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The Garcia trade, and what it means for the Tigers

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The White Sox acquired Freddy Garcia for a couple of high level prospects and young catcher Miguel Olivo. The White Sox are close enough that they can take a win now approach, and due to impending free agency they pretty much have to. As the Twins Geek points out:

The White Sox best hitter, Magglio Ordonez, and (arguably) best starting pitcher, Esteban Loaiza, are both free agents after this year. Impact players Carlos Lee, Paul Konerko and Mark Buehrle, are under contract for a couple more years, but start getting very expensive at the same time. And Frank Thomas isn’t getting any younger. The White Sox are fast approaching a time when they’ll need to rebuild their core group of players, in the same way that the Twins will soon need to.

So the time to win is now. The White Sox are just a game behind the Twins. They have an offense that can mash, seemingly have stabilized their bullpen, and just filled the biggest hole in their starting rotation. That shouldn’t just make them a serious contender for the AL Central. It should make them a serious contender for the AL pennant.

So this trade raises the bar in the AL Central. Expect the Twins to follow suit and try to bolster their club for this year as well. So if the Twins and White Sox are going to club it out for the AL Central, where does that leave the other teams? We know Kansas City is in rebuilding mode. The Indians are playing very well right now and have a solid, young, affordable team. I don’t know if they will join the fray this year, or just play it out and see what happens next year.

That leaves the Tigers, who still haven’t decided if they are going to buy/sell/hold. Despite the fact that the Tigers are only 6 games out, I think the distance from the White Sox has just grown significantly. While that may preclude them from being buyers, I don’t think that necessarily means they are sellers. If this season was about building credibility, then they are well on their way. Trading off contributing players would send the wrong message to the current team as well as the fans. That’s why, unless the Tigers are offered packages that include players who could play in the majors within the next year (like an outfield bat or decent relief pitching) I think they should hold off on any trades for the time being.

And then what happens next year? If the White Sox don’t make the playoffs this year, I’d imagine they’ll have a hard time signing all those free agents, and they’ve given up some of their top prospects. This could open the door for Cleveland and Detroit to be legitimate contenders next year (depending on what happens in the offseason).

That being said, as Jeff pointed out in the comments to a previous post, Jason Johnson has been mentioned as backup plan for the Yankees in the event they didn’t get Garcia. Keep in mind that the Tigers will be playing in New York next week, and it wouldn’t shock me if Johnson didn’t make the subsequent trip to Minnesota.

4 thoughts on “The Garcia trade, and what it means for the Tigers”

  1. This could be a huge trade deadline for Detroit. I agree with your logic. We’re close, but I don’t think we should sell the farm to make a run this year. If we could get a quality prospect for Jason Johnson, I say go for it.

    The moves they make could set the tone for the next few years. Should be fun.

  2. I’d love to see Johnson stay behind in New York, both as a Tiger fan and an unabashed Yankee Hater.

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