More Farns Follow-Up

I am completely and totally in favor of the Farnsworth-Pudge deal, and I think it indicates something important: Dave Dombrowski’s head is in the right place.

At the beginning of the season, the Tigers seemed like toast and fans were blasting Miguel Cabrera, as if a superstar hitter isn’t allowed to be in a slump during the season. It did not help that Curtis Granderson was injured and the normally reliable Placido Polanco was swinging the bat like a ninny.

Soon, Cabrera started to play like he knows how and now he is hitting a solid .293 and has 18 homers.

The point is, great players like him don’t forget how to hit. They may go through slumps. Hell, a slump could last a season, but they don’t just forget.

Dombrowski clearly has realized this and has decided that the only thing that can help the Tigers now is some good, consistent pitching. And he’s right.

Detroit already has plenty of hitters. They spent the whole off-season collecting them, and paying them a lot of money. Not everyone they acquired is necessarily doing their part (yeah, I’m talking to you, Edgar Renteria), but they definitely have the pieces in place as far as hitting goes.

Pitching is where they need work. Dombrowski knows this, and that’s why he made this trade.

Any Tigers fan should be very enthusiastic about this deal.

First, we need to be honest with ourselves: barring a pretty remarkable run by the Tigers and a pretty remarkable collapse by the White Sox and Twins, this year is not going to bring us the playoffs we all crave. It sucks, but we need to get over it.

This trade tells me we are ready to complete the second half of the puzzle: pitching. Also, like Ace mentioned, this was a smooth move by Dombrowski; he saw a team was in need, and got something very good for a 36-year-old catcher who doesn’t take steroids anymore and who was going to be released next season anyway. The only question to me is, given how much the Yanks needed a solid catcher, could he have gotten more? But that’s another post.

Overall, a solid and exciting move.