The Grinch Has Been Here

He's taken away packages, boxes and bows, he even took the tree, and Wood and CC!  I thought his heart grew three sizes?  Something's caused it to shrink back down, because he's downright nasty right now.

Actually, only Kerry Wood has been semi-offically taken away from the Tigers, but I'm still grousing over CC Sabathia signing with the Yankees.  I would have been very gracious to see him sign with the Dodgers or Milwaukee, but the Stankees?  I thought you wanted to go home to Cali, CC?  What's ten million dollars one way or another?  The rest of the country is in the toilet, yet you're signing the biggest deal ever for a pitcher.  Couldn't you have thrown me a bone and signed with someone other than NY?  Sigh.  Sean over at Trumbull and Michigan has a nice take on CC and the Yanks.

For a laugh, check out the action figure of Justin Verlander at the MLB.com store.  You could buy me one to enshrine with my ticket stub and score card from the no-hitter!

Hey, My Present's in Cleveland!

I'm experiencing some rather serious delivery problems.  Last week, UPS misdelivered my package to a neighbor, and now Santa's on his way to Cleveland with my present.

Kerry Wood may soon sign with our divisional rival down the road.   

This is not making me very happy, because now we may have to trade the farm to get JJ Putz.  I'm not comfortable doing that.  It makes me downright queasy, in fact.  I was hoping to avoid all that drama by going the free agent route.  

I'm hoping Santa realizes the mistake before the ink dries, and brings my present back where it belongs.

Instant Infield and Closing in on Closer

Holy schnikies, I go to bed early and wake up to find that the Tigers have traded for Gerald Laird, then I go to work, take a walk with my son, pick up dinner, and voila, the Tigers have signed Adam Everett.  I can't wait to see what happens during the 15 minutes I'm gone to drop my son off at school tomorrow morning.  I guess the Tigers wanted to string us along for just about ever, and then blast off into a signing frenzy.

Now they turn their sights to a high profile, urgent need at closer.  And, what do you know, due to our value moves made so far, we've got a little cash to invest.  I like the sound of that (although still feeling a little Smoltzitis--we'll be watching Morosco and Melo's development over the next couple years).  The big present under the tree this year may be Kerry Wood or J.J. Putz.

Can someone please tell me why the sports talk idiots are so far behind the curve on breaking Tigers news?  They intro a piece like it's something brand new, and come to find out the story is about ready to fossilize.  I'm driving home from work today, and the guy's like, breaking news, the Tigers trade for Gerald Laird.  Uh, even I, the latecomer, read that at 7:00 am this morning, geniuses.  Isn't this your job??  Whatever--they're too hung up on Rod Marinelli's latest press conference where he's expressing how much he "believes in what he's doing."  Yeah, that's compelling sports news.  Actually, maybe it is, because the Lions are about to become the first NFL franchise to go 0-16.

I like to see that our defense is improving before our very eyes, but I don't relish the though of our 7-8-9 hole in the lineup.  Let's hope Lloyd McClendon can work some magic in the batting cages during Spring Training.

Visions of Shortstops, Catchers & Pitchers Dance in Our Heads

Tomorrow is the eve of baseball's Winter Meetings.  You can bet we Tiger fans have a lot on our wish lists.  Problem is, there isn't a high probability we'll get what we want, unless we've filled our lists with miniscule to modest requests.  That would include people like Adam Everett.  Sure, that wish could easily be fulfilled, but I'm sorry, I don't think he's on anyone's list.  We'd like his defense, yes, but his offense, um, could be worse, yes worse, than our own Brandon Inge's.  I was also trying to draw a bead on his baserunning.  Baseball Prospectus has his speed listed at nearly 80%, meaning it's better than almost 80% of other MLB players.  That hasn't translated into a lot of stolen bases, however.  He had zero attempts in last year's injury shortened season, and his high before that was 21 of 28 in 2005 with Houston (4 of 6 in 2007, 9 of 15 in 2006).  Not exactly tearing up the base paths, but I don't know Houston's running game, so someone feel free to jump in on that one.  In my mind, if we're going to sacrifice offense altogether, which it pretty much looks like we are (understandably for budget constraints), then we should focus on getting both defense and speed (I'm still riding my self-created Cesar Izturis train on this one).  Apparently, that's asking for a little too much.

Wouldn't it be nice, though, if at least one big wish were granted?   That would be Kerry Wood, who is now rather shockingly on our radar.   This is no time to question our belief in Dave Dombrowski, people.  Put the plate of cookies out tomorrow night, even if you've been doubting DD.

Then there's Gerald Laird, who would probably be just servicable for our short-term needs, but the question remains at what cost.  One report had us giving up "one of our top pitching prospects."  Uh, I'm feeling Jurrjens-y, with a touch of Smoltz-itis  here.  Scary--scary to think about. 

Anyway, a merry Winter Meetings to all and to all a good night.