I Got Elliot Smith on Repeat

Obviously Dombrowski is not a big believer that the world is ending in 2012. If the world ends in 2012 before our prospects we received get a chance to fully develop I will be so angry with him. Let's hope the Mayan's are wrong for the sake of the future of the Detroit Tigers.

If you do not live your life under the impression that the end is near, then this trade was somewhat bearable from a purely baseball standpoint. We received some solid pitchers and potentially someone who will replace Granderson. But, I really can’t get past why this trade was made. What really was the point? We traded two very productive, relatively young, good contracts in positions of need…for even younger, but less established players. All 4 players we received seem to have potential, but I’m a jaded old man who has followed Detroit Tiger drafts from the beginning of the internet to the current day. I remember dreaming of the day the Greisengers, Munsons, Sleeths and even the Maybins and Millers would suit up for the Tigers. Prospects are neat, but especially in baseball they are never anything you can safely rely on.

MAX SCHERZER:

Probably today has better stuff then Jackson, and a better contract. Some say his “violent” delivery has potential to make him a bullpen arm. If he ever moves to the bullpen…prepare for a scathing bradygee.blogspot post in all CAPITAL LETTERS. But I like Scherzer, a lot.

DANIEL SCHLERETH:

It’s a well known fact that all sons of offensive lineman go on to great pitching careers. He was a recent 1^st round draft pick…which really doesn’t mean all that much to me. He has already had Tommy John surgery. He’s a young lefty bullpen arm. And he has big hair. Two big plusses. Hair he is.

Also, I imagine when Dombrowski was offered Schlereth and Scherzer for Jackson his response was “schure.”

AUSTIN JACKSON:

He will probably be our starting CF next year. Unfortunately according to his minor league stats he is not even close to ready. Struck out 123 times in 504 plate appearances, which is a substantially higher K% then Granderson had in the MLB last year. Hit for basically no power, 4 HR’s last season…And will be 100% in charge of captaining the worst defensive outfield in the history of organized sport.

PHIL COKE:

Lefty Chad Durbin, hopefully. I’d be thrilled if he is that next year.

WHAT WE TRADED:

CURTIS GRANDERSON:

The most beloved sports figure in Detroit. Yes, ahead of Lidstrom. Last 3 years, averaged .277, 25 HR’s and was a plus defensive CF’er. Struck out too much, couldn’t hit lefty’s. Why Leyland batted him leadoff…I will never understand. He hit 30 HR’s last year and basically all were solo Hr’s because the Dane Sardinha’s and Inge’s of the world were setting him up. A pretty monumental waste of his talent at that position. Also, probably shit on the hearts of 8 year old baseball fans across the state of Michigan when they found out he was traded. 2 years removed from a 20-20-20-20 season.

EDWIN JACKSON:

Young, all-star, and had a couple years left on his contract. For half the season was keeping pace with Verlander. Then fell off pretty hard the 2^nd half of the season. Great stuff if he can put it all together.

CF and starting pitching are two serious holes for us. I’ll never be able to comprehend why Jackson had to go. Scherzer is a fine replacement for him, but why he was basically offered to every team as soon as the season ended made little sense. I’ve heard the saying “sell high” on Jackson so much recently. Usually when a 25 year old pitcher has his best season and makes his first all-star game…that usually means he’s getting better, not worse.

The urgency to trade Granderson is really one of the most puzzling things I can remember in Detroit sports history. It’s true he had some glaring weaknesses, but outside of Pujols who in the MLB does not? One sub par, 30 HR season is not enough for me to unequivocally call for a 28 year old player to be on the decline. We have zero MLB ready CF’ers to replace him. And, just for good measure he was easily our best LH bat in a park that favors lefty’s. We have Guillen as the sole starting lefty in the lineup right now. And there’s a 75% chance by the end of this sentence he just strained his back.

…And to the Yankees?! What a sick, sadistic world we live in where such tragedy’s like this can happen. If he excels in NY, the next decade will be borderline unlivable as a Tigers fan. This sucks, so hard.

The Tigers next year are going to field the lousiest offensive lineup outside of 2003 in my entire lifetime. I would easily take 9 .26 Cabrera’s over them. It will be ugly.

C: Laird

1B. Cabrera

2B. Sizemore

SS: Everett

3B: Inge

LF: Guillen/Raburn

CF: Jackson

RF: Maggs

DH: Guillen/Avila/Thomas/

The Tigers are not saying they are having a fire sale…but, in the last week we’ve lost starting CF, 2B, #2 pitcher, Closer, and set up man. If this has to do with $, the fact we kept a $17 million dollhair single hitter will make me bulimic. To me, it looks like Dombrowski caved to Boras. Boras called the Tigers out multiple times in the media for not playing him and we caved. If Dombrowski had any heart under his mauve colored turtlenecks he would have responded with “we aren’t playing that moonfaced, Hugo Chavez supporting, steroid drained, junior varsity level defender, GIDP waiting to happen, A.C Slater reject a million dollars for every time he fouls out on the 1^st pitch to the 1^st basemen! Good day, sir!” But that never happened.

The way this whole thing went down is likely to lead to me getting cabrera’d on a daily basis until pitchers and catchers report. This trade is Dombrowski’s future in Detroit. This trade did not have to be made. Dombrowski is gone from Detroit if this fails.

So far, I’m sure I come across as someone who curses at the clouds and hates everything Tigers right now. Let me say, in a world where I let myself believe that we needed to trade Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson I think we did alright. I’ll be there opening day and drinking the kool aid the Tigers feed me by the barrel full. HAVING SAID THAT, I do believe RP is the most overrated position in all of baseball. And I believe that solid defense up the middle C, SS, CF is one of the most underrated aspects of baseball. I also think we should have gotten one of Dunn, or Hughes from the Yankees. Also, if we were trading for prospects, I want prospects that would strengthen our lineup rather then pitching. Our farm system womps, but pitching wise we aren’t as weak as we are in comparison to our future line-up.

In trades, almost 100% of the time I feel that whomever received the best overall player in the trade, wins that trade. Right now, I believe Granderson at the moment was easily the best player in this trade, and will most likely have a better career then Scherzer, Ed. Jackson, A. Jackson or anyone else involved. The Diamondbacks are ridiculous. Nothing at all about this trade makes sense to me and they seem to have gotten substantially worse in my opinion. I grade them a Z.

Illitch must be thrilled. Verlander’s an alright guy, but his Ed Hardy t-shirts will make it hard for the city to embrace him like they did Granderson. Cabrera got drunk with the White Sox the night before the biggest game of the season. That will rightfully hurt him until he hits .450 next season. It’s going to be a lot like 2003 attendance wise. My past phone conversations were “I’m in section 103.” This year, it will more likely be “I am section 103.”

How I felt at 1:54 PM 12/8/09

More, Granderson goodness.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPKnNogMT_s&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdrV5iF43tQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXmaff8F7xc