Hot Stove Heats Up

Well, the Marlins and Tigers pulled off the deal of the winter meetings, at least until Johan gets traded. This is a pretty huge deal that's gone down.

Miguel Cabrera is a masher. The guy is just a tremendous hitter, and the Tigers have really improved their lineup, which was already dangerous, by adding him. Granderson, Polanco, Sheffield, Ordonez, Cabrera, Renteria, Pudge, Guillen...I mean, that's a serious offensive force.
Defensively, though, Cabrera is a liability at third. Even before he gained all the weight, he really didn't offer much there with the glove. Now that Sean Casey is gone, Detroit would serve itself well to move Cabrera to first and move Carols Guillen, Casey's replacement at first, over to third. Move Inge to left, and here's what the Tigers lineup (if I was the one writing it out) would look like next year:

Granderson CF
Polanco 2B
Cabrera 1B
Ordonez RF
Sheffield DH
Renteria SS
Guillen 3B
Rodriguez C
Inge LF

Wow. That looks even better than I thought it would. It's Yankee-esque. I really like Cleveland, but this move puts Detroit slightly ahead of the Tribe in the AL Central.

Dontrelle Willis is another story altogether. I simply do not understand the fascination with this guy. Sure, he has a great personality and his youthful exuberance is nice, but he's a pretty lousy pitcher. When you're setting your friend up on a blind date, and you say, "She has a nice personality," what are you saying? She's ugly! And Willis' numbers are just that...UGLY. Even Mike and Mike were saying that he'd be fine as a third or fourth starter in the AL. I don't understand this. He wasn't good enough to be a third or fourth starter in the NL last year, really, and the AL is so offensively superior to the NL it's not even funny. I predict Willis will have an atrocious year and will basically become, within the next three years, a left-handed relief specialist (and not a very good one of those either).

The Marlins are a joke. Their payroll next year will be in the neighborhood of $8MM. A-Rod will be paid more in 50 games than the entire Marlins team will be paid for the whole season. And somehow they were supposed to be players in the chase for A-Rod? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Forget a salary cap...maybe it's time for a salary floor. Or, more accurately, maybe it's time to bid adieu to the sorry baseball franchise and their ridiculous mismanagement down in South Florida.

On a happier note, the Cardinals, who for some strange reason were interested in Dontrelle, will be saved from themselves, thankfully.