Weekly Musings: Fielder for Kinsler Explained, A-Rod and More...

A few random thoughts from the week that was....

3 years in Detroit was all the Tigerscould take before the shipped Cecil's son to Texas

Word came down yesterday that the Detroit Tigers had traded away Prince Fielder and $30 million (to help offset his salary) to the Texas Rangers, for 2B Ian Kinsler. At first glance, you wonder what on earth the Tigers are doing. They just dealt away one of their dynamic duo, a guy who hit 25 homers and had 103 RBI's last year while hitting ahead of possibly the best hitter to come around in the last 20 years in Miguel Cabrera.

Essentially, one protected the other in the batting order but in reality, upon 2nd glance, bringing in Fielder may have taken years off of Cabrera's career had it not been for this trade. If we go back to when the Tigers were about to sign Fielder in the first place, the move seemed odd as the Tigers already had a slugging firstbasemen in Cabrera and a hard hitting DH in Victor Martinez so to make the move make sense, Cabrera moved over to play 3rd base. While he did an admiral job there over the last 3 years, his body was starting to break down more then it had before. Blame age, blame the fact they have been in quite a few playoff games, blame whatever you want but there is a HUGE difference in playing 3rd base and playing 1st and it was starting to take it's toll on Cabrera.

Dealing Fielder was mostly an attempt to keep Cabrera healthy

Add to the fact that despite making a ton of money and having very successful regular seasons, Fielder would disappear over the last 3 playoffs and you can see why the Tigers were willing to sacrifice his big bat for a guy they can slot in the #2 hole in the batting order (or leadoff for that matter) and keep Cabrera healthier at 1st base and hopefully, as scary as it may sound, even more productive as a direct result of his improved health and a higher on-base guy ahead of him, breaking up double plays and scoring from 1st on doubles down the line.

The added bonus is that this move will improve them defensively at 3 positions. Cabrera has better range at first then Fielder ever had so this allows the team to improve by subtracting their worst infielder from the equation. At the same time, they now have a bonafide defensive stalworth at 2nd base who can hit for power as well. This leaves 3rd base now vacant along with a substantial amount of money. This does leave open a very real possibility of a significant move being made by the Tigers that is not entirely obvious right now to the entire baseball world.

Ian Kinsler can also play 3rd base as he is a versatile infielder with a strong arm and great bat. If the Tigers were to try to jump in on signing a player like a Robinson Cano to play 2nd base (they DID just free up $130 million that they now will not have to pay to Fielder, why not offer all of it to Cano and watch the money flow back in jersey sales alone), have Kinsler at 3rd with Iglesias at short, Cano at 2nd and Cabrera at 1st and you have the makings of a star studded infield that would be both incredible defensively and offensively 2nd to none. Something tells me that there are many more moves upcoming and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

With over $130 million freed up, something tells me 8 mill will have a new power hitting 2B

To be blunt, Alex Anthopolous kind of gave it away that big moves were about to happen when he was on TSN drive a couple of days ago. He basically admitted that until some of the bigger moves were completed by other teams, he and the Blue Jays were stuck in a holding pattern with several moves they would like to make themselves through trade. Now that the first domino has fallen, watch for a string of deals and signings to come in the next couple of weeks. You have to realize that we are only 7 weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting for Spring Training so it's got to start happening some time soon, right?

Well no sooner do i start saying it then the Cardinals and Angels swung a 4 player deal. The dominoes are about to start falling and there will be several shocking moves in the coming weeks. I will predict now that the Jays will get not 1 but 2 new starters (Matt Garza will be one of them) and a new 2nd baseman through trade. Ricky Romero will be dealt away and we may even see the Jays give Roy Halladay a shot to make the team in the spring as he tries so hard to get back to where he once was after shoulder surgery. 

A-Fraud is back in the news again as he is now in a spat with MLB over his demand to have Commish Bud Selig testify and be cross examined by his lawyers during the legal battle he is waging to make sure he doesn't lose the $100 million that the Yankees owe him over the next 4 years of his deal that they are trying to void. As much as I hat Alex Rodriguez for the man he is, the person and the things he has done, this is one time when I actually agree with him. He has every right to demand to know the reasoning behind the unprecedented 211 game suspension he was handed by Selig once the Bio-Genesis truth started to come out.

As much as you can hate the man for a whole so many reasons, he has the right to hear Selig explain the suspension

While I personally believe that A-Fraud should have been banned for life and barred from being a member of the Hall of Fame for life given his frequent cheating (and I'm not just talking about using steroids to get an edge in the game either), Selig should have the balls to take the stand and explain exactly why A-Fraud deserves the suspension. The truth is Selig is just as big of a tool as A-Fraud because he remained silent throughout the mid 1990's until Jose Canseco became the face of admitted steroid users in the game and allegations started flying at just about every home run hitter in the game. Teams made millions and no one cared that the players were juicing like pigs. It wasn't until it became clear to Selig that this would effect his legacy as the Commish that he finally started to take this situation seriously and tried to stem the use of PED's.

Selig needs to grow a set and be a man and tell A-Roid to his face that he is out of the game because of all his indiscreations and he is using his power as commish to do it in the best interest of the game. He won't of course so instead he is allowing A-Fraud to be made to look like a sympathetic figure. Wow is Selig ever stupid.

The Buffalo Sabres fired their joke of a coach Ron Rolston and long time GM Darcy Regier last week and in their places brought back 2 incredibly popular former members of the team in Ted Nolan as Interim coach and Patty Lafontaine as President of Hockey Operations with an eye towards hiring a GM down the road. When your team wins 4 of their first 20 games and their are questions being raised about the class of your team given some of the decisions your coach is making as well as how he is rumoured to have been screaming non-stop at his players behind closed doors, its clear Rolston was in over his head and needed to be fired and sent back down to the minors to learn what it takes to coach professionals. His antics may have worked in College, where he got the vast majority of his experience, but that crap doesn't work in the pros and he learned that quickly.

The Sabres made the right moves in bringing back Nolan and Lafontaine, 2 men who should never have left

Bringing back Nolan and Lafontaine was the right move on so many levels not the least of which was to generate some positive PR for the team when the fans were already starting to consider turning away from them. The fans could see that this team was playing with no heart and under a coach who had no clue what he was doing and despite their cries for change, especially when it came to getting rid of Regier who had been under constant scrutiny for over a year about his job security, it wasn't a shock to the fans when they were both fired. It was more relief that their cries for change had finally been heard by owner Terry Pegulia.

It will take time and, if the right GM can be found to help uncover those draft gems, add in the grace period that the fans will now give the new regime sprinkeled with some patience, the Sabres could be well positioned to have a turn around back to serious contenders in 2 years.

That's it for tonight. There will be more to come next week.

Until next time...