While everyone watching baseball’s Winter Meetings were waiting for word of a deal for Johan Santana to be finalized, The Florida Marlins decided to get into the spirit of giving a little early this holiday season by giftwrapping two of the game’s best young players and sending them off to the Detroit Tigers for a plethora of prospects in a blockbuster swap that nobody saw coming.
Miguel Cabrera was on the trading block for a month prior to this week’s GM hoedown in Nashville but a deal rumored to be close to completion that would send him to the Angels for Howie Kendrick, Jered Weaver and Jeff Mathis never materialized. Over the past few days, other suitors (White Sox and Dodgers) began to kick the tires and check in with Florida GM Larry Beinfest about his prized third baseman (The Sox even went as far as to offer 3B Josh Fields, CF Jerry Owens and P John Danks only to be rebuffed) leading some to believe that a deal might get done sooner rather than later but nobody expected what would come next. The news broke around 5 P.M. that the Marlins were not only trading Cabrera but also star lefty Dontrelle Willis to the Tigers. Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski solidified both his already imposing lineup (insert Cabrera into the 3 spot in front of AL MVP runner-up Magglio Ordonez and DH Gary Sheffield and you may have the best 3-4-5 hitters in baseball) and his young but talented rotation (Willis becomes the No. 3 starter behind Bonderman and Verlander) with one daring move. The Tigers gave up some top ranked prospects in OF Cameron Maybin and LHP Andrew Miller who will by all accounts be mainstays for the Marlins for years to come and who both have potential to become franchise cornerstones but in return recieved two players who have already realized their potential and could be the missing pieces to a championship run this season or next. As for the Marlins, acquiring Maybin and Miller along with C Mike Rabelo and three minor leaguers (none of whom are considered top prospects) signals that the club has decided to forgo winning now and build for the future with these young chips and talented young holdovers Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla. Whether this turns out to be the right move probably won’t be decided for a few years or until the team, which has been trying to angle for a new ballpark for some time, has to convince the taxpayers that this team can be competitive enough to fill the seats should a new building be approved.
Marlins 2008 Slogan “Plenty of Good Seats Available”
No new news to report in the ongoing Santana talks, The Red Sox offers are still on the table (Either Jon Lester or Jacoby Ellsbury along with SS prospect Jed Lowrie and P Justin Matheson) but it seems the Twins are waiting for the Red Sox to sweeten the pot by adding another player (possibly Clay Bucholz) or hoping that by stalling that another team will enter the mix. Obviously the Yankees offer of Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera and a prospect was the stronger offer talent-wise but it seems that the Bombers have now moved on. If the Twins do make the deal with the Red Sox, the opinion here is they should acquire Ellsbury (whom ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian calls a “Grady Sizemore clone”) to fill the hole left by the departure of Torii Hunter.
The Next Grady Sizemore?
The big rumor today is the the SF Giants are talking to the Blue Jays about Alex Rios in an attempt to replace some of the power they will lose from the departure of Barry Bonds. The big surprise here is not they want Rios but rather the player they are offering Toronto for his services…phenom Tim Lincecum. Lincecum burst on the scene last season and used his fastball and knee-buckling curve to make some hitters look like little leaguers waving at heat from Danny Almonte. The league is full of outfielders who can put up power numbers and can be had for alot less. This would be a bad move for the Giants should they see it through.
Speaking of Bonds, it has been weird to not hear any rumblings about his future during these meetings and the only talk of steroids has been the report that the much anticipated Mitchell Report will be released sometime before the Christmas holiday. The Royals got an early gift when they agreed to a 3 year $36 million dollar pact with Jose Guillen on tuesday then found out he will be suspended for the first 10-15 games of next season for buying HGH from 2003-2005. Maybe the spectre of a long suspension for Bonds once the Mitchell Report is released is keeping teams away or maybe it’s just that teams are finally ready to admit that where there is smoke there must be fire and when it comes to Bonds, the risk is no longer worth the reward.
