Winter Meetings Roundup: Cabrera, Willis Could be Tigers Today

by Niteowl049

The Detroit Tigers Acquire Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis In Eight Player Trade

The Detroit Tigers will be much stronger in 2008 after acquiring Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis in an eight player trade with the Florida Marlins. The trade could be finalized as early as today after medical records of all the players involved in the trade are reviewed.

Cabrera is the center piece of the trade that would give the Tigers one of the best starting lineups in baseball. Brandon Inge is the only weak link in the Tigers lineup if hitting 14 home runs and driving in 71 runs can be called weak. Inge would be a player without a position if Cabrera plays third base next season but could be a backup catcher to Ivan Rodriguez.

There are reports that the Tigers contacted Cabrera before the trade inquiring about the willingness of Cabrera to play left field. If he does play left field next season the Tigers would be one of the strongest offensive outfields in baseball with an outfield of AL batting champ Magglio Ordonez, Curtis Granderson and Cabrera. It would give them an outfield that slugged .552 and up last season.

It is harder to get excited about the acquisition of Willis since he had a 10-15 season with a 5.17 ERA and gave up 241 hits in 205 innings. Willis can't say he didn't get any run support last season since the Marlins scored 6.27 runs per nine innings when he pitched. Willis will not get to use his batting prowess in the AL which uses the designated hitter. Willis hit .286 last season and he has hit eight home runs and driven in 35 runs in his five seasons with the Marlins.

Marlins received six players in the trade including outfielder Cameron Maybin a highly touted prospect for the Tigers who hit only .143 last season in 49 at bats. Pitcher Andrew Miller was also acquired by the Marlins. Miller was 5-5 with a 5.63 ERA last season for the Tigers. He gave up an alarming 39 walks in 64 innings for a 5.48 walks per nine innings while striking out 56.

Backup catcher Mike Rabelo will join the Marlins also after having a mediocre offensive season with one home run in 168 at bats and 18 runs batted in. Rabelo had almost no plate discipline last season as he walked only 6 times in those 168 at bats.

The only other player acquired by the Marlins who has played in the majors is Eulogio De La Cruz who didn't do well when called up last season giving up five runs, ten hits, three wild pitches and four walks in six innings for a 6.75 ERA.

Pitcher Dallas Trahern who was 13-6 in stints with Erie and Toledo allowed only 12 home runs in 162 innings and he allowed only 0.66 home runs per nine innings and Burke Badenhop could help the Marlins in the future. Badenhop has a 32-13 record in the minors with a 2.89 ERA.

Tigers clearly are planning to win in 2008 with this trade since they have given up a starting pitcher in Miller and a prospect in Maybin who may help the Marlins next year and many years to come.

The three other pitchers De La Cruz, Trahern and Badenhop that the Marlins acquired could help as early as 2008 especially De La Cruz who has already pitched in the majors and Trahern who pitched in Triple A last season.

Short term the Tigers got the best of this deal but a few years down the road this trade may not seem so lopsided favoring the Tigers.

Atlanta Braves Designate Will Harris For Assignment

In a surprising move to me at least the Braves have designated outfielder Willie Harris for assignment. He started off well with the Braves but tailed off later in the season. Harris also has played for the Orioles, White Sox and Red Sox.

A factor in the trade could be the emergence of Brandon Jones as a possible platoon player with Matt Diaz. Jones had 19 home runs and 100 RBI's between stints with Mississippi and Richmond. Jones will be 24 next week. The way I look at it is that Diaz has shown he deserves to be the everyday left fielder since he has a .320 lifetime batting average and last season he hit .318 against righthanders and .356 against lefthanders in 2007. Diaz has also played for Rays and Royals in the major leagues. Diaz deserves a shot as an everyday player and hopefully Bobby Cox feels the same way.

Latest Rumors from Nashville Winter Meetings

Red Sox may now be the only team pursuing Johan Santana and it could be a case of either the Red Sox obtaining him in a trade or the Twins keeping him to start the season before trading him in mideseason....There is little chance the Dodgers will trade for Scott Rolen since he did not get along well with Larry Bowa a Dodger coach brought onboard by Joe Torre. Rolen and Bowa had some run-ins when Rolen played with the Phillies. Rolen does not want to play for Tony LaRussa any longer and has requested a trade....Dodgers are still talking with Anduw Jones and hope to sign him to a short term contract. However they have to deal with Scott Boras who probably wants a long term contract for his client.

Giants and Blue Jays have still not ended their talks about a Tim Lincecum for Alex Rios trade. Rios would add power to a Giants lineup badly in need of power and Lincecum could strengthen the starting rotation for the Blue Jays....Cecil Cooper the Astros manager says he wants to improve the speed on the Astros after they finished last in stolen bases in 2007. With the addition of Kaz Matsui and Michael Bourn at the top of the lineup they should improve on those numbers. ....Ozzie Guillen said if the season started tomorrow he would be worried but is still confident Kenny Williams can make some deals to improve the team.

Phillies are considering moving Tadahito Iguchi from second base to third base in 2008. With Utley a fixture at second base for many years to come it would make sense to use Iguchi at third if he can learn to play the position. He really has no choice since being Utley's backup means very few at bats....Yankees are making a bid to strengthen their bullpen after reaching a preliminary agreement with the Nationals to acquire Jonathan Albaladejo who had a 1.88 ERA in fourteen appearance with the Nationals. The Nationals would receive Tyler Clippard who was one of several Yankee pitchers to get a short tryout in the majors last season before being sent back down. Clippard was 3-1 with the Yankees last season and he had a 6.33 ERA.