franklin Pérez, Daz Cameron and Jake Rogers — never came close to matching the Hall of Fame-caliber production Verlander delivered after leaving the Tigers.
It comes, coincidentally, precisely as the Tigers are faced with what to do with another generational pitching talent in two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, whose one-year, arbitration-awarded contract ends at the end of this season.
Will the Tigers keep him past the Aug. 3 trade deadline and hope to resign him at a huge cost or deliver him to another team in return and attempt to get something in return for his departure?
General Manager Al Avila faced a similar dilemma in 2017, when Justin Verlander’s contract was ending and he opted to ship Verlander to Houston in return for three prospects. With Rogers in the minors, here’s how the trade turned out.
The midnight Verlander trade
On Aug. 31, 2017, Detroit sent franchise ace Justin Verlander to the Houston Astros in a late-night, waiver-deadline deal that signaled the start of a full-scale rebuild. In return, the Tigers landed three of Houston’s top 11 prospects at the time: right-hander Franklin Pérez, outfielder Daz Cameron and catcher Jake Rogers.
“We’re thrilled to get three great prospects from one of the highest-ranked farm systems in baseball,” Avila said after the trade. “All three players are outstanding athletes, and they greatly bolster our minor-league system. Pérez was the headliner for us, cementing himself as a dominant force in each of his three years in professional baseball.
"Daz Cameron is someone that we view as one of the highest-ceiling players in the minors. Cameron is a guy that slipped in the draft because of signability concerns, but has always shown flashes of his dad’s play.
“Rogers plays beyond his years, demonstrating solid pop in his bat while having above average plate discipline, and our scouts have him rated as a reliable receiver behind the plate with an above average arm.
The bet was clear: turn one aging but still elite starter into a core of young talent that would anchor the next competitive Tigers team. Instead, injuries, inconsistency and limited opportunity kept the package from delivering anything close to Verlander’s post-Detroit value.
Franklin Pérez: the headliner who never arrived
Pérez was billed as the headliner, a 19-year-old righty ranked No. 3 in the Astros ’ system and a top‑50 prospect in baseball, with a mid-90s fastball and advanced feel for pitching. At the time of the trade, he owned a 3.33 ERA across 50 minor-league appearances and projected as a future rotation anchor.
Almost immediately, injuries derailed that projection. A recurring lat issue and other setbacks limited Pérez to just 27 minor-league innings in the years after the trade, a trickle of work compared to what the Tigers expected from a frontline prospect. He never appeared in a major-league game for Detroit, finishing his Tigers tenure with 0 MLB innings, 0 wins, 0 losses and no WAR before being released.
For a franchise banking on frontline upside, Pérez ultimately gave the Tigers zero big-league value and no secondary trade return.
Daz Cameron: flashes, but fringe results
Cameron arrived as a five-tool center fielder — the son of former All-Star Mike Cameron — with speed, power potential and a reputation for on-base skills, ranked ninth in Houston’s system at the time. His career MLB line through July 2026 tells the story: a .200 batting average over 435 at-bats, with 87 hits, 55 runs, 11 home runs, 42 RBIs and 15 stolen bases, along with a .258 on-base percentage, .326 slugging and a .584 OPS.
Those numbers capture his big-league reality: occasional pop and speed, but not enough consistent contact or on-base performance to hold down an everyday job. He posted negative WAR in some seasons and ultimately bounced to other organizations and leagues, offering Detroit more depth than difference-making production in center field.
For the Tigers, Cameron provided modest outfield coverage and some defensive flexibility, but never became the lineup pillar or long-term solution the club hoped to find in the Verlander return.
Jake Rogers: defense-first catcher, modest value
Rogers was projected as a defense-first catcher with plus receiving and framing, modest pop, and enough bat to carry a regular role if everything clicked. He’s the only player from the Verlander package to carve out a sustained major-league role in Detroit.
His career offensive summary through 2026 shows a .197 batting average, 47 home runs and 138 RBIs. In the detailed stat tables, his line sits at 1,082 at-bats with 213 hits, 132 runs scored, 47 homers, 138 RBIs and 3 stolen bases, with a .197/.301/.381 slash line that translates to an OPS around .682 and roughly 2.5 career WAR.
Rogers’ value has largely come from run prevention — handling pitchers, framing, and controlling the running game — rather than from transforming the Tigers’ offense. That makes him a useful role player and a legitimate starting catcher, but still a complementary piece rather than a cornerstone acquired for a future Hall of Famer.
Verlander after Detroit: a Hall of Fame second act
While the prospects struggled to establish themselves, Verlander authored one of the best late-career runs of any modern pitcher. His career line through early 2026 shows 556 games (all starts), a 266–159 record, 3.33 ERA, 3,571.1 innings pitched, 3,554 strikeouts and a 1.14 WHIP, with his WAR sitting in the low‑80s and his ERA+ in the high‑120s.
Immediately after the trade in 2017, he went 5–0 with a 1.06 ERA in five regular-season starts for Houston, then 4–1 with a 2.21 ERA in the postseason, winning ALCS MVP as the Astros captured their first World Series title. Over subsequent seaso...
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