Fish Prey On Tigers Prospects

While it seemed like it would take forever for Miguel Cabrera to be traded, especially along with Dontrelle Willis, the Tigers came out and attacked their prey and got the players they wanted from the Marlins in 24 year old third baseman Miguel Cabrera and the 25 year old lefty starter, Dontrelle Willis.

The fish however made a nice splash themselves maybe doing more preying than the Tigers, landing six prospects. The two main ones said to be involved in the trade are 20 year old outfielder Cameron Maybin and 22 year old starting pitcher Andrew Miller.

The other four prospects are 27 year old catcher, Mike Rabelo, and three right handed pitchers; 23 year old Eulogio De La Cruz, soon to turn 25 year old Burke Badenhop, and 22 year old Dallas Trahern.

While the fish are rebuilding, the Tigers believe this trade will make them much more of a contender.

However, this is not the case. Willis’ numbers have declined pretty much every year since he debuted in 2003 where he posted an impressive 14-6 record with a 3.31 ERA. In 2004, he had a losing record, going 10-11 with a 4.02 ERA. 2005 was most definitely his most impressive season and an impressive season for any major league pitcher going 22-10 with a 2.63 ERA. However, then there was nowhere to go but down for Willis. In 2006 he had a solid season posting an even record at 12-12 with a 3.87 ERA. Now this past season was atrocious as he went 10-15 with a 5.17 ERA. His career record is 68-54 with a 3.78 ERA.

Everyone has to remember however, that between his declining numbers and the fact that he faced much less power potent line-ups in the NL. Randy Johnson is one great example of an NL pitcher. In 2004, the season before he was traded to the Yankees, he posted a 2.60 ERA. In the next two seasons with the Yanks, he posted a 3.79 and 5.01 ERA before returning to the NL where in limited action (10 games) posted a 3.81 ERA

Only time will tell if Willis is an NL pitcher or if the AL will run the D-Train off the tracks.

Willis is now part of a rotation that outside of their ace, Justin Verlander, seems to be a question mark. Willis' problems have already been identified, but he also joins the number two starter Jeremy Bonderman who the league has seemed to figure out as he posted a 5.01 ERA last season, a 43 year old Kenny Rogers who was injury plagued last season, and Nate Robertson whose ERA was also upwards of a five ERA, and this is all despite having a home ballpark that is a pitchers ballpark, where the walls have actually been moved in from where they originally were when the ballpark was built several years ago.

As for Cabrera, there have been severe questions about his work ethic and having persistently gained weight in the past several seasons. Obviously, he is an upgrade right now over utility player Brandon Inge at third, however if he continues to not keep in shape it is rumored he would be moved to either first or left. However, Marcus Thames and recently acquired Jaque Jones are their every day left fielders and they are not going to move Magglio Ordonez in right for Cabrera. As far as possibly being used as a DH, the hard swinging, power hitting Gary Sheffield has been designated to that role. So, if Cabrera does not stay in good enough shape to play a solid third base this move can really backfire on the Tigers.

So, to acquire Willis and Cabrera, the Tigers gave up five players between the ages of 20 and 25 as well as a 27 year old catcher.

This move may look good now, but in a few years when both Willis and Cabrera are arbitration eligible and will have to pony up some serious dough, some of the Marlins’ players will still be cheap and probably will start to be hitting their potential peak talent wise.

So, who really got the good end of this deal?