May 23, 2008

SI Piles-on the Cabrera/Willis to Tigers Trade

By Mike McClary in Featured, Fungoes | 3 comments

Today, Sports Illustrated.com’s Jon Heyman ranks the 10 big off-season trades and, surprise, he ranks the Tigers-Marlins trade from December at the bottom of the heap. He grades the Tigers a D and the Marlins an Incomplete and says:

Everyone loved the Tigers’ end of this deal at first. But Cabrera has been moved from third base to first base and Willis has been moved, at least temporarily, to the bullpen. Things better improve since they’ve committed $152.3 million to Cabrera and $29 million to Willis. The Marlins are doing fine with their lead duo, to the surprise of many. [Andrew] Miller (3-3, 6.18) has been inconsistent. [Cameron] Maybin (.239, 6, 18, 10 SBs at Double-A Carolina) has justified Florida’s decision to demote him. [Burke] Badenhop (1-3, 6.75) is up ahead of schedule, [Mike] Rabelo (.215, 1, 7) is a serviceable catcher and [Eulogio] De La Cruz is off to a nice start (6-2, 4.35 at Triple-A Albuquerque) but [Dallas] Trahern is struggling (0-4, 12.00 ERA).

I don’t know how you viewed this deal when it came down, but in my mind it was essentially Cabrera for Maybin plus Miller for Willis, the other parts were gravy for Florida.

Now though, it’s looking like a six-for-one trade on the Tigers side.

Discuss.

email this | tag this | digg this | trackback | comment RSS feed

3 Comment(s)

  1. Kurt | May 23, 2008 | Reply

    May. Year 1. Nuff said, I think.

  2. Jason | May 24, 2008 | Reply

    I’m a Tigers fan first, but I hopped on the Marlins bandwagon in 1993 (when the Tigers stunk) so I could have a National League team to root for. When they made this trade, I couldn’t have been happier. I knew that Willis was going downhill, but the players they gave up would have been worth it for Cabrera. It’s still early. Wait and see.

  3. Andy | Jul 14, 2008 | Reply

    The Tigers are .500 at the break and can easily have a 20+ above .500 second half if everyone plays to they’re potential and stay healthy. Chicago wont keep this up. They have a good shot at the division.

Post a Comment