Mission Complete… So, What Gives Dave D?

My month long mission is complete – I met the word goal for National Novel Writing Month (that makes me a winner!)alas, the book is not completely finished.  But there is no longer a time constraint so I’m back to baseball writing now.

I wasn’t completely holed up in a dark space during my writing frenzy – I have been paying astute attention to the Detroit Tigers Hot Stove… a few points of interest before the meat of the story…

~ I will miss Placido Polanco.  He is a great player with a few good years left in him.  I’m sad to see him go but but ultimately I see and understand the reasons the Tigers had to say goodbye.  No one knows exactly how many good, productive years he has left and it was a gamble.  I hope the Tigers made the right choice, but it’s hard saying goodbye to such a valuable friend.  That #2 hole will be very hard to fill (especially if they are hoping to do it with that Sizemore kid from Toledo).

~ Welcome back Adam Everett… I kinda like you, even if your pre-kindergarten daughters can out hit you…  I like your glove, and your chemistry with Ramon Santiago… lets keep that good thing going…

~ Call it what you want, alleviating payroll, getting younger, upgrading, improving – but if it walks like a duck, smells like a duck and quacks like a duck  – its a duck!  What the Detroit Tigers are doing is a FIRE SALE regardless of the label they choose to put on it.  Please don’t treat your fans like idiots – we all know what it is and by calling it a horse of another color just insults our intelligence.  We know you are trying to drive that fifth highest payroll in the MLB down… but at what cost?

Which leads me to the bulk of my conversation – are the Tigers talking mouths trying to alienate and drive their fans right out of Comerica Park? Seriously now, you made your financially troubled bed (uh, Dontrelle Willis, Nate Robertson to name a few), now you have to lie in it.  By placing fan favorites and key faces of the franchise (Miguel Cabrera, Curtis Granderson, and to some minor extent Edwin Jackson) on the trade block you are scaring the cheer out of your fans.  It’s the same reaction we fans make when Fernando Rodney takes the mound to close the game after a not so stellar performance from Dontrelle Willis… a collective groan from Tigers fans everywhere.

Worst case scenario – you trade them.  My only comment to this is that you are (obviously) trying to reduce your payroll for your team while attempting to drive up revenue.  This will not work with the potential trades of Cabrera, Granderson and Jackson.  Taking fan favorites away from the fans will drive down your ticket sales (season tickets and walk up revenue) not to mention the loss of great merchandising (I personally know at least 5 people with a Curtis Granderson jersey…).  It is understandable that the economy in Detroit is not the greatest – heck it’s down right miserable right now.  There is no reason other than finances to bid farewell to Cabrera and Granderson.  Both players are in their prime and have proven that they can be effective and beneficial to the team in multiple ways. A bunch of no-namers and minor leaguers will not put paying butts in those beautiful green seats at the CoPa.

Closing argument: Quack, Quack – smells like a payroll dump…  But try thinking about your fans before you get too crazy at that winter meeting in Indy…