Could Willis Be On the Move Again?

by Ian Casselberry on Dec 5, 2007 9:04 PM EST in News Comment 5 comments

With time to kill as he was waiting for his Cabrera/Willis masterpiece to become official, Dave Dombrowski apparently managed to keep himself busy. (During the trade presser, he said he barely left his room.) Trader Dave is still rockin' Nashville, people.

UPDATE (11:00 p.m.): Danny Knobler is dispelling this rumor. If there was a chance for a Willis-to-Mets trade to happen, it would've had to occur in a three-way deal.

"There's no turning back now for them," a Mets official said tonight. "If anything was going to be done, it had to be done before (the trade became public). They've energized their fan base now. They can't go back."

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Sweeny Murti of WFAN in New York reports that the Tigers are considering turning Dontrelle Willis around and trading him to the New York Mets. (Say it ain't so, DD! Did you hear how happy the D-Train was to be coming to D-Town on WXYT this afternoon?)

"[...] the Tigers have explored the idea of spinning him off, and they have contacted the Mets. There wasn't an official offer presented to Omar, but what was talked about, from what I was told, they talked about spinning off Willis. In addition, though, the Mets would have to take on some salary. The Tigers are interested, perhaps, in moving Willis and Ivan Rodriguez and dumping his salary, which is $13 million next season. So, if the Mets wanted Willis from Detroit, they'd have to take on that salary. The thing is, he has a no trade clause, so to get him to waive it you'd probably have to give him another year."

The Pudge part of the deal doesn't make a lot of sense, as he's the only major league catcher in the Tigers' organization who can play right now. Unless Detroit is looking to get Brian Schneider or Johnny Estrada in return, I don't really see it. And are the Tigers really looking to dump salary at this point? Maybe... if they're trying to gear up for a Cabrera contract extension.

And I know there have been rumblings that the Tigers didn't really want Willis, and took him at the Marlins' insistence, but doesn't the starting rotation really need him?

(via MetsBlog and MLB Trade Rumors)

The Tigers have acquired outfielder Freddy Guzman from the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later. (Best joke about the deal? The Dallas Morning News' Evan Grant says that the PTBNL will not be Miguel Cabrera or Dontrelle Willis. He wonders, however, if it might be Chris Shelton.)

Guzman fills the center field hole in the organization that's been created by both Cameron Maybin and Gorkys Hernandez being traded. He spent virtually all of last season with Triple-A Oklahoma City, batting .269/.348/.363 with four home runs, 34 RBI, and 56 stolen bases.

UPDATE (10:00 p.m.): It's now official. Shelton has indeed been traded to Texas for Guzman. The deal will be announced after tomorrow's Rule 5 draft, according to Jason Beck.

One potential new destination for Brandon Inge, with Miguel Cabrera ready to take over at third base, is San Francisco. Giants GM Brian Sabean is interested, after losing out on Cabrera, according to MLB.com's Chris Haft:

Sabean said that a couple of fresh trade options arose, resulting from "side discussions" after a meeting of Major League general managers. One of them is believed to be for Detroit third baseman Brandon Inge, who could become expendable pending the Tigers' imminent acquisition of Florida's Miguel Cabrera. Inge, 30, hit .236 with 14 homers and 71 RBIs last season.

Sabean noted that trades such as the Marlins-Tigers blockbuster often create a chain reaction that prompts subsequent deals.

"Once the bigger chips fall, it kind of reduces everybody to the second and third tier of what we're able to do," he said.

I'll just add some speculation and wonder if the Milwaukee Brewers might also look into Inge, as they've been pursuing third basemen this week. I'm not sure how the Brew Crew would feel about Inge's contract, however, as money was reportedly a hang-up in trying to make a deal for Scott Rolen.

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Too much spin

Just reading that comment about spinning off Dontrelle and Ivan to the Mets made my stomach turn...after front page headlines introducing them to the fans? What a dirty deed that would be. While Pudge may go somewhere else in 2009, I just wonder who in the hell is going to be our catcher then. Surely, DD is trying to get something for Inge and maybe Thames. Brandon with that huge contract and all those incentives (what a joke). However, he is a good defensive SS.

by densogirl on Dec 5, 2007 10:50 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Don't...

Yea I hope to God they don't trade off Willis. Just when I started to think that our rotation was set, this rumor surfaces. I don't get why they'd want to trade him off right away. I can understand the Pudge-Estrada thing, free up some cash, but really I think at this point they just need to sign Dotel or Hawkins (preferrably both) and prepare for a great season.

by rossjohnson87 on Dec 5, 2007 11:00 PM EST reply actions 0 recs