Chad Jennings reports that Bloom said in a radio interview yesterday that he's looking for a lefty-hitting middle infielder
https://theathletic.com/live-blogs/mlb-trade-deadline-2023/Cxs2TSZ0o4pd/PVRxJtndLA8m/
That's quite specific, and suggests that maybe they don't view Valdez as a 2B anymore.
Anyway, there are 44 of those with more than 50 MLB PAs this year (and aren't Valdez). Those on non-contending teams include
Nolan Gorman, Nick Maton, Nicky Lopez, Luis Guillorme, CJ Abrams, Zack McKinstry, Ji Hwan Bae, Luis Garcia, Michael Massey, Tony Kemp, Tommy Edman, Brendan Donovan, Luis Rengifo, Harold Castro, Tucupita Marcano, Ryan McMahon, Rodolfo Castro and Kolten Wong. But if we're excluding guys who can't handle the position, that group is considerably smaller.
I think one of the Tigers, Zack McKinstry or Nick Maton, would be solid fits here. Each seems like they can play an adequate 2B and is under control through 2027, and Detroit probably only has room for one with Justyn Henry-Malloy nearing promotion, Colt Keith ready soon, and Andy Ibañez having a sort of interesting year.
Each has interesting merits. Both seem to have great plate discipline, solid walk rates. McKinstry's a better contact hitter, athlete and defender. Maton has a terrible .164/.288/.292 line but with a .193 BABIP, and he's actually
improved on his BB and K rates over last year, when he put up a 135 wRC+.
FWIW, BTV has McKinstry at $13.5M in surplus value, worth roughly Rafaela, and Maton at 0.6 BTV, worth roughly Chih-Jung Liu. That seems
quite off on McKinstry, who the Tigers acquired last winter for a guy who ranks #51 in the Cubs system.