Pitching

We should have signed Ponson Whatever happened to Freddy Garcia? Did that not happen?

Garcia probably won't be ready to pitch until late July. You really have to wonder just how much he has left. He lost so much velocity off of his fastball the last couple of years before his injury. It would be interesting if he could still be even mildly effective at eating some innings up for a contending team.

shawn chacon is available. But then again you might actually like your GM

Jay - you rule. I share your hatred of the Twins. I looked at their roster before the season started and said "This is the worst team in the division, they have no pitching, washed-up rubber-arm Livan Herndanez, and the Royals are gonna be better than them." Somehow, someway the Twins are winning, and I for one can't stand it. Another strike against the Twins is that Gardenhire is a fat little chode of a manager, I can't stand that butterball.

Speaking of Craig Monroe - I had a choice of a Monroe or a Shelton jersey-shirt for 4 bucks - I went with the Shelton. But more on topic there are a lot of what I like to call "Tiger killers" - these are players who are merely average to good but live to beat the Tigers. Monroe is one of these guys, the best example I can think of is Joe Crede - decent player but dude owns the tigers. Eckstein is another marginal talent who for whatever reason owned the tigers in the 06 Series. Anyone else got any other examples of Tiger Killers?

Porcello for CC just sounds like Smoltz for Alexander v2.0 or something equally infamous in the future.

I think they should sign Tom Zbikowski because he was a boxer. Bet you guys didn't know that.

Yes, if I was being rational, I'd want CC.

wanted to be a boxer, and that is why he is going to lower his ERA in the 2nd half.

Zibikowski has been killing in whatever level of ball he's in. Pitching and punching out guys right and left.

DD is giving away too much young talent for guys who have already peaked (D Willis?). Porcello has a really high ceiling. The problem this team has is that it is relying on guys like Roberson and Rogers who are clearly 4/5 spots in the rotation. They traded the young lefty from UNC (name escapes me) and don't seem to have anywhere near the farm system depth they had two years ago. If the Yankees have taught me anything the last few years, trying to buy a contender is not the right approach, and they aren't wiing World Series with a payroll that is roughly double the Tigers. That is a game that Detroit can't afford to play in. Develop the young arms and follow them into the playoffs.

I originally thought that the entire trade was for Cabrera, but when they went and signed D-Train to a big money contract, it indicated that he was an integral part of that trade. In all honesty, how many quality years does CC have left in the tank? That would be critical to my analysis of a potential deal. But I'm very apprehensive in trading for now with a team that is fundamentally flawed. The pitching staff has five question marks in the starting rotation. Fixing one question mark for a couple of years by trading away a future top of the rotation guy doesn't get you to the playoffs this season. The Tigers have been playing lights out for four weeks and they are still seven back. I'm not certain that they can repair all of the damage they did early on, even with CC in the rotation.

As a non-Tiger fan, well at least not an exclusive Tiger fan, I can't see how in a million years one AL Central team would trade a top pitcher to another AL Central team no matter what the standings look like. There was a reason the Scott Kazmir to the Yankees talk was shot down 2 years ago. Despite the Rays being 20+ games behind in July, they were never going to give their best pitcher to a division rival.

F. Anon -- good point. The bigger question is trading away a future prospect for current known commodity. I look at where the Yankees are now. A team spending money no one else can match, but they are in serious jeopardy of making the playoffs. The Tigers can't play the spend for now game like the Yankees, and no one should believe that trading away the future is going to have better resutls in Detroit than in NYC. I'm particularly less interested in trading away the future with so much going away in the near future. The Tigers will need to start filling that looming talent gap.

the astros did a bit of the same at the beginning of the decade. we had one of the deepest farm systems, were on the verge of making the series a few times in a row, made the trades to try and win it (beltran, etc)... lost to the white sox during their monster year. We've been pretty lost since then. Luckily houston has had a string of career players the last few generations. Bagwell/Biggio have transitioned to Berkman (and god I hope Oswalt). Our farm system is just starting to rebuild which makes the Astros so weak at some key positions, particularly pitching and middle infield.

good pitchers are going to be tall these days. if they throw hard, bonus. it just comes down to can they teach control.

Chitown,

If Cleveland would give up Sabathia for Porcello and, say, Matt Joyce, I'd do it in a frickin' heartbeat. While Porcello might one day be the next Josh Beckett, the thought of having a one-two punch like Verlander and CC anchoring your rotation with Manderbon as the third starter over the next few years is just too tantalizing a thought of passing up on. Sabathia will only be 28 this July the 21st, so, DD should be more than comfortable in signing him to a 5 year deal in the neighborhood of $75 million, especially considering the money he seems to have flushed down the toilet for guys like Willis and Robertson. The question is, do the Tribe have the clock weights deal him within their own division?

I wonder what it would take to get AJ Burnett away from Toronto. They are rumored to be shopping him. The other option would be Eric Bedard from the Mariners. I wouldn't mind either of those guys, but, I wouldn't be willing to trade Porcello for either of them.

(I didn't see this thread before I started my own.) I can't stand the Twins. I've hated them ever since '87 when they unjustly got homefield advantage despite having a far worse regular-season record, and then beat the Tigers. And for some insane reason, the Tigers always suck against them. The Twins won a bunch of division titles this decade just by going like 17-3 against the Tigers and .500 against everybody else. And now that's still happening. Ugh.

Putkonen as been good at Oneonta. I really liked Furbush until he got hurt. Hamilton has a live arm and no control. Crosby's also hurt. They've got a lot of high potential starters, but no real on the field results to back it up.

Todd Jones