There have been many rumors recently regarding the Tigers inquiring about some centerfield help, specifically Johnny Damon and Juan Pierre from Florida. Anyways, according to ESPN, the Tigers aren't interested in outfielders at this point...instead, they're going to continue to focus on adding arms to the club:
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Speaking of outfielders and the Tigers, outfielding prospect Curtis Granderson made news recently regarding a possible trade to the Arizona Diamondbacks for trade-bait pitcher Javy Vazquez. This deal also included pitching prospect Joel Zumaya:
Wow! What is Dave Dombrowski thinking on this one? Two of the top prospects in the system for a pitcher who has only proved to be consistently above-average? He has a 4.28 career ERA, has a tendency to give up homers, but has a pretty solid 1.27 career whip. While I would like to acquire an arm such as Vazquez, I don't want to jeopardize any future talent to do so. Hopefully we can find better ways to acquire pitching talent this offseason.
There was probably more to the trade than is being reported. If not, that just sounds ridiculous to me.
Update [2005-12-6 19:19:39 by Mark]:I just read over at Motown Sports that the deal also included 3b Troy Glaus. This makes a little more sense now.
Update [2005-12-6 21:58:5 by Mark]:Looks like the whole Vazquez thing was just a false rumor, according to Dave Dombrowski. So, Tigers fans discussed the the possibility of Dombrowski trying to pull a deal like this all day, and it ends up being a false:
[...]
Vazquez's agent, Seth Levinson, said he and Vazquez were never approached about approving or vetoing any deal. Teams usually go through the agent to get trade approval from a player.
Boy, how crazy the hot stove season can get sometimes. Peter Gammons seems to have a history of linking the Tigers to bonus deals and signings. Perhaps we shouldn't always put so much stock into what he says every offseason?