For the Tigers, signing free agent shortstop Stephen Drew would make "a great deal of sense," Dayn Perry of CBS Sports writes. Jose Iglesias looks likely to miss much of the season with a leg injury. The Tigers are lucky, in a sense, that a player as good as Drew is still out there to pursue. And though they would have to sacrifice the No. 23 overall pick in the draft to sign Drew, they need to focus on their goal of winning the 2014 World Series, Perry suggests. If Iglesias were to return at midseason, the Tigers could potentially move Drew to third base if Nick Castellanos isn't performing well there. Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski, however, has recently indicated that he is not interested in signing Drew. Here's more from the American League.
- The Blue Jays are building their 25-man roster with the purpose of keeping out-of-options players in the organization, MLB.com's Gregor Chisholm reports. Brett Cecil, Jeremy Jeffress, Luis Perez, Esmil Rogers, Sergio Santos, Todd Redmond and Moises Sierra are all out of options. Recent cuts Chad Jenkins and Neil Wagner might have received more consideration if the Blue Jays hadn't had the ability to send them to the minors.
- Orioles executive Dan Duquette has done a nice job finding talent on the fringes, writes MLB.com's Richard Justice. That includes pitcher Miguel Gonzalez, who the Orioles signed from the Mexican League as a 27-year-old, and outfielder Nate McLouth, who the O's acquired after he was released by the Pirates and who played a key role down the stretch in 2012.
Right… move Drew to 3rd and Castellanos to… uhh… right.
By then Dirks should be back and the Davis/Dirks platoon will be in full swing
That’s all well and good, but it seems Drew and Boras want more than a one year deal, and that just wouldn’t make much sense for the Tigers. And if Castellanos hits as well as he has this spring, don’t think you’ll move the kid yet again.
Why? Its hardly a sure thing that Iglesias amounts to a hill of beans as a SS in coming years with chronically bad pins and a questionable bat.
If Drew did accept a 1 yr deal, and perhaps Boras would consider some deferred money if the Tigers are strapped for cash, having Drew platoon with Iglesias when he comes back makes the best sense given Drews problems with LHP’ers.
Castenallos was a terrible fielder in Left field and Left field is like another center field in Comerica. That is why.
And why trust any ex-Red Sox players after the let Iglesias and now Drew go? Looks like they were hoodwinked once. Why would they do it twice?
they “let” Iglesias go because they got Jake Peavy and because they have Xander Bogaerts ready to go.
Are you Scott Boras? 😉
Or Drew’s problem with any pitcher not on the mound in Fenway Park
There is zero need. Use Suarez, Perez, or, *knock,knock,knock* Lombardozzi. Yeah, that guy. Why trade for him and then refuse to use him? There is no point in wasting a draft pick and cash to get Drew for a year, or even WORSE, multiple years. The Porcello for Franklin rumors bother me a lot to. Alright, what happens if one or more of Verlander, Scherzer, Sanchez gets injured? No thanks. I hope Dombrowski isn’t bluffing right now. He said he had no interest in Fielder because it “didn’t make sense”, but then he went and gave him a mega deal.
They’ve already said Lombar will hand to fill in in LF for Dirks.
No they haven’t. He is one of MANY options in LF.
From what I read about Suarez and his Fielding, Tigers better look at Drew. Verlander will throw a fastball at his head at SS.
24 games last year in A+ ball 10 errors at SS. That was a rehab assignment. Makes a lot of errors.
The Blue Jays should probably instead consider building their 25-man roster with the purpose of winning baseball games.
Novell ideal.
By keeping them in the organization, which in this case must be on the 25 man roster, could potentially lead to a trade at the trade deadline instead of just losing them to waivers.
Yeah, I mean given the fact they only spent 12 million on free agents this year its not like they are trying to compete this year anyways. Meanwhile Bautista and Encarnacion get 1 year older, as does Dickey, and Rasmus is a free agent next year. Fortunately, for most of the year there is no competition from other sports and the Blue Jays have a monopoly for the Canadian TV market, and revenue sharing dollars keep coming in. Its all good.
Because Chad Jenkins was going to be much better Santos, Cecil, Loup, Janssen, Delabar, Rogers and McGowan… yeah totally based on options…
having depth pieces throughout the summer probably helps a team more than which ever of those interchangeable relievers they have on the roster on opening night
Agreed. Pick the best players regardless of whether or not they have options. If they’re that marginal, there should be plenty of similar type pitchers on the waiver wire at any given time, or maybe let some kids get a shot given the Jays won’t be contending this year anyway… Jeffress, Rogers and McGowan aren’t going to be the difference between last place and the World Series, so play to win above all else.
Winning games is not a high priority with the Blue Jays. They would gather gather scrap to keep on the 25 man roster and trade away good prospects to get more scrap.
I don’t like the way the MLB.com article glorifies the Miguel Gonzalez signing. The guy was released in December of 2011 and was signed in March of 2012, its not like he was toiling away in the Mexican league, undiscovered. This isn’t some big accomplishment to give a projectable left hander who was only working in the Mexican league because he was 1)from mexico, 2)to further rehab his arm. I am sure plenty of teams where interested.
He was not much of a prospect at that point. He was 27 and had not yet thrown a regular season pitch in the majors. If plenty of teams were interested the Red Sox surely would have traded him rather than release him. Notice how far down a mlbtr article he is mentioned and they didn’t even have an article in English to reference. mlbtraderumors.com/2012/03/minor-moves-miguel-gonz…
Duquette has always been a master at finding retread type guys who produce, it’s been his best attribute IMO. Troy O’Leary, Brian Daubach. Duquette just has an eye for finding those guys and I have faith he’ll keep it up.
When he was forced to give up Johnson for Weeks this past winter, really thought he had made the best out of a rotten situation but maybe this one backfired a bit.
Still? He’s one guy you don’t mind filling up the AAA roster full of retreads with, because at least 1-2 of them will be a big help during the season, more than I can say of Epstein and Cherrington’s collection mostly ever have.
I don’t think it backfired at all. If they kept JJ and paid him his arb salary, there would be no Ubaldo (and probably no Cruz either). I still think Weeks can play, he just has the unfortunate problem that Schoop is having a great spring.
Ditto.
It’s a 2-for1 thing. Dealing JJ has netted them Ubaldo and Cruz. A CL in exchange for a SP and DH/LF RH power. Although I understand how one might want something better than Weeks in return, maybe some low level talent…but, everyone in baseball knew JJ might get dealt. There was no leverage..
Only when you look at the Johnson trade as just Johnson for Weeks and the PTBNL is the deal a loss. The $10 million freed up by trading Johnson allowed Baltimore to add Ubaldo Jimenez for 2014. Or you could say it allowed the O’s to grab Nelson Cruz and pocket $2 million. The domino effect of the Johnson trade is worth more to the team than the actual trade itself.
Drew only makes sense for the Tigers on a cheap one year deal.
Detroit’s cash problems this year are only going to get worse if they’re serious about trying to retain Scherzer. They paid 30 million to send Fielder away for a declining second basemen just to save a couple bucks. They shouldn’t have signed a closer to an eight figure deal either if it meant they had to sell low of Fister to penny pinch. This isn’t a team that can afford multiple big money guys on their roster.
Drew/Boras will most certainly still be looking for a 3-year deal, and while it makes sense for the Tigers to consider him on a 1-year deal, it doesn’t make sense for anything longer.
Agreed, especially since next year’s FA class has plenty of other SS options.
Drew does NOT make sense in a one year deal. Why trade a prime prospect (the draft pick) for just one year of Drew? It would be a $20MM+ mistake ($8-10MM value of the draft pick, plus $10-12MM for Drew’s salary).
Completely disagree with “a great deal of sense” to pick up Drew. It makes very little sense given the way the Tigers are positioned right now.
Tigers likely value the draft pick at ~$8-10MM. Is Drew worth $20MM (including his salary) in 2014?
The Ausmus hire and the Fielder and Fister trades are a direct signal “that they need to focus on their goal of winning the 2014 World Series” is NOT how Dombrowski sees it.
He see a window of 4-5 years, not one year.
Tigers lost maybe 2 wins with the injury. Not nearly enough to panic. They have 4+ months to make a deal to get an average SS if they need one for a low pricetag. Until then, just go with in house solutions.
8-10mil valuation is very high, not sure where you’re getting that number. 5.4 mil is average valuation per this website, then add a little for 23rd pick, maybe 6-7mil.
Instead of looking at the loss of Iglesias as 2 wins, comparing the replacement (Danny Worth or Steve Lombardozzi) and Drew would be more accurate assessment, when asking if Drew should be added. Both replacement players have career negative WARs, while Drew should be expected to be 3+.
Also, you give no valuation for the replacement SS if/when Detroit’s internal options don’t pan out. That would most likely be more expensive than a draft pick.
The value of a draft pick is hard to measure because both money and talent in the draft have to be considered. I have read that many scouts are saying the next draft is deep in talent so it could be said that a first round pick this year is more valuable “talent wise” than others in the past. As I have stated on another post, Drew has his shortcomings: his .222/.295/.392 batting line in 2013 away from Fenway,only 86 & 79 games played in 2011 & 2012,inflated salary demands plus that loss of a draft pick. I don’t expect Drew to have a 3+ WAR away from Boston. Here is another way to look at it. Boston didn’t sign Drew because they didn’t want him for longer than 1 year for the money he wanted. They have a good if not great crop of youngsters to take over for the future. Detroit is in a similar position with some promising kids of their own. If they go with the internal options for now, they can make adjustments at the trade deadline, if Iggy can’t get back by then. There should be at least 1 or 2 teams at the deadline, willing if not eager to make a trade that should be a better bargin than now. Drew might even still be available at a much lower cost.
2015 draft is strong, but it doesn’t add 3-4mill in valuation as the first post states, I feel I already built that in, at 6-7mil.
Comerica Park is considered a hitters park as well, there certainly isn’t a big difference (Fangr: Fenway 104, Comer 102). Drew line at Comerica is .333/.462/.619, albeit in limited at bats. Lots of players don’t hit as well on the road as at home, it doesn’t negate the rest of their stats.
Drew antagonists alway point to his injury from ’11. It was a fluke, horrific accident (watch the video), that shouldn’t make him injury plagued. If you remove that single injury from the equation, he’s averaged 143 games over the other 5 seasons.
“Boston didn’t sign Drew because they didn’t want him for longer than 1 year” But they did offer him QO and would’ve had him back for another season at 14.1m, if he accepted. Detroit should offer him a one-year deal, with a promise not to QO him (or wait until April 1st).
“Drew might still be available” There is NO chance Drew is available at the trading deadline.
When talking about the draft, I was referring to “talent” and not money. The Tigers, as well as everyone else in this draft with a pick after the 10th-15th, have an opportunity to get a better quality player than previous years. You don’t get the players if you don’t keep your pick. Boston was willing to give Drew a 1yr deal because of the QO pick attached if he declined. I don’t think Boston would have offered that much ($14.1mill),if there was no QO rule. Yes I agree with you regarding the injury in ’11. Since playing in over 75% of the games in “13,the injury might be behind him. But Detroit may be facing the same durability issue with Iggy going forward, so they don’t need to get another player with some of the same issues for the amount of money and number of years Drew is demanding. Your right about the trade deadline, I meant after the Draft, so Detroit would keep their pick. I like Drew and am not one of his antagonists, I just don’t believe he is worth the $$$ or years he is demanding while you also lose a draft pick. As it stands now,Detroit is only looking for a low cost rental. They can get by with a solution in house for the 1st half of ’14. Now if that changes and we are looking at all of ’14 or longer then Drew would be a possible fit.
The Yankees and the Phillies are prime examples of what happens when you let a team get too old and expensive. In the end, you have to keep priming the pump with more and more money, or watch your team collapse. Drew will be 31 this year, Kinsler 32. Where will they be, health and performance-wise, in a couple of years? Detroit doesn’t have the same cash flow as some of the big market teams. How are you going to pay to keep your core players? And moving Drew to third diminishes his value. Would Drew really be worth 60/4 or 45/3 as an out of position third baseman? He doesn’t hit like a corner infielder.
Makes sense to me too, about Drew. Just bad luck at this point, still should be focused on winning this year, team is too close to worry about the pick. Guy played some great Defense last year, and with that Pitching, he’ll help.
Problem is Boras.
Freddy Galvis would be a good fit for the Tigers. He could cheaply replicate the .670 OPS/fielding whiz performance they were going to get from Iglesias. They Tigers are stacked with OF prospects and the Phillies have none. Send them a lesser OF prospect for Galvis.