Doug Fister to Nationals; Steve Lombardozzi, Ian Krol and Robbie Ray to Detroit

[trwi7]

Official now

 

What a horrendous trade for the Tigers.

 

MLBTR link

[Eye Black]

Reportedly Steve Lombardozzi is involved, but not confirmed.

[trwi7]

Robbie Ray, Taylor Jordan and Ian Krol among other names being mentioned. This is a terrible deal for the Tigers if those are the names involved.

[torts]

7:33pm: The Tigers have officially announced the deal, which will send Fister to the Nationals in exchange for Lombardozzi, Krol, and Ray.

[Eye Black]

Interesting comparison below between David Price and Doug Fister over the past three years from Fangraphs. Both players have 2 years remaining on their contracts.

 

[pre]Name GS IP GB% ERA- FIP- xFIP- K% BB% WAR RA9-WAR

Price 92 622.0 47.4 % 81 81 80 23.0 % 6.0 % 13.4 14.1

Fister 89 582.2 51.1 % 82 80 86 18.2 % 4.9 % 13.1 12.2[/pre]

[RockCoCougars]

What are the Tigers doing? They appear to be in fire sale mode. I'm not a huge fan of Fister, but this makes no sense whatsoever.

[jerichoholicninja]

Shedding money to sign Cano?

[torts]

Shedding money to sign Cano?

 

didnt they JUST get a second baseman in Kinsler?

[TooLiveBrew]

Shedding money to sign Cano?

 

didnt they JUST get a second baseman in Kinsler?

Yes, but Kinsler could probably handle 3B just fine. If Canó is the main target, you simply make room for a bat like his (not saying I think he is the reason for this trade).

[torts]

Shedding money to sign Cano?

 

didnt they JUST get a second baseman in Kinsler?

Yes, but Kinsler could probably handle 3B just fine. If Canó is the main target, you simply make room for a bat like his (not saying I think he is the reason for this trade).

 

good point, but shedding money is probably so they can resign Scherzer moreso than signing Cano

[reillymcshane]

Weird trade. Not like there's any big upside talent Tigers are getting. You'd think with the premium price starting pitching is getting on the FA market, they could have gotten more.

[TooLiveBrew]

didnt they JUST get a second baseman in Kinsler?

Yes, but Kinsler could probably handle 3B just fine. If Canó is the main target, you simply make room for a bat like his (not saying I think he is the reason for this trade).

 

good point, but shedding money is probably so they can resign Scherzer moreso than signing Cano

Yup, I agree. My thoughts when I saw this trade were that Scherzer must be in line for a gigantic payday.

 

Still doesn't excuse how bad this return is, though, imo.

[trwi7]

This pretty much sums up the trade.

 

Which brings us to the Doug Fister trade. The Tigers are a win-now team. They are on a short list of the win-nowiest teams, considering the age and contract status of a lot of their best players. Here's what the Tigers got in return for one of the better pitchers in the American League:

 

Translated:

 

A 25-year-old, low-powered INF/OF

A 22-year-old lefty reliever, just converted to the bullpen last year

The #5 prospect in the Nationals' system

 

It's the biggest head-scratcher of the offseason. I'm typing as fast as I can because there's no way this is going to be the last Tigers-are-insane column, so it might as well come in the first wave. This deal makes absolutely no sense. It doesn't make sense for a win-now team like the Tigers, and it wouldn't make sense if Fister were on a team without much of a chance in 2013, like the Astros. It's a trade posted on a Nationals blog that was quickly laughed at by fellow Nationals fans.

 

The worst part of it? The early suggestion is the Tigers are using this deal to free up money that would go toward Max Scherzer. In essence, they're using their undervalued trade chip to jump preemptively into that overvalued free-agent market by locking up Scherzer for something close to market prices.

 

http://www.baseballnation.com/2013/12/2/5168738/tigers-doug-fister-trade-nationals-nonsense

[fondybrewfan]

Damn that is cheap. It makes me wonder if Melvin was involved because we certainly could have matched that package. Fister would have been a great addition.