And lose their first round pick to the 'Stros. Not a fan of this if I'm a Tiggers fan. Though their minor league system certainly has been bolstered with the offseason trades.

http://twitter.com/TBrownYahoo/statuses/7762432052

soxinem1

01-14-2010, 03:52 PM

And lose their first round pick to the 'Stros. Not a fan of this if I'm a Tiggers fan. Though their minor league system certainly has been bolstered with the offseason trades.

http://twitter.com/TBrownYahoo/statuses/7762432052

Not sure about that. He's way better than Rodney. This is actually a step up for DET.

Let's see Fernando convert all of his saves (except for the one that mattered most) again. He's the most expensive set up man in MLB.

russ99

01-14-2010, 04:48 PM

And lose their first round pick to the 'Stros. Not a fan of this if I'm a Tiggers fan. Though their minor league system certainly has been bolstered with the offseason trades.

http://twitter.com/TBrownYahoo/statuses/7762432052

Woo hoo! Another pick for the Astros... :D:

He's a good closer, but has his share of moments in pressure situations.

Sargeant79

01-14-2010, 08:30 PM

I don't necessarily think this is a bad move from the Tigers' perspective, however it seems to go against their offseason philosophy this year. Why sign a guy for the next two years that costs you a draft pick while simultaneously trading away your young star center fielder and a valuable piece of your starting rotation for prospects? Doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense to me...

Foulke You

01-14-2010, 11:46 PM

Seems like a good move for the Tigers. They needed a closer to replace Rodney and they got a pretty good one in Valverde. The downside for them is that he is untested in the AL but he has a tremendous heater. I'm starting to wonder if the whole "fire sale" in Detroit stuff was all smoke screen. Perhaps they are just late to the offseason party? MLB Network was reporting today that the Tigers have high interest in Johnny Damon and have emerged as a dark horse to land the free agent outfielder.

The only thing that doesn't jive is the strategy behind this. They could have just re-signed Rodney and not lost the draft pick. Also, why dump the younger Curtis Granderson to make room for the older Johnny Damon?

munchman33

01-15-2010, 12:29 AM

Jeez, with all this talk of how bad a move it is, I'd hate to know what you all think of the statistically inferior Bobby Jenks, who has fewer saves, more blown saves, and a higher era the last three years than Velverde and will make roughly the same salary.

kittle42

01-16-2010, 03:35 AM

jeez, with all this talk of how bad a move it is, i'd hate to know what you all think of the statistically inferior bobby jenks, who has fewer saves, more blown saves, and a higher era the last three years than velverde and will make roughly the same salary.

2005.

oeo

01-16-2010, 03:39 AM

2005.

Hilarious.

NLaloosh

01-16-2010, 06:13 AM

I agree with some posters. Valverde is a very good closer. Even in the AL he should be at least as good as Jenks and better than Rodney.

However, I don't understand them making this move when it appeared that they were doing a nice job in the rebuilding mode.

It seems that they should've kept Rodney for less money or signed a cheaper alternative like Matt Capps etc. rather than lose the pick and spend the extra dough.

They are not going to sign Damon. Of the teams that are left looking for a player like him the Yanks are the only one that can still afford him even at his reduced price.

I understand that, for the fan base, they want to compete this year. But, I don't think Valverde will make the difference.

Detroit has excellent young talent in the minors and the bigs right now. They should've continued down that path and been ready to compete for the division as early as 2011 and for sure by 2012.

Oblong

01-16-2010, 07:00 AM

Seems like a good move for the Tigers. They needed a closer to replace Rodney and they got a pretty good one in Valverde. The downside for them is that he is untested in the AL but he has a tremendous heater. I'm starting to wonder if the whole "fire sale" in Detroit stuff was all smoke screen. Perhaps they are just late to the offseason party? MLB Network was reporting today that the Tigers have high interest in Johnny Damon and have emerged as a dark horse to land the free agent outfielder.

The only thing that doesn't jive is the strategy behind this. They could have just re-signed Rodney and not lost the draft pick. Also, why dump the younger Curtis Granderson to make room for the older Johnny Damon?

There was no fire sale in Detroit. I've been saying that from the beginning. The lazy media just jumped on it because that's easier than actualling thinking. Valverde is much better than Rodney or Lyon. They essentially traded Rodney, Lyon, and the #19 pick, for Valverde and 2 supplemental picks. You can work out the cost differences.

A baseball case can be made for trading Granderson and Jackson, outside of finances.

I like the move because while I think the bullpen is very good, it's also still young. The veteran is Zumaya who is coming off 3 injury filled seasons. This is also a good message to the fans that they are not dumping payroll and giving up on 2010.

kittle42

01-16-2010, 12:09 PM

Hilarious.

Poppycock!

SOXSINCE'70

01-16-2010, 01:47 PM

Poppycock!

Balderdash!:D:

Hendu

01-17-2010, 05:02 PM

For the best closer on the market, the money and number of years are both very reasonable.