Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Three Doesn’t Equal One - Fister Dumped, Bigger Deal Looming???


The Trade: RHP Doug Fister to the Washington Nations for UT Steve Lobardozzi, LHP Ian Krol, and #5 Washington prospect LHP Robbie Ray.  Drew Smyly moves in to the rotation.
With social media there’s no hiding the Fister trade or the Tigers fans displeasure from it, but as many others have said, Dombrowski has earned the fans patience and trust that it’s not about what we received in return but what we may do with money saved.
Now that that statement is out of the way, we got hosed in this trade!!  The national media, other GM’s, even my wife is bashing this trade.  Not because we traded Fister, we knew a starter had to go, but because we did not receive the value we should have in return.  My stance was the Tigers who are in a win now mentality (or that’s what I thought) could have cleared salary, and got this garbage return for what I consider a lesser pitcher in Rick Porcello.  Now the lesser pitcher comment met some serious debate on Facebook last night and that’s fine, but if I believe the Tigers have a short window for winning then shouldn’t we have kept the proven guy vs. the potential guy?  People will spit projections at you claiming they are the same pitcher next year, but until you actually see the results doesn’t it make sense to stick with the facts?
Either way, Porcello or Fister this trade is a failure in my eyes based on the return, it’s just worse as I view Fister to be much better than Ricky P and read where Keith Law goes as far as calling Fister a top 30 starter in the Majors.  Does that seem like enough value to you?
The 29-year old Doug Fister who had a career 3.53 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, was 44-50, but 32-20 as a Tiger and was also 3-2 in the postseason with a 2.98 ERA and 1.303 WHIP netted us:
Steve Lombardozzi, 2B/UT – A 25-year old switch hitter who will be in his fourth season in the Majors has a career .264 average, .297 on-base percentage, .639 OPS, averages 2.5 home runs a season, 23.5 RBI’s, 32 runs, 3:1 strike out to walk ratio.  Defensively looks like he is just an above average defender at second base and slightly below average in a limited role in the outfield
Ian Krol, LHP/RP – Krol (22), has a year of experience as a lefty specialist after being converted from a starter in the minors.  Krol appeared in 32 games, 27.1 innings where he had a 3.92 ERA, gave up 5 home runs, carried a 1.31 WHIP, walked 2.6 per 9, and struck out 7.2 per 9.  When facing just lefties, Krol had a .220 average against (vs. .304 against righties), gave up just a homer, and struck out 10 of 56 he faced.
Robbie Ray, LHP – The number five rated prospect in the Nationals system by Baseball America is considered the key piece of the deal.  The 12th round selection of the 2010 draft advanced as high as Double-A Harrisburg this season where combined with A+ Potomac stats, Ray went 11-5  with a 3.36 ERA in 142 innings, striking out 10.1 per 9 and walking 3.9 per 9, while giving up 13 home runs.  As a prospect, Ray is expected to start in the minors and won’t be seen at Comerica until at least 2015.
Yep, that’s it.  Now does it seem like we got enough value for Fister???   Not a friggin’ chance and although Dave gets lead way with what he’s going to do with this money, it doesn’t make this trade any better in my opinion and in most others…
~sK