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
