The Most Fun Trade Ever, Part Two
Okay, so this qualifies as something better than yesterday.
The Tigers are sending their entire farm system, along with the draft rights to every player they pick for the next 1,000 years, a partridge, and a pear tree to the Florida Marlins for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis.
It’s the blockbuster to end all blockbusters. The Tigers instantly thrust themselves right back into the top tier of the American League superpowers, while the Marlins acquire a ridiculous haul of talent not seen since the Herschel Walker trade.
This deal makes the Tigers better in a time where their window to win is not huge. Detroit has a significant core of their roster who won’t be helping them win for much longer or are about to head into decline, so they’re in a position where trading future help for current help makes a lot of sense. Miguel Cabrera, while not much defensively, is a hall of fame hitter heading into the prime of his career. You can’t acquire a player that good and not get better.
Did they overpay? Yea, probably. My love affair with Andrew Miller is long and well documented, and while I think Cameron Maybin is a little overhyped, he’s just terrific instead of stupendously awesome. The other four prospects account for, basically, every last bit of talent in the Tigers system besides Rick Porcello (who they aren’t allowed to trade yet). It’s a massive haul for the Marlins, and gives them some chances to realign their roster to help alleviate some of their defensive deficiencies.
From the Mariners perspective, Cabrera’s not an Angel, so we should all be thrilled about that.
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61 Responses to “The Most Fun Trade Ever, Part Two”
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Red Sox with Santana in ’08 > ANY of the Braves teams in the 90s. The Red Sox actually have a bullpen, and a legit lineup, as opposed to Mark Wohlers, Trot Nixon, and Fred McGriff.
Seriously, they were stacked this year. With Santana, I don’t think stacked begins to describe the Red Sox.
I mean, yea, the All-Star at every position in the field thing has really worked well for the Yankees, so it’s got to work for Detroit.
Come on, it’s about the pitching, and we both know it.
It just seems silly to mortgage the future so heavily, especially with guys like Miller and Maybin who look so promising, for a fleeting chance to win now, against arguably the best on-paper baseball team of my lifetime (again, assuming Santana ends up in Boston).
I’ll stop now, since you obviously don’t agree, but let’s discuss again 10-and-a-half months from now, and then again a year after that.
I admit my initial reaction on seeing the trade was an open-mouthed, “my god the marlins fleeced them”, and I expected Dave to rip the trade.
#52 – me too I’m a little confused, as Dave seems to like this trade for Detroit, even though they have literally given up the farm. Dontrell is going to get lit up in the American league, and I just think Detroit gave up too much.
Honestly, this is great in several ways:
1. Angels don’t get Cabrera (thrill me!)
2. Dontrelle Willis is no longer an option for the M’s to acquire (yes, I was worried he would be brought in at the cost of Morrow – another reliever for a starter deal)
3. Detriot made themselves much better offensively, and much worse defensively. But, still much better overall.
4. The Angels haven’t made a big, scary movve.
5. One less rabbit for Billy Beane to pull out of his hat.
Oh, and for all the people scared of how good the Red Sox might be….. wait until they actually acquire Santana. And if you are so sure they are that unbeatable, cash in your 401K and place your bet on them in Vegas today. The odds you’ll get will be phenominal and you can go buy an island or whatever.
#51 If its all about pitching, quit talking about the Braves hitters and don’t gloss over their pitchers. From 1991 – 1998, a Brave deservedly won the Cy Young. The only two years that were not a Brave? 1992 Maddux as a Cub and 1997 Pedro Martinez. No team had the pitching had like the Braves. 8 years of pitching domination. It isn’t like any of their pitchers had down years, either.
Keep in mind that for the Tigers, money appears to me not much of an issue. The fact that Cabrera is expensive and Maybin/Miller are cheap isn’t a big deal to them.
Cabrera is only, what, 24? At least when you mortgage the future to get him, you receive a pretty darned good future in return.
I just wonder if the Tigers didn’t just indirectly help the Twins get a bigger package back for Santana. With the hard-on everyone has for the Tigers lineup (apparently the latest “new ’27 Yankees”) the Twins suddenly have yet another reason to get nothing less than the maximum value for him.
Would the M’s be interested in Shawn Green? I know he is now a shell of his former self, but he would be an affordable 1 year contract and useful left handed stick in the lineup. On the plus side he had a nice Sept.
#51: What are you going to do with Maybin and Miller? Wait three years and try then? Wait five years and pray that somehow the Red Sox front office has stopped building awesome teams? In a few years, most of Detroit’s best hitters will be in serious decline, if not out of baseball. It’s just ludicrous to think that Detroit will be in a better position to win it all in a few years than they are right now.
You take the Sox, I’ll take the field. It’s playoff baseball. The best team seldom wins.
Red Sox with Santana in รขโฌห08 > ANY of the Braves teams in the 90s. The Red Sox actually have a bullpen, and a legit lineup, as opposed to Mark Wohlers, Trot Nixon, and Fred McGriff.
Hmm, let’s see. The 1996/1997 Braves were 4th and 3rd in NL runs scored. The 2006-2007 Red Sox were 6th and 3rd.
Nope, still not ready to turn them into a dynasty. Sorry. You might also note that Manny and Varitek will be closer to 40 than 30 when Opening Day comes around, and a lot of big offensive contributors are on the wrong side of 30.
My working theory is the Red Sox will be a legitimately good team next year, and even better with Santana… but the offense might struggle some, as it’s a poster child for Too Many Old Guys.
40: My initial reaction as well was that the Tigers were “mortgaging their future” with this move — and granted, they did give away a boatload of talent to get Cabrera and the D-Train. However, I agree that their front office has a pretty good eye for scouting and drafting young talent — and are certainly a lot more savvy now then they were back in 2000 when they made that disastrous deal for about 100 games worth of Juan Gonzalez’ whining during his contract year. I think they’ll probably be alright as well.
Besides, kudos to Dave Dombrowski are in order for keeping Miggy AWAY from the Angels! ๐