Trade Rumors

More Granderson and Jackson rumors

25 Comments

I don’t know that we’ll cover every Tigers trade rumor here. It usually isn’t worth the effort, but there were some fairy significant reports regarding subjects of Edwin Jackson and Curtis Granderson.

The New York and Chicago media have been beating the drum for Granderson to land in their respective cities. Now there are reports that Dave Dombrowski has had discussions with the Angels. The Angels have 24 year old shortstop prospect Brandon Wood who the Tigers may find appealing. Granderson would presumably move to left field with Torii Hunter manning center.

If the thought of trading Granderson is upsetting to you (it is to me), you may take some comfort in that at least one AL executive doesn’t think it’s going to happen.

On the Jackson front, the Tigers have talked with Doug Melvin and the Milwaukee Brewers. I’m sure they’ve talked with a number of clubs, but here’s the money quote:

"Dave’s in charge of that one," said Melvin. "They’ll identify which clubs are matches and they’ll call them. he’s looking for young players and young pitchers."

I agree with Jason Beck in that it sounds like the team is doing a little more than just listening to offers.

25 thoughts on “More Granderson and Jackson rumors”

  1. I’m not sure I can keep being a Tigers fan (or even a baseball fan) if Granderson is a Yankee. Anywhere else, and I think my fandom survives, but that’s a bridge too far.

  2. Granderson is a goner guys. DD likely undervalues Grandy, thus a lot of teams are chomping at the bit to get a deal going. Highest bidder will easily have a higher perceived value of Grandy than DD does; a trade is inevitable. I’m preparing myself now for the disappointment of what we get in return. Thanks Grandy, it was nice knowin’ ya!

  3. Quite frankly, I don’t understand it. All I know is, Dave better have the Bill James Handbook on him 24-7 while he’s looking for trades. We don’t need any more Jacque Jones’ or Cameron Maybins’. Not sure if I put the apostrophe in the right place, but you get my gist. Grandy is highly prized by many other MLB teams, so Dave better do better than a 24 year old ss prospect. Unless he’s a college grad, he’s already a little long in the tooth to still be a prospect.

    1. Totally agree, Kathy. Grandy should bring either a couple of elite prospects or an elite prospect and an above-average major-leaguer.

      FYI – no apostrophe needed in those cases, since you’re not trying to denote possession.

  4. The Granderson rumors are upsetting and I’m already tiring of the speculation of which over hyped prospects they might get for him. It’s going to take an awfully big return for me to endorse any trade of Granderson. This is probably the first time in 40 years I’m dreading the prospect of trades rather than getting excited about them.

    Lee

  5. Wood would be a crushing centerpiece of a Granderson trade for several reasons:

    1. Wood is settling into a career as a permanent MILB, and the Angels are trying to cash in ASAP. He’s had ML stints every year since 07 and stunk every year. Tears up Salt Lake (~.900 OPS since 07), but can’t hang in the AL West (about a .500 OPS over those years).

    2. It would say a lot about DD’s belief in Iorg every coming around (and maybe Fields remaining at SS long-term).

    3. Trading the most likable player and face of the club isn’t the thing to do when a) you have the financial choice not to, and b) you want people to still want people to give a _____ about the team. Caring is mostly what sells tickets to those folks with the means to buy them, and when you start shaving that fraction down in an already tight market, well, you start to resemble the Pittsburgh Pirates.

    If you have the stomach to consider it, the proposed pieces coming from the Cubs (follow link) would be a heck of a lot more palatable.
    http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/11/angels-tigers-discuss-granderson-trade.html

    1. I’m just stunned at all of the “not that great of a defender” comments about Granderson from the Cubs fans over there.

    2. It also prefigures a possible up-the-middle combination of Avila, Wood, Sizemore and Wells, which smells like a team in rebuilding mode rather than contention mode.

  6. In reality, these rumors are pretty weak. Most are them are being started and spread by people just trying to generate some traffic for their websites. I can’t blame them either because currently any real baseball talk is dead. Dombrowski’s farts can be heard a million miles away right now.

  7. I don’t know about that. A million miles is pretty far. You’re talking 4 times the distance to the moon.

  8. I’ve resigned myself to the thought of Curtis being traded. My only hope is that they don’t get fleeced too badly, and get a good/great package of prospects back. It would create a pretty decent sized hole in CF, so it had better be worth it.

    And for those that are saying that they’d have a hard time being a Tigers fan if Granderson was traded, please stop. I personally root for the organization more than the players, and if DD feels that Curtis is at his peak value (or beginning a bad decline) and that this would be the best time to get a good value back for him, then why not?

    Detroit has a nice collection of young players, and they’re going to have a *ton* of money coming off the books after next year. That sounds like a great position to be in for an organization and a GM, as long as they don’t doing anything mind-numbingly stupid within the next year or so.

    As long as DD doesn’t undervalue (like TSE said) Granderson too badly, I’m sure everything will turn well.

    1. Kevin, I’ll always root for the Tigers but some players are more fun to root for than others. Granderson is one of those players for me. I’ve followed him closely since he played for Oneonta in 2002 and he’s my favorite player since Whitaker and Trammell. I’m one of the biggest stat and analysis guys here but occasionally there is a player that transcends all that. Plus, he has had good stats over the last three years! So, they better get a huge return if he goes (which I don’t think he will).

      And I don’t have blind faith in Dombrowski to do the right thing either. He’s a good GM but occasionally he moves too fast and does something foolish like trading too much for Renteria and extending Willis.

      Lee

      1. Ah, there you go! Someone who finally agrees with me that stats don’t tell the whole story. That’s the same way I feel about Magglio.

        I don’t believe any franchise can have blind faith in their general manager. All of them make mistakes and with economy the way it is, the mistakes are made more glaring.

  9. Actually, this bodes quite well for the Tigers. In the mid-90s the Red Wings almost traded the face of the franchise, Steve Yzerman. They ultimately didn’t and they were regulars deep into the playoffs after that. Maybe NOT trading Curtis is the harbinger of good things to come.

    …and if they do trade him, it will be more like letting go of Gibby in ’88…a generation of misery ahead…

  11. Wood is fairly interesting if he can stay a shortstop … I bet he could put up JJ Hardy numbers ala ’07, ’08 on offense. Grandy is worth more than that but maybe E-Jax for Wood?

  12. Jeez, I go away from my computer for 36 hours and when I come back Granderson and Jackson are STILL with the team. What is with Dombrowski? Doesn’t he understand that the pressure is on to “do something” now?

  13. Here’s a question to the must-keep-granderson folks: are you saying that there’s no package of players/prospects that we should trade him for – that you would be upset no matter what we get back for him?

    Bear in mind that I’m a guy who will certainly well up if I have to tell my 4 year old boy that granderson doesn’t play for the tigers anymore, but at the end of the day, the goal is to win championships, right? there are packages of players out there that help us do that more than CG might.

  14. My initial reaction to a potential Granderson Trade was negative to say the least. When you think about it what would be missing. Lead off power, but think of all the strikeouts and his speed has not been a huge factor. Curtis should have 35-40 stolen bases/ year.

    A trade with the Cubs would be interesting. Their #1 draft pick last year, Brett Jackson is someone I am familiar with. He played high school ball for our local HS, and went on to play for Cal. He hits for power, has speed and is a Center Fielder. In addition he comes from a good family and has a good head for baseball.

    Obviously the Tigers would need to get alot more than a prospect.

    1. pretty slim given that Harper won’t get drafted until next June and can’t be traded for one year after that.

      1. Yeah, this talk now and then dismissal of the reports is a warm up and precursor to a future move as Grandy goes deeper into his current contract.

Comments are closed.