Tigers & Angels Big Winter Winners

[Dan Wishengrad]

So with most of the baseball world focused on the saga of which team -- the Yankees or Red Sox -- will acquire Johan Santana, Detroit and Disneyland actually make the two biggest moves during the off-season.

The Angels land Torii Hunter and Detroit snags Miguel Cabrera, with Dontrelle Willis thrown into the deal. These moves help both teams immeasurably, and really shake-up the balance of power in the A.L.. Adding Hunter makes the Angels that much tougher in the weak AL West, where they already are the best team and now have a solid bat to help protect Vlad in the lineup and out in right field, too. Cabrera is an absloute stud who has not even reached his prime.

Thoughts from other "Hot Stove" followers?

[CATLAX MAN]

The Angels really didn't need Hunter, unles they're admitting that the gargantuan contract that they gave to Matthews last year was a mistake..........it was. Actually, Cabrera was a better fit for the Angels than Hunter is. They still should win the AL West by a long margin.

The Tigers have immediately thrust themselves back into the AL East race. That move may end up forcing the Sox or the Yanks to pay the price for Santana. Time will tell. Acquiring Cabrera will also force the Tigers to shed themselves of players to fill other holes. One of the likely candidates to go is Inge.

[JW]

The Angels really didn't need Hunter, unles they're admitting that the gargantuan contract that they gave to Matthews last year was a mistake..........it was. Actually, Cabrera was a better fit for the Angels than Hunter is. They still should win the AL West by a long margin.

The Tigers have immediately thrust themselves back into the AL East race. That move may end up forcing the Sox or the Yanks to pay the price for Santana. Time will tell. Acquiring Cabrera will also force the Tigers to shed themselves of players to fill other holes. One of the likely candidates to go is Inge.

Knowing you already know this, but I am going to remind you that the tigers are in the AL Central.
They are automatically my favorites to win the Central next year and possibly the world series.

Not only do the tigers get Cabrera, but add Dontrelle Willis to that Rotation that was very good. And Dontrelle will be throwing to his old Battery Mate, Pudge, whom he had his best years with.

Between them 6 all star appearances, with 4 by Cabrera and the dude is only 24.

Tigers might break the record next year for victories

[Pinball]

The Angels really didn't need Hunter, unles they're admitting that the gargantuan contract that they gave to Matthews last year was a mistake..........it was. Actually, Cabrera was a better fit for the Angels than Hunter is. They still should win the AL West by a long margin.

The Tigers have immediately thrust themselves back into the AL East race.

Tigers play in the AL central with the White Sox, Royals, Twins.


I have watched hunter since the early days being a die hard twins fan. He is a great player and will dazzle everyone with his plays in the field. He couldn't be a better sound bite on local radio as he is intelligent and funny. The major problem with hunter is though is is a horrible clutch hitter. He strikes out and swings wildly- even more in clutch situations. He is the king of two out doubles when the score is 10-2.

Also a reason why the twins would not offer him a long term contract which he wanted is many question his how he keeps up his body. supposedly he dosent eat very healthy or work out much in the off season.

Would I want him back on the twins, without a doubt. He just is a player with some issues.

[CATLAX MAN]

Yeah, I meant to say AL race. Willis has been going downhill over the last couple of years. He may not be that great of an addition.

[LaxTV_Admin]

My question...What the heck were the White Sox doing? They traded away Garland ( a good move) but then did not go after that deal. They could have put Cabrera at one of the corners and Dontrelle could be an inning eater for them.

I think the Tigers won big with that move and the White Sox just took two steps back from the Tigers.

Meanwhile, as an Orioles fan I have to sit here and watch another losing season as we trade away our whole team (hopefully) to get some prospects in be good in about 20 years when I am 50

[Dan Wishengrad]

Sorry for your misery, Pancho. I'm guessing the O's will get alot worse rather than better. Personally I think Bedard may actually be a better pick-up than Santana, especially given that a team might have to part with less to get him. Here in Seattle we have made a serious offer to the Twins for Santana, but I think that it's just mis-direction because we truly covet Bedard more.

Johan is a great pitcher, but he was merely mortal last season and I think he might be good for years but never quite as dominant as he was two years ago. Bedard could lead the league in ERA, WHIP and Ks and even win 20 games for a contending team -- IF he can stay healthy.

The M's are falling further behind the Angels in talent, although we have some great young kids in the Minors poised for big-league stardom. Not re-signing Guillen will free up a spot for Adam Jones to play every day, but we should package Jeff Clement -- a catcher every team inquires about -- in a package for Bedard. Clement can hit and hit for power, but he is never going to see innings with Jojima the starter, so he is expendable. Now if only somebody is stupid enough to take Richie Sexon and his ridiculous salary off our hands so we can spend on a starter (or three), we might actually contend next season...

PS When you talk about clutch hitters, I haven't seen anybody better in recent years (besides David Ortiz, that is) than little Yuni Bettencourt. He will go 0-3 but then always seems to win games late with a HR, 2B or simple clutch single. He also has a terrific glove and needs to get some mention when the discussion turns to the AL's best Shortstops.

[StrykerFSU]

A couple of thoughts:

I think the Tigers gave up too much. While I don't know a heck of a lot about some of the names involved in the trade, I watched Miller pitch live last year and that kid is something...something Willis used to be. Dontrelle has struggled of late against mediocre AAAA (National League) hitters and now he's going to have to adjust to the big boys in the A.L. awfully quick. Cabrera is a nice pick up and it will be interesting to see how he meshes with Renteria on the left side of the defense...and Tigers fans better hope that ol' Edgar has a little better effort during this stint in the A.L. I'm certainly not handing Detroit best record in the league or the A.L. Central just yet...the Tribe might have something to say about that. Plus, Kenny Rogers hasn't looked good since MLB started steroid testing and Nate Robertson is penciled in at #5 coming off a 9-13 season. Pudge is 97 years old and Gary Sheffield is right behind him in line at the Sizzler early-bird buffet.

Meanwhile on the other side of town, Hanley Ramirez is already telling his agent to get him out of Miami...

As for the Angels, is Tori Hunter really what they need? I suppose every team needs two overpaid center fielders. They are still a very good team and will be able to run most teams out of the game but that didn't work so well again the Sox in October last year and I don't think that Hunter tips the scales at all.

On to future Red Sox Johan Santana, who is only 28 years old. He did have a down year in '07, going 15-13 but he did pitch 219 innings and posted a 3.33 ERA. That was good for seventh in the A.L. I think that while the ERA may even go up a bit because of Fenway, the victories will as well because he will actually have some run support. Not to mention he won't have the pressure to be THE MAN with Beckett filling that role rather nicely. Or, we could be seeing the next Pedro. A dominant pitcher on a bad team that comes to Boston and holds the baseball world in the palm of his hand...I'm giddy just thinking about it. Beckett, Santana, Dice-K, Schilling, Buchholz...not too shabby. We'll just have to wait and see what the final deal is.

[Zeuslax]

Meanwhile, as an Orioles fan I have to sit here and watch another losing season as we trade away our whole team (hopefully) to get some prospects in be good in about 20 years when I am 50

Tough to even talk about baseball when your team is just wallowing, especially after the way things went down with the birds in the mid 90's. Wish the Greek would get it together! Double

Sox are looking really tough again!

[LaxTV_Admin]

Meanwhile, as an Orioles fan I have to sit here and watch another losing season as we trade away our whole team (hopefully) to get some prospects in be good in about 20 years when I am 50

Tough to even talk about baseball when your team is just wallowing, especially after the way things went down with the birds in the mid 90's. Wish the Greek would get it together! Double

All I have to say is.....Jeffrey Meier!!!

[JW]

Hmm AAAA Hitters

Ryan Howard
Jimmy Rollins
Aaron Rowand
Chase Utley
Bobby Abreu
Jose Reyes
Carlos Beltran
Carlos Delgado
David Wright
Chipper Jones
Jeff Francouer
Andruw Jones
Edgar Renteria

And that is just the NL East.

I don't know about you, but I would love to have some of those guys on my ball Club.

I love Dontrelle Willis, he had a bad year last year, but he has pitched over 200 innings each of the last 3 seasons. He has pitched in the playoffs. He will be a great 3rd or 4th starter from that team.

[StrykerFSU]

Yep, I stand by my statement about the NL being AAAA and their lineups being inferior to the AL. NL pitchers are notorious for struggling when they arrive in the AL which has inarguably deeper lineups if for no other reason than the presence of the DH (though the talent is also better in the AL).

Willis is penciled in as the Tigers' 3rd starter.

[onpoint]

Cliff is going for the "Most ESPN Page 2 Authors Quoted in One Day on a Message Board" record today. He missed his citation on this one though. My guess is that Pat Forde gets it next.

[StrykerFSU]

Alex always bustin' my chops...I'll just have to stop passing the ball to CSU grads on my club lacrosse team!

Simmons and I just happen to agree on this point but I consider it common sports knowledge and therefore a citation is not needed. It would be like citing a source for a comment like "The sky is blue" or "Gator fans wear jorts". We all know these facts to be true so a citation is unnecessary.

[CATLAX MAN]

Not re-signing Guillen will free up a spot for Adam Jones to play every day, but we should package Jeff Clement -- a catcher every team inquires about -- in a package for Bedard.

Ain't going to happen.......at least with the Orioles. They have no need for Clement with Hernandez still locked up and having just drafted Wieters last year, who might have been the best pure hitter in the draft.