OT: Granderson, Jackson to Damn Yankees?

Submitted by mds315 on

http://blog.mlive.com/cutoffman/2009/12/report_tigers_close_to_dealing…

"The rumor mill is filling up fast -- and it's only the first day of the annual four-day winter meetings.

The Chicago Tribune's Dave van Dyke is reporting the Tigers are closing in on a deal that would send Edwin Jackson and outfielder Curtis Granderson to the New York Yankees.

The Cubs reportedly remain heavily interested in Granderson, but van Dyke said Chicago "may not have the ability to take both players" unless they can find a suitor for Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley."

please no to Grandy. Jackson, if the deals right I can see. But no to Grandy.

bmiddy

December 7th, 2009 at 8:14 PM ^

....that contracts and numbers could prove this rumor to be very true. Nothing like sending one of your team's most loved players to the evil empire. Why doesn't MLB just get rid of all the teams besides NYY, Boston, NY Mets, and the Dodgers? What a joke.

WolvinLA2

December 7th, 2009 at 8:18 PM ^

This would really bum me out. Granderson is one of my favorite players, and the Tigers are maybe the last Detroit team that really keeps my interest. The Wings have too many injuries, the Pistons are just a completely different team than they were 2 years ago and the Lions just don't win all that often.

Please DD, please keep Granderson.

Magnum P.I.

December 7th, 2009 at 10:30 PM ^

That was my favorite Detroit sports team, too, and for those three years. They did everything right, played basketball exactly the way you always wish it was played. They embodied the spirit of Detroit as the no-flash, hard-work, chip-on-the-shoulder underdog. And I agree, too, that things changed in 05-06. Sure they had the record, but they also, for the first time, had the sense of entitlement. "Of a thing which could not be put back!"

jmblue

December 7th, 2009 at 10:46 PM ^

So when the Pistons won 50, 54 and 54 games, they were a scrappy, hard-workin' bunch, but when they won 64 games they suffered from a "sense of entitlement"?

Or maybe they just ran into a bad matchup in the playoffs. In 2005, they were on the ropes against Miami when Wade got nicked up, and they then escaped by the skin of their teeth. In '06, Wade stayed healthy and the Heat finished the deal.

SFBlue

December 7th, 2009 at 8:18 PM ^

Grandy is one of my favorite Tigers, but he strikes out too much, doesn't get on base enough, doesn't work counts well. Edwin Jackson, with Verlander and Porcello, could be an integral part of the nucleus of the best staff in MLB.

jerseyblue

December 7th, 2009 at 8:26 PM ^

I'm a Yankee fan and would welcome it but I don't think it will happen. Detroit wants kids and we don't have enough to give them fair value.
God I'd love another starter though. Anything to get Joba back in the bullpen where he belongs.

A2toGVSU

December 8th, 2009 at 12:43 AM ^

If you are a Michigan fan and a Yankees fan

Then there are two possibilities:

1) You have multiple personalities, or

2) You really really really like things labeled "tradition", and aren't actually a fan of sports at all.

Scott Dreisbach

December 7th, 2009 at 8:34 PM ^

I have got to imagine that this move is to unload some bad contracts. You got $12.5 million to Bonderman, $10 million to Dontrelle Willis, $18 million to Magglio, $10 million to Carlos Guillen, and $7 million to Nate Robertson. I would be okay if this trade was to drop some of those bad contracts. Maybe thats the catch to this deal.

MichMike86

December 7th, 2009 at 9:00 PM ^

This would be a bummer because those are integral parts of the core of the Tigers. Granderson is not only a tremendous baseball player but an even better person. The city of Detroit needs as many of these people as they can get so losing him would hurt not only on the diamond but in the community.

yanks27ngoin

December 7th, 2009 at 9:27 PM ^

I am a big Yankees fan. So I feel the need to comment. I do not want the Yankees to get either of them because the Tigers feel the need to ask for the moon and stars for just 1 of them. There not going to get a deal done if they dont come down with the asking price.

tricks574

December 7th, 2009 at 9:37 PM ^

He says it is like the Halladay rumors. They are asking for the moon and stars. The package the jays ok'd, but halladay nixed, included Neftali Feliz and Justin Smoak, plus more top names from the rangers farm system. I would trade grandy and jackson for prospects like that. Give me Austin Jackson, Phil Hughes, and that big time catching prospect, and let me pick 2-3 throw ins from your next 10 best prospects, and ill think about it.

hail2mich

December 7th, 2009 at 9:50 PM ^

If the Tigers could get Jesus Montero along with the other two, it would be an amazing trade for the Tigers. Montero is the real deal and could solve the Tigers catching problems for years to come. Hughes is already an established Major League pitcher, and the multiple times I've seen Austin Jackson play, he has been impressive every time.

hail2mich

December 7th, 2009 at 9:50 PM ^

If the Tigers could get Jesus Montero along with the other two, it would be an amazing trade for the Tigers. Montero is the real deal and could solve the Tigers catching problems for years to come. Hughes is already an established Major League pitcher, and the multiple times I've seen Austin Jackson play, he has been impressive every time.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

December 7th, 2009 at 10:33 PM ^

Ugh. I can't think of a Tiger I've been more upset to see traded away than I would be if Grandy left. And to the Yankees too. Pfeh. I think Curtis Granderson is the type of person you don't trade for prospects. And I hate the idea of turning into the Pirates.

tricks574

December 7th, 2009 at 11:40 PM ^

You mean the great defender with pop and speed right? Not the guy who strikes out a ton and can't hit lefties at all.

This may come off as dickish, but I don't care how great a guy he is. Yeah he's a wonderful person, but they don't hand out world series of nice rings. When evaluating player personal, charitable works isn't high on the list.

Granderson is a good player, but he has one gigantic flaw, he cannot hit lefties to save his life. He never will, ever. Ill be happy if they can get their reported asking price of Scherzer, Jackson, and Hughs.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

December 8th, 2009 at 9:02 AM ^

I like to root for something other than the laundry, thank you. I don't want to trade a player of Granderson's abilities or a person of Granderson's caliber in a cost-cutting move.

And this Phil Hughes stuff - where are you getting that? Ain't happening. Ever. Max Scherzer - wooo, a 25-year-old pitcher who was 9-11, 4.12 in the National League. Phil Coke? Bum. Michael Dunn? Bum and a half. So far we're looking at two pitchers who can't find their way south of 4.00 and one who has yet to get below 6.00. Wooo. Then you have Austin Jackson, who, if we're lucky, might be as good as Granderson in a few years. Yuck.

tricks574

December 8th, 2009 at 10:47 AM ^

So what if the Yankees won't trade him. If the tigers can get him and jackson from the yankees you do it. I'm not advocating trading granderson for nothing, and dombrowski isn't going to.

Scherzer would come in an Edwin Jackson trade to the D-backs, and is essentially the same player, only cheaper. Both are high ceiling pitchers who have yet to put it together for a full year.

A. Jackson might never have Grandersons pop, but you also don't have to sit him against lefties, and he will have a much better OBP.

Granderson just isn't good enough to be untradeable. If he could hit lefties at even a below average clip, or show signs he might improve his OBP, then yeah, I'd be more inclined towards him being untradeable, but its not there.

The fact is, if trading Granderson can help the team win, you do it. That is Dombrowskis job, to build a winner, and that's the team I want, a winner. If that means they trade a nice guy, so be it.

chitownblue2

December 8th, 2009 at 11:15 AM ^

Dude - Max Scherzer is much better than Edwin Jackson. Scherzer:

a) plays in a bandbox
b) has peripherals that actually exceed his ERA, unlike Jackson, whose ERA is supported by hopes, dreams, and puppy tails.
c) is younger
d) is cheaper.

And yes, if we're lucky, Jackson will become Granderson in 3 years. What do you think the Tigers are winning between then and now? NOTHING.

So when they're ready to compete, they'll have a guy playing for the league minimum who is as good as Granderson is now while Granderson is 32 and being switched to a corner OF spot because he can't play CF anymore.

blueadams

December 8th, 2009 at 12:47 AM ^

i dont why everyone is going so crazy about these two being on the block...

granderson is a great cf-er, but hes also starting to look like adam dunn with about half the power at the plate.

jackson had a great start to the year, but struggled in the second half, and there are those within the organiation that think he has been figured out, and thus, maxed out. (i disagree).

if we get some great prospects back for them, i wouldn't oppose. seems dumb to knock a team for shopping players when you don't even know what you're getting back yet though.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

December 8th, 2009 at 8:49 AM ^

The man's a .272 career hitter - .292 in the combined years '07 and '08. He has one down season (in which "down season" he hits 30 home runs) and that's the projection for his future?

I don't mind trading Jackson - I don't think he'll ever match last season and his value is as high as it goes right now. I don't think you trade one of the best defensive center fielders in the league with the kind of power Granderson has just because he strikes out a little too often.

chitownblue2

December 8th, 2009 at 9:06 AM ^

It's more than "he strikes out too often". He needs to be platooned, becaue he hits .210 on his career against lefties, and he can effectively be taken out of the game from the 7th inning on every single game by effective bullpen use.

He's not the guy he was in 2007. Maybe 2008 was overly poor, but now that teams understand how to remove him from every game 2/3 of the way through, his value is going to take a hit. He's 28, which means he's already at his peak, and the Tigers will likely not be legit contenders for 3-4 years, at which point he's going to be worse, and on the verge uf being unable to play CF anymore. Finally, his value is overstated because he's affable, likeable, and literate. These things make him a good person, but not neccesarily a good player. I understand his popularity, I do, but he's not an all-star caliber player. He is not, say, Justin Verlander or Miguel Cabrera, or even on the same level.

That said, he has value. I don't think any deal for him can be dismissed out of hand if we don't know the entirety of what the Tigers give up (maybe they can dump one of their horrendous contracts?) or what they get in return (Joba?).

Bo inside all of us

December 8th, 2009 at 10:38 AM ^

Man oh man, I'd hate to see Granderson go, love the dude, but I think you have to do it for the right price. The current team is, sadly, done. There's just too much dead weight on that team: Guillen, Bonderman, Robertson, Willis, Maggie (Man that's a ton of cash pissed down the drain), and there's not enough offensive production. While Granderson did have a few, a precious few, big hits down the stretch, the numbers don't pan out. As a #7 hitter maybe, but lets not forget we may still have Everett, Laird and Inge erasing any hope of a hit out of the bottom 1/3 of the lineup. Where the hell are we going to hide another weak bat?

I really hate to say it, but deal him for a great 2B/SS prospect (with some extra thrown in), and I'd sadly accept it (cheering for him where ever he ends up-- cept the Yanks, of course).

CalJr3000

December 8th, 2009 at 1:31 PM ^

I think the Tigers are about to get ripped off here. I understand Granderson seems a bit expensive in this economy and that his average took a dive this year, but considering how important he is to the team, I don't consider the return very good if the rumors are any indication (Edwin Jackson to AZ, Granderson to NY, Tigers get P Max Scherzer from AZ and OF Austin Jackson and one pitching prospect from NY). I'm all for top prospects but I just think they're selling Granderson short. If they're going to trade one of their better chips like him, they should be able to get rid of some of the aforementioned dead weight, especially a guy like Nate Robertson. I guess we'll find out soon, either way...