First Block Buster!! (not Met related)

[Frayed Knot]

(acc to several ESPN sources) Florida is set to send Miguel Cabrera AND Dontrelle Willis to Detroit for a package of 6 players, including:
- LHP Andrew Miller (#1 Overall pick in 2006) 22 y/o
- OF Cameron Maybin (#10 overall pick in 2005) 20 y/o
- plus a utility player and 3 minor league pitchers



Think the Tigers have enough hitting?

[DocTee]

Nice to have them out of our division.

Three lefty starters for the Tiggers rotation, now, I think.

[metirish]

No idea about the kids the Marlins are getting but Miller and Maybin are supposed to be super prospects, I'd hate to be a Marlins fan though, tough to sell them this I would think.

[willpie]

Now that is a bigass trade.

Who's Florida playing at 3rd?

[Valadius]

My grandpa thinks Uggla's going to third.

[Guest Kid Carsey]

Valad: >>>My grandpa thinks Uggla's going to third<<<

Link?

[Guest OlerudOwned]

Shame that Dontrelle won't get to hit anymore.

Abolish the DH!

[Valadius]

Detroit's lineup is SCARY now.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Detroit, rock city.

They can prolly trade Inge to the Angels for something useful now too.

[smg58]

metirish wrote: No idea about the kids the Marlins are getting but Miller and Maybin are supposed to be super prospects, I'd hate to be a Marlins fan though, tough to sell them this I would think.

On one hand, it sounds like Florida is getting a lot, and it's not like Marlins fans didn't know this was coming. On the other hand, the Marlins actually turned the biggest profit of any team last year, so at some point somebody will have to call Loria on his lack of spending.

Uggla had the Fielding Bible's worst +/- at second base, Ramirez was the worst at short, and Cabrera was third worst at third. Moving Uggla to third would probably upgrade two positions defensively.

They key to this deal is actually Willis. The return of the old D-Train will give the Tigers a title. Last year's Willis will get murdered in the AL, though, and even the usual offense from Cabrera won't be enough to make this deal look good.

[Gwreck]

I still see this as a great deal for the Tigers. Miller is indeed a great prospect but with Verlander, Bonderman, Robertson and Minor they have quality young pitching. Add Willis and Kenny Rogers (who reupped for a year) and they can put one of them in the 'pen.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Hanley, while maybe being the MVP anyhow, was also a pretty lousy fielder. Florida just sucked defensively and it's likely what kept them from being a pretty good team.

I think this trade'll work out great for Florida. Detroit too probably. It's not like we haven't seen Florida hibernate and come back strong before.

[Frayed Knot]

]... the Marlins actually turned the biggest profit of any team last year

Where is that info from and is something we should take at face value given the wonders of creative accounting and all that?

[Fman99]

I am happy to get both Fatty and Crooked-Hat out of the NL East. Though Willis seemed more hittable this year than in years past.

[nymr83]

]Florida just sucked defensively and it's likely what kept them from being a pretty good team.

pitching might have helped. the team ERA was 15th out of 16 NL teams in a pitcher's park.

[Guest attgig]

as much as I hate florida for selling out like that, if i lived in south florida, I would love it. every few years, sell EVERYTHING, and get awesome young prospects. after a few years of maturation... run for the playoffs...and actually win a WS.
then repeat.

compared to small market teams like the pirates..... I'd rather be a marlin fan.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Maybin played here in Grand Rapids the year before last. He's the real deal. And Miller is a fine pitcher. Rabelo is a back-up catcher. The rest of the minor leaguers in the deal are not people I've heard of, and that kind of sells something.

This seems like a steal for the Tigers. I'm stunned that they couldn't get more from somebody.

[metirish]

Some things to chew on from Jayson Stark.

] "What's their payroll going to be?" one baseball man wondered Tuesday night. "Six million bucks? Eight million?" Hey, excellent guesses. As best we can tell, their highest-paid player next season is going to be closer Kevin Gregg. He made $575,000 this year (less than the Yankees paid A-Rod every four days). And he's actually arbitration-eligible. Or it might be Miller, even though he's only 22 years old, was pitching for the UNC Tar Heels as recently as two years ago and owns exactly 74 1/3 innings of big league experience. Miller signed a major league contract out of college, so he's scheduled to make $1.325 million if he's in the big leagues next season, which will practically be Johan Santana money compared to the rest of that roster. "There's no way," said one agent, "that the average salary on that team is even going to be close to $500,000."

[smg58]

Frayed Knot wrote: ]... the Marlins actually turned the biggest profit of any team last year Where is that info from and is something we should take at face value given the wonders of creative accounting and all that?

The number comes from a Forbes magazine report. I have no idea how they took "creative accounting" into account when they came up with their numbers. The bottom line is that they're making money by not spending anything. However, the Marlins are also the least valuable franchise, so Loria won't make a whole lot if/when he sells the team.

[Elster88]

Willis suxx.

[seawolf17]

I've been saying it for a while now, but the Marlins scare me. That's a lot of very good young players. I know they're not paid much, but they can play.

[Guest Edgy DC]

No need to panic until they re-sign Conine.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

The Fish won't keep that team together long enough to contend.

Loria is a scumbag though Beinfest seems to know what he wants. It's interesting to see how the Angels basically went and cried over the Marlins' toughness in dealing (they'd offered prospects/young players like Howie Kendrick, Jeff Mathis, Nick Adenhart or Ervin Santana) only to see them pull the trigger on this one.

I guess it indicates the Angels prospects aren't no Miller & Maybin; or that, perhaps, Willis was "baggage."

[Vic Sage]

i just looked at the Fish's potential 25-man roster, and i'm not terrified.

1) Ramirez (ss)
2) Uggla (3b)
3) Hermida (rf)
4) Willingham (lf)
5) Jacobs (1b)
6) Maybin / Ross (cf)
7) Amazeaga (2b)
8) Olivo ©

Bench:
-Treanor ©
-Ross (of)
-De Aza (of)
-Andino (if)
-____ (LH PH /CI)

SP:
1) Olsen
2) A.Miller
3) Mitre
4) Nolasco*
5) Vandenhurk*

* DL - Sanchez, J.Johnson (out for `08)

Bullpen:
-Gregg
-Lindstrom
-J.Miller
-Tankersley
-Gardner
-Pinto
-Barone*

* DL - H.Owens

Sure, the lineup and the rotation have alot of potential, but thats alot of 23-25 year olds to be counting on. The bullpen does look good.

As for payroll, there were only 2 guys that made over $400K last season:
- Olivo ($2m)
- Gregg ($575k)

So, unless they make some other moves, they could end up spending a total of $15M-$20M on payroll this season. Which is absurd.

[Valadius]

There should seriously be at least some kind of minimum payroll as well as a salary cap. In this day and age, a $15 million payroll is ridiculously low. The ONLY problem the Marlins have is that they need a stadium with a roof and air conditioning. Once they have that, people WILL show up.

[Guest Edgy DC]

This is America.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

valadius - "...The ONLY problem the Marlins have is that they need a stadium with a roof and air conditioning...

Well, there is that cheap, idiot owner (Loria) to overcome.

[nymr83]

don't be silly, ballparks need to be built by taxpayers not rich owners.

[Guest iramets]

Valadius wrote: In this day and age, a $15 million payroll is ridiculously low.

And yet Glavine was unable to get two outs from these pathetically inept faux-major leaguers out in the most crucial game of last game, with a 100+ mil team behind him.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Thinking about it all day, I think the Marlins trade helps the Mets. Two young All-Stars got shipped and not a single real major-leaguer went the other way.

Yes, I realize that Maybin, Miller and Rabelo were on the Tigers roster part of the summer. But no one like Curtis Granderson or Jeremy Bonderman was in the deal.

Two huge chips went for prospects.