Archive for the 'Trades & Rumors' Category

…the Tigers sent John Smoltz to the Atlanta Braves for Doyle Alexander.
Discuss.

Now this makes sense (from Bill Madden’s column in The New York Daily News):
How could [Yankees' GM Brian Cashman] know the Detroit Tigers’ perennial All-Star and Gold Glove catcher had become disconcerted over the decision of his manager, Jim Leyland, to give an increased percentage of the catching role to Brandon Inge? It seems nobody [...]

Watching ESPN’s report about the Pudge trade to the Yankees. Peter Gammons says:

The Tigers-Pudge relationship “had run its course.”
Jim Leyland told him that the Tigers can’t run Zumaya and Rodney out there every night and the team needed bullpen depth.
The Tigers believe Brandon Inge is ready to take over behind the plate.
“On that stage in [...]

At the trade deadline in 1996, the Tigers sent Cecil Fielder, the only tradeable commodity at the time, to the Yankees for Ruben Sierra and RHP Matt Drews.
That trade was a no-brainer. The Tigers weren’t going anywhere in ‘96 — little did we know it would be another 10 years before they’d post a [...]

So says Jason Beck:
He’s owed little more a third of his $3.75 million salary that he signed with the Yankees. Interest in Hawkins has also been linked to the Twins, his original team with which he spent the first nine years of his big-league career. The 35-year-old right-hander went 1-1 with a 5.71 ERA with [...]

SI’s John Donovan would like to see 10 trades made this week. Here’s one he’d like the Tigers to make:
David Eckstein (Blue Jays) to the Tigers
Eckstein gets pounded on by the stats-minded community. His numbers indicate that he’s not even an average big-league shortstop. Still, he’d be better than Edgar Renteria, he’s cheap, he’s [...]

In the Jayson Stark’s latest edition of Rumblings and Grumblings he reports:
Catch a Tiger: Here’s another pitching name to file away for your pre-deadline rumor mill: Nate Robertson. The Tigers have told clubs they might have a left-hander available in a few weeks. And it certainly wouldn’t be Kenny Rogers or Dontrelle Willis. So that [...]

Twenty six years ago today the Detroit Tigers traded left fielder Steve Kemp to the White Sox for Chet Lemon. It was the quintessenial Jim Campbell Winter Meetings trade.
Kemp made too much money and former GM Campbell didn’t like players who held out (Rusty Staub) or won in arbitration (Kemp, again). Campbell also liked to [...]

Now that the Reds, much to Josh Wallen’s chagrin, have picked up Adam Dunn’s 2008 option, and that the Tigers apparently aren’t interested in Geoff Jenkins, the Tigers Opening Day lineup seems to be taking shape.
I’m thinking out loud and could see it looking something like this:

Granderson
Polanco
Sheffield
Ordonez
Guillen
Renteria
Timo/Thames
Rodriguez
Inge

What do you think?

Curt Schilling is a free agent for the first time in his career. In a post on his blog yesterday he talks about becoming a free agent and, at the tail-end of the post, he lists the teams he and his family would consider in 2008:
There are a million little things that go into this [...]