The Diamond Fan

Can I take it back?  In my re-season predictions, I fearlessly predicted the Detroit Tigers to win the World Series.  We are only one week into the season and already that is looking like an extremely bad prediction.  I know that one week is a small sample size (six games is only 3.7% of the MLB season, about the same as one half of an NFL game), but the Tigers have not looked good at all in losing their first six.

For starters, the Royals and White Sox are not exactly the cream of the American League crop. Then there is the fact that the games were all played in Detroit, and the Tigers lost by an average of four runs.  They never gave up less than four runs, and only scored four themselves one time.

In short, this was a dismal performance by a team that has the second highest payroll in the game, and which carried high expectations into the season.  The bullpen looks to be genuinely bad, but I had figured the offense was potent enough to make up for it.  It’s too early to write off the season, but I have to say maybe I overestimated this team.

Yesterday's blockbuster trade between the Tigers and the Marlins looks to me
like a win-win scenario. The Tigers had a team that was already a contender, and
adding one of the best young hitter in the game along with an established Major
League starter seems like a good move that should make the Tigers the favorite
in the tough AL Central Division. The Marlins, knowing they were not going to
re-sign their stars, got good value in return, with Andrew Miller and Cameron
Maybin both having a pretty good upside.

Cabrera is only 24, so he should have a number of great seasons still in him.
Putting him in the middle of the Tiger lineup along with Gary Sheffield and
Magglio Ordonez will make for a very productive offensive team. The Tigers
should immediately go to work signing him to a Pojols-like pre-free agency long
term deal. Dontrelle Willis is only 26, but being a pitcher his long term value
is much more problematic. Still, he fits nicely into the Tigers' rotation and
with any luck should be a valuable component on a winning ballclub.

As for the Marlins, as I said, they knew they weren't going to keep Cabrera &
Willis around much long, and the package of young players looks pretty good to
me. Andrew Miller got 13 starts for the contending Tigers last year at age 22
and went 5-5. barring injury he has top of the rotation potential for the next
several years. Maybin is a bona fide Major League talent. Whether he is a star
or not remains to be seem, but he should be fixture in Florida's starting lineup
for several years. If any of the additional players in the trade turn out, so
much the better for the Marlins.