Tiger Geist

Interesting question: Who would you rather have right now, Matt Cain or Placido Polanco? Is it as easy as you think?

Widely rumored that Detroit offered Ugueth Urbina to SF in 2004 for Matt Cain and presumably other players. The Giants were adamant that they were asking for too much. No one knows for sure what the hold up was, but I’ll make the assumption that Detroit could have wrestled a then-19 year old Cain in some sort of deal. Detroit was going nowhere, finishing 72-90. The Giants, however, maybe should have made the deal: they finished one game out of the wild card, and two games out of the division lead. At this point, it might be so long before they’re good again that they may never get much use out of Matt Cain.

No question, Detroit got a steal when they traded the soon to be jailbird Urbina to Philly for a player Philadelphia felt they no longer needed (due to Chase Utley’s star potential). No question that Polanco helped fuel Detroit’s push to the world series two years ago. But lets pretend San Francisco took the deal in 2004.

Assuming the SF trade, going into the offseason after 2006, here are Detroit’s top pitchers (with their late 2006 ages):

• Justin Verlander — hard throwing 23 year old righty
• Jeremy Bonderman — hard throwing 24 year old righty
• Andrew Miller — hard throwing 21 year old lefty
• Matt Cain — hard throwing 22 year old righty
• Kenny Rogers — crafty 137 year old lefty
• Nate Robertson — hard throwing 29 year old lefty
• Mike Maroth — wiffle ball throwing 29 year old lefty
• Joel Zumaya — hard throwing 22 year old righty (with previous starting experience)

Hmm.. sounds like some impressive arms in there. Who is your starting 5? Now, consider the 2006 offseason rumors of a Mark Teixeira for Bonderman deal… now you have no reason to make the trade for Miguel Cabrera, at which point you hold onto your top prospects AND don’t take on Cabrera and Willis’ contract extensions. Right now, I think Matt Cain is a better pitcher then Bonderman… and two years younger. Maybe its a wash over their careers, but Cain is also a lot less expensive.

So.. going into 2007, you’ve some amazing young arms and a farm system full of talent. Now, how do you play out the Sheffield trade? You can move Guillen to third and find another shortstop.. and they’ve probably shaved millions from their payroll.

Knowing now that we miss the playoffs last season, would you trade for Polanco all over again? Not as easy anymore.