Tiger Geist

Its not that I’m against the Aubrey Huff trade; I would have welcomed it in June.  For some reason I’m just not excited by it.  He does give Detroit defensive options — they all just happen to be bad ones.  A Porsche 911 isn’t a family car just because it has some semblance of a back seat; similarly, Huff isn’t a corner outfielder just because he’s played it before.  I like his bat and his team – leading RBI stat, though that stat currently favors the wrong team.

This doesn’t mean I think its a bad trade, it just doesn’t get me more excited about the current team.  And I do not think its a low risk, high reward trade either — someone now has to play the outfield between Guillen, Thames and Huff.  Thames and Huff aren’t much in the outfielder, and Guillen is at a high risk for injury whenever he steps on the field.  We also have little idea how Guillen will handle left field.  While Huff “might be adequate” in the field, it is getting away from what has made Detroit successful this year, which is defensive play.  So now we’re shuffling three poor outfielders between left field and the DH spot, one player whose throwing shoulder gave him a lengthy DL stint this season.  No, not low risk.

Now, if Detroit moves Marcus Thames off the 25 man roster, this would be a different story, but I don’t see that happening.  Detroit added a backup infielder/outfielder who doesn’t improve their defense and is having an off-year at the plate for a pitcher who wasn’t exactly tearing up the minor leagues (but good enough that Detroit drafted him in the fourth round a year ago).  Again, not a bad trade.  Just not exciting.

Offensively, Huff’s numbers from August -> October for the last two years:

• 2007:  .346, 9HR, 28RBI
• 2008:  .309, 10HR, 36RBI

I’d be happy with those numbers if Huff can find them, and if Detroit can find him the at-bats.