My Thoughts on the Fielder-Kinsler Trade

It's been a while! First, I apologize; it's very easy for college to get in way. Secondly, I needed to get some thoughts out!

The trade of Prince Fielder and Ian Kinsler has to be one of the biggest MLB trades in sometime. The Tigers have been no stranger to trades the last couple of seasons. In the last few seasons, they've acquired the likes of Max Scherzer, Austin Jackson, Phil Coke, Jhonny Peralta, Doug Fister, Anibal Sanchez, Omar Infante, and Jose Iglesias. Guys that they've given up? Curtis Granderson, Jacob Turner, and Avisail Garcia are the only guys that have been given up that are actually relevant major leaguers. For that, credit must be given to Dave Dombrowski. He hasn't been afraid to give up guys that might be good for guys that ARE good. (Just imagine that when the Tigers traded for Miguel Cabrera, they didn't get the corpse of Dontrelle Willis.) I was a major fan of Avisail Garcia. If you don't know who he is, he's what the Tigers gave up as a part of the Jose Iglesias trade. He showed a little flash at the big league level. He honestly looks like a skinnier Miguel Cabrera at the dish. Nonetheless, he wasn't the answer for the Tigers and they knew that. Once Peralta was suspended last season, they knew they had to make at least a move for the short term, but they did much more then that! They acquired a player that was second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting and by a lot of accounts, the best defensive shortstop in baseball. As long as he is spectacular defensively he'll be a starting shortstop at the major league level. He has to be just good enough at the plate to have a lot of value.

Lets dive into the Fielder trade. I guess you could say I like Prince Fielder. In fact, I'm wearing my Prince Fielder jersey t-shirt as I'm writing this. Regardless, I LOVE THIS TRADE. It gives the Tigers much more flexibility. It allows Cabrera to go back to first base even though he player better then expected at third. I don't know if the Tigers want to resign Jhonny Peralta, but if he's willing to play third (he didn't want to in Cleveland) they should look into it. If they don't resign Peralta, it then allows the Tigers star prospect, Nick Castellanos, to go back his natural position in third base. He has been training to play the outfield since he wasn't going to unseat Cabrera at third. So that's another option. What might be the biggest part of this deal is the $$$$$$$$$$$$$. Prince Fielder's big ass contract comes off the books. He was through two years of a NINE year contract. That contract pays him a total of $214 million. That contract is more than Miguel Cabrera's deal! Kinsler makes about $13 million a year compared to Fielder's $23 million a year. This deal makes the infield defense better. The line-up will shake up a little bit. Not to mention, the Tigers will be breaking in new manager Brad Ausmus. It'll be interesting to see how the line-up falls into place. That's of course assuming Cabrera's healthy at the start of next season.

Free agency is just heating up. The biggest move will be where Robinson Cano will end up and for how much. If he gets a $300 million dollar contract I will be STUNNED. He's not that good! Has he ever tried to beat out a ground ball? I haven't seen it. There's a lot of rumors that are spread around the hot stove. Still, there are rumors that the Tigers are trying to land Joe Nathan AND Carlos Beltran.

Hold on one second.

(Pinches arm to make sure he's not dreaming)

Yep. I'm not dreaming! That would be amazing! It's still speculation, but I would be in favor of that without a doubt.

Soon (by the end of next week I swear!) I'll dive into some NBA and NCAA Basketball

Thanks for reading!

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I post when I'm announcing games with the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization as well as little tidbits about everything else going on in my life.

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