Tigers' opening day third basemen for the past 50 years:Brandon Inge, Eric Munson, Craig Paquette, Shane Halter, Dean Palmer, Joe Randa, Travis Fryman, Scott Livingstone, Tony Phillips, Chris Brown, Tom Brookens, Darnell Coles, Chris Pittaro, Aurelio Rodriguez, Dalton Jones, Don Wert, Bubba Phillips, Steve Boros, Eddie Yost, Reno Bertoia, and Jim Finigan.
Yeah, I'd say that acquiring Cabrera constitutes an improvement.
In other news, the AL Central race is officially on, and the Yankees' chances of making the playoffs as a Wild Card are officially in jeopardy.
UPDATE: Neyer makes a great point about the long and the short term of this trade:
Willis can become a free agent after next season. Cabrera can do the same after the 2009 season. Cabrera might leave the Tigers before he reaches his prime. A wise man spent years trying to drill this into my head: Teams don't trade players; they trade contracts. The Marlins just traded three years of Cabrera and Willis for 35 years of six (now) ex-Tigers, two of whom -- Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin ranked among the top 20 or 25 prospects in the game just one year ago.
There's a real good chance that the Marlins will, over the next five years, receive a great deal more value than the Tigers will get from Cabrera and Willis. Toss in the other four minor leaguers the Marlins got, and it's a truly great deal for them. I'm willing to make that call right now. And the Tigers? It's all about the championships . . . If they reach the playoffs in one of the next two years -- and particularly if they're still playing in late October -- you give them credit for rolling the dice. If they don't, they've paid a terribly high price for three player-seasons.
4 comments:
It will be really interesting to see if Dontrelle can get his stuff together...though I think moving over to the AL will not help him too much. If he *can*, well, that really can be a huge plus for Detroit. I suppose it's possible that Detroit might just be a brief stopover for him and he could be trade bait, though I'm not certain what else Detroit needs at this point, they seem pretty well set.
Inge, Brookens, Fryman, and Rodriguez weren't all that bad either. But Cabrera may match all four of their career outputs before he's done.
I don't think it's a given that the Yankees will even be in 2nd place next year. Boston is the team to beat, but remember the Yankees only lost the AL East by 2 games last year, and they've definitely improved. Not saying the Red Sox haven't, but I think it will be close, not the runaway many people seem to think it will be.
If the Sox get Santana, though, then it might not be close.
C, I agree with NC, December 05 is a bit early for the Yanks to concede the AL East to the Red Sox.
Yes the Tigers' lineup matches up to anybody's now. I thought their biggest problem last year was the pen. And Zumaya's health in going into 08?....Gotta think Dombrowski will "address" that. Inge for relievers?
Post a Comment