The Tigers added no players at the trade deadline, unless you count the trade for Jhonny Peralta a few days before it. This was really not a big surprise, given the state of the team and the desire not to give up star prospects for rental players.
But then we got some interesting news. GM Dave Dombrowski told the press he had a big, headline-making, season-changing move up his sleeve that he was inches away from getting done. He just didn't.
"I thought we had a chance to do something that was probably surprising and big," he said. "At one time, I thought we would. But it didn't materialize."
"Anytime you get close to something (but only close), the wind goes out of your sails if you think you're going to make a deal," Dombrowski said. "But it was so far out of the blue, I'm not sure 'disappointed' is the right word. It's more like getting the wind knocked out of you."
Names? He's not sharing.
Speculation is that the Tigers were the mystery team in on the Dodgers' Manny Ramirez.
Tom Gage of the Detroit News wrote:
(I)t's also too bad the Tigers didn't make it because, for their sake, it could have been their best shot to make the most of their last 60 games.
They need a bat. Manny, if he was the one involved, would have been a bat.
Plus it also would have been an admirably bold move at a time when such a move was needed.
It's clear the Tigers were ready and willing. And they thought they were about to make it.
But whoever it was got away.