I’ve been away for the last couple days and am just now getting caught up on the trade. (apparently Blogger was glitchy and somehow listed me as the poster of the trade link, and had the wrong day) I was going to post all my thougts on the trade, but Lynn Henning did a pretty good job of breaking it down.
I hate seeing Weaver go, because he was the one guy that you felt like the Tigers had a chance to win with. At the same time, the injuries to Dmitri Young, Bobby Higginson, Damion Easley have hindered Dombrowski’s ability to trade those guys, and trading Weaver was the only way to bring in multiple quality pospects.
I think it is silly to try and decide if a trade was a good move right when it happens, but this trade did signal some more trends/future moves in the organization. First, either Matt Anderson’s injury is worse than expected/reported or Dombrowski just doesn’t feel he is a top notch closer. Second, Eric Munson’s carrer in the Tiger organization will be ending shortly, and it is likely that Dmitri Young will be moved also. Third, it further illustrates that Dombrowski is not satisfied with the state of the Tigers farm system. While their are a number of good pitchers at Toledo and Erie, decent position players are hard to come by. Fourth, it indicates that the Tigers are still several years away from doing anything. If Dombrowski thought they were close (1-2 years), he never would have let a top-tier pitcher go.
One of the most concerning things for me about this trade, is that the other teams involved were the Yankees and Oakland. It just seems that who ever trades with Billy Beane or the Yankees, always gets the short end of the stick.
So I don’t hate the deal (yet), I just wish the Tigers hadn’t been so bad that Dombrowski felt he needed to make it. Also, the Tigers have now become completely unwatchable.