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BLOCKBUSTER: Tigers agree to acquire Cabrera, Willis from Marlins
Lynn Henning / The Detroit News
NASHVILLE -- For the Tigers, it was supposed to have been a quiet Tuesday during a quiet week for them at baseball's winter meetings.
By mid-day, their 2008 roster -- and future -- exploded in a mighty eight-player trade that brings them powerful 24-year-old slugger Miguel Cabrera and innings-chewing left-hander Dontrelle Willis in a deal that threatened to change not only the Tigers' status in the American League Central Division, but in all of baseball, as they attempt to become an elite team that can make multiple trips to the World Series.
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Dave Dombrowski, the Tigers general manager and president, had repeated Monday his team was seemingly set for 2008 after the team made a series of trades and free-agent acquisitions in the offseason's first five weeks.
The Tigers, however, were staggered Tuesday to find that they, not the Angels, suddenly were the team with which the Marlins wanted to do business as the cash-challenged Marlins attempt to embark on another rebuilding project.
Cabrera has established himself in only four full seasons as one of baseball's premier hitters. Last season, the 6-foot-2 Cabrera batted .320 with 34 home runs and 119 RBIs in a ballpark, Dolphin Stadium, considered poison for power-hitters.
Cabrera's home run totals since 2004 have been 33, 33, 26 and 34; his RBI numbers 112, 116, 114, 119. His five-season average: 313. They are astounding statistics for a 24-year-old superstar whom Dombrowski and his current assistant GM, Al Avila, originally signed in 2000 when both were with Florida and when Cabrera, a native of Venezuela, only was 17.
Willis, 25, should provide the Tigers with another power starter to fit into a rotation that, under Dombrowski, has been built around size and power arms. Willis is 6-foot-4, 195 pounds and has averaged just over 215 innings per season the past four years. Although he struggled somewhat last year with a 10-15 record and 5.17 earned-run average, Willis has been regarded as a quality pitcher who on a good team could re-emerge as the star pitcher he was in 2005 when he was 22-10 with a 2.63 ERA.
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Lynn Henning / The Detroit News
NASHVILLE -- For the Tigers, it was supposed to have been a quiet Tuesday during a quiet week for them at baseball's winter meetings.
By mid-day, their 2008 roster -- and future -- exploded in a mighty eight-player trade that brings them powerful 24-year-old slugger Miguel Cabrera and innings-chewing left-hander Dontrelle Willis in a deal that threatened to change not only the Tigers' status in the American League Central Division, but in all of baseball, as they attempt to become an elite team that can make multiple trips to the World Series.
>
Dave Dombrowski, the Tigers general manager and president, had repeated Monday his team was seemingly set for 2008 after the team made a series of trades and free-agent acquisitions in the offseason's first five weeks.
The Tigers, however, were staggered Tuesday to find that they, not the Angels, suddenly were the team with which the Marlins wanted to do business as the cash-challenged Marlins attempt to embark on another rebuilding project.
Cabrera has established himself in only four full seasons as one of baseball's premier hitters. Last season, the 6-foot-2 Cabrera batted .320 with 34 home runs and 119 RBIs in a ballpark, Dolphin Stadium, considered poison for power-hitters.
Cabrera's home run totals since 2004 have been 33, 33, 26 and 34; his RBI numbers 112, 116, 114, 119. His five-season average: 313. They are astounding statistics for a 24-year-old superstar whom Dombrowski and his current assistant GM, Al Avila, originally signed in 2000 when both were with Florida and when Cabrera, a native of Venezuela, only was 17.
Willis, 25, should provide the Tigers with another power starter to fit into a rotation that, under Dombrowski, has been built around size and power arms. Willis is 6-foot-4, 195 pounds and has averaged just over 215 innings per season the past four years. Although he struggled somewhat last year with a 10-15 record and 5.17 earned-run average, Willis has been regarded as a quality pitcher who on a good team could re-emerge as the star pitcher he was in 2005 when he was 22-10 with a 2.63 ERA.
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