Tiger Geist

Now that we’re getting close to the trade deadline, we need to hope that Dave Dombrowski makes a move that would indicate a ‘win’ for Detroit, or at least a ‘win’ for both teams involved.  Lately, DD made a couple of wins (Armando Galarraga for some guy who got cut a month later, Edwin Jackson for Matt Joyce), and what appears to be a huge miss (some pitcher in Atlanta for some short stop now in San Francisco).  The biggest ‘win’ that didn’t happen this year — Dombrowski’s refusal to trade Jeff Larish and Matt Joyce to Seattle for JJ Putz last winter.

Assuming Putz was healthy, it would have been a decent trade based on how (for 2009) neither Larish nor Joyce have turned out.  With the ‘emergence’ of Fernando Rodney and the stability Brandon Lyon seem to have brought to the back end of the bullpen, you could argue the Putz trade wasn’t necessary.  Add in the fact that Joyce was traded straight up for Edwin Jackson, I put this as a ‘win’ for Detroit not allowing the Putz trade to happen.  With the lack of depth/injury issues in Detroit’s starting rotation, you could move this to a ‘huge win’ for a non-trade.

In that respect, Bill Simmons is arguing (via twitter) that Boston has ‘lost’ on a non-trade with Cleveland.  He feels the reluctance of Boston to trade Clay Buchholz for Victor Martinez will come back to haunt the Red Sox.

So, with the trade deadline, as fans we’re all hoping the Tigers pull of a big ‘win’ in terms of an actual trade.  Let’s hope they also pull off some ‘wins’ in choosing what is a good or bad trade offer, and not jeopardizing future teams.