Upon further review: mass excitement
posted in 2007-08 offseason, Winter Meetings |My reaction to the blockbuster trade.
OK. Yes. I’m going to miss Andrew Miller. I’m going to miss Cameron Maybin. And I know I’ll miss my favorite backup catcher, Mike Rabelo. And then the other prospects, they could turn out. You don’t really know. So those are losses to the farm system.
But!
If you can’t get excited at the prospect of Miguel Cabrera playing for your team, alongside an already incredible lineup, you can’t get exited, period. Think about it like Jim Leyland is right now. Where do you put them all? It’s not Murderer’s Row, but it’s pretty darn impressive. Not an actual lineup below, I took no lefty-righty considerations, but look at how it stacks up.
- Curtis Granderson, 20-20-20-20 year, 136 OPS+
- Carlos Guillen, 123 OPS+
- Gary Sheffield, now surgically corrected, of massive power and hitting ability, still 120 OPS+
- Magglio Ordonez, now healthy and coming off a .167 OPS+ year
- Miguel Cabrera, 150 OPS+, still getting better and lost weight
- Edgar Renteria, 125 OPS+ SS
- Placido Polanco, coming off a .388 OBP/.122 OPS+ year
- Jacque Jones, Well, he’s a lefty anyway.
- Ivan Rodriguez, uhm, yeah. Someone’s gotta catch.
Now, deny excitement in that lineup. You can’t. It’s going to score runs big time. Maybe relief pitching won’t be such a big deal with those kinda batters on offense most nights.
Cabrera is one of the best young hitters in the game. That much is clear. He’s only age 24. That’s hard to imagine. He lost weight in the offseason. We should probably expect he’ll continue to move towards a peak. Hopefully not a peak too soon, locking him up long term is imperative.
And we hope Dontrelle Willis returns to form. Can he return to 2005 form, when he finished runner-up for the Cy Young award? Maybe not. But I have no doubt 2007 was an outlier with a young team playing behind him. Still, he’s got to cut down the walks and let Comerica Park and an improved Detroit defense do its job. I trust he’ll be a reliable No. 3 starter. If Jeremy Bonderman’s elbow feels fine and he’s smart enough to talk about his pain, then that’s a pretty strong top of the rotation when you throw in Justin Verlander, whom I have no worry about.
So am I excited? Oh yeah. Am I concerned the minors are near empty? Not really that much. The Tigers have made themselves World Series contenders in 2008, and that’s why you play the game. 2010 on still looks pretty good. 2009 suddenly looks a lot brighter. And we don’t know what will come in return for Willis and Cabrera. Long term contracts? First round and compensatory picks? A trade down the road? So yeah, the cupboards are bare for now, but they don’t have to remain bare.
It’s weird to think of the Tigers as a team that gets into blockbuster trades though, isn’t it? They’re not the guys who trade for the big name stars, make a splash, and get all the baseball world talking about it. They’re not the team that explores a $125M payroll.
Guess what? They are now.
With their actions the Tigers have stated they are a team at the upper tier, with upper tier financial backing. They have smart management to go with this. This makes it more clear than ever before, they’re the Big Boys now.
And you can bet the other Big Boys are scared.
Yeah, I’m excited.
Sphere It
didn’t know your name, so you’re “the other guy” until I get motivated to put up another Tigers’ story!
Anyway, I know everyone’s sad about Maybin being gone but look at it this way… Maybin is still probably at most 2 years away, and the Tigers need production now with Magglio, Pudge, and Sheff getting older… this move also gives the Tigers flexability in the future by having proven commodities at positions that contenders need, should they fall out of contention within the next hmmm, 8 YEARS?!??!
Cabrera is going to be a stud in the american league, and I’m glad that Dombrowski held out for him instead of dealing Maybin for Soriano.
Kurt, look back to your October 31st post “Bunt Singles”…
did I, or did I not in some sort of way call this trade? I originally said “call me crazy.. but would anyone deal a Andrew Miller and a Cameron Maybin for a Miguel Cabrera… Miggy is 24 and in the prime of his career”
to which you replied, “we’re stuck with Inge”… I think Dombrowski and I think on the same lines…
http://www.mackavenuetigers.com/2007/10/31/bunt-single-schilling-a-free-agent/
That’s the link to your statement, Boney.
And to be fair, this was so far outside the Tigers’ M.O. who could have foreseen it ACTUALLY happening? And then to get Willis, wow.
This is such a gutsy move which is what makes it so great. I promise right now to never say anything bad about this trade no matter how it pans out 20 years from now. Illitch and the Tigers saw an opportunity and they went for it. How many teams actually do that? The Yankees aren’t with Santana, the Angels didn’t with Cabrera and they all could have. If the Yankees had added Santana they would be terrific, ditto for the Angels. Now both of those teams head into next season with holes.
Not the Tigers.
I wasn’t attacking what you said, I’m just saying… ridiculous trade… this is like, keeper fantasy league trade at the deadline.
No, don’t worry, I didn’t think you were.
And I do have Cabrera on my keeper team!