Wojo: Tigers' deals not flashy but necessary
Detroit — Once the plan was defined, Dave Dombrowski executed it about as well as he possibly could. He has made bigger deals and bigger splashes here, but few as necessary as this trade-deadline haul.
The Tigers aren’t better today than they were two days ago, but they have a better chance of being better sooner. They exchanged three pending free-agents — David Price, Yoenis Cespedes, Joakim Soria — for five young pitching arms and an infield prospect. Basically, after capitulating on the season, Dombrowski bought a farm (system).
The final deal went to the wire Friday, when Dombrowski sent Cespedes to the Mets for right-handers Michael Fulmer, 22, and Luis Cessa, 23. Fulmer was considered one of the best in the Mets’ pitching-rich system and could be a candidate, along with Daniel Norris (acquired from the Blue Jays), for the rotation next season.
We’ll never know if Dombrowski got the best value for premier players, but we do know the circumstances made it more difficult. He was under intense pressure because teams knew the Tigers were desperate to get something for any of their six free agents. The three deals won’t rank with Dombrowski’s past blockbusters, but in a unique situation, they’re among his most important.
“In my heart, I didn’t think we were playing well enough on a consistent basis, even though we weren’t that far out of it, to win that world championship this year,” Dombrowski said on the Tigers radio network. “Other people may disagree. … But I think with the moves we made now, it puts us in a much better position next year to be in a spot where we can go out and try to win a world championship.”
Of course, what the Tigers essentially did was trade an uncertain future with free agents for an uncertain future with youngsters. But deals had to be made to restock the most-barren farm system in baseball, and more deals must be made in the offseason, with money freed up to pursue free agents. I’m fairly certain Mike Ilitch wants this to be a one-year aberration. If Cespedes returns to the Tigers, as he’s previously suggested he might, this goes from a nice haul by Dombrowski to absolute thievery.
Moves create options
The key word there, and in every deal involving prospects, is “if.” Price is a given, a star in his prime, and you’d always prefer that over a batch of “ifs.” But the Tigers felt they couldn’t afford him, and after years of rising payroll, they were probably right. It’s a long shot that Norris or Fulmer or any of the newcomers ever approaches Price’s success. But at least the Tigers will have more options, at less cost, to see it develop.
This doesn’t have to be the end of an era, not when you have Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and Ian Kinsler, along with young talent such as J.D. Martinez, Jose Iglesias, James McCann and Nick Castellanos. You might notice the absence of pitchers on that list, which is why Dombrowski went out and purchased five of them.
In fact, this technically doesn’t have to be the end of a season. The Tigers seem too depleted to legitimately contend for the wild card now, but in the sloppy AL, with the pressure off, with Cabrera returning soon and Justin Verlander finding his form, uh, OK let’s not push it. They still have the Bullpen of Death, although Alex Wilson has been a mini-savior.
Dombrowski has been careful not to call this a rebuild but a reboot, and we’ll hold him to the distinction. That means returning to contender status next season. The Tigers don’t have to wait for all the youngsters to grow up, and could use some as trade bait at next year’s deadline. The five pitchers — three lefties, two righties — are 24 or younger with untapped potential, and all immediately rank in the top 15 in the Tigers’ system.
Desperation is what makes deals, and this time, Dombrowski recognized that familiar hunger in other teams, and used it. The Blue Jays and Mets are desperate to return to the playoffs and had the resources to go for it, which helped the Tigers’ predicament. Many baseball analysts were impressed by Dombrowski’s haul after years of going the other way.
In 1997, Dombrowski was in charge of building, then tearing apart the Florida Marlins championship team. That wasn’t a reboot but a complete reconstruction, and he was forced to hunt efficiently for young talent. The Marlins won the championship again in 2003 after Dombrowski left, with many players he’d acquired.
This is nothing like that, much more tactical and practical. After nearly a decade of contention, the Tigers are allowed to retrench, as long as they don’t get comfortable doing it.
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