NEWSLETTER
Well, to the extent you’d been dreaming of a Matt Garza/Darwin Barney package netting Nick Castellanos and Jacob Turner from the Tigers, you can probably put those dreams to bed.
Today, according to Jon Morosi (well, we’ll see if this trade sticks), the Tigers picked up starter Anibal Sanchez and infielder Omar Infante for Turner and more. (UPDATE: The more is a decent catching prospect and another young arm. The two sides are also swapping competitive balance picks, which is a net gain for the Tigers. That explains the Turner inclusion a little bit.)
The Tigers had been looking at starting pitchers for a while now, and had *really* been looking for an infield upgrade. In Sanchez, they get a 28-year-old free agent-to-be, who isn’t quite the caliber of Garza, but is a solid starting pitcher. Solid enough, I’d guess, that they’re now out of the market for another pitcher.
In Infante, the Tigers get 30-year-old second baseman, who’s signed for cheap through next year. He’s got decent numbers this year (better than Darwin Barney, if you’re wondering), and will be a dramatic upgrade over what the Tigers had been throwing out there at second.
It’s pretty amazing that the Marlins were able to get Turner (plus more, which we don’t know yet) for a couple months of Sanchez, and a year and a half of Infante. Once again, I think it’s a signal that the selling market is indeed quite strong (and that Turner’s stock has fallen a bit). I also think it’s fair to wonder if the timing of this deal has anything to do with the timing of the prospective Cubs/Braves/Dempster trade (either spurring the Marlins to sell, or spurring the Tigers to make a move now that Dempster is off the market).
All in all, I think, absent an injury, this closes the door on any talks between the Tigers and Cubs about a starter or a second baseman. It’s possible that a reliever or a bench bat could come up, but I strongly doubt it.
Collateral damage from the move, over than the obvious implications addressed above? It could make the White Sox and/or Indians a little more itchy to make a move, though the Indians are some four-ish games out in the AL Central, and the White Sox don’t have much of a farm system from which to deal.
UNRELATED BUT INTERESTING UPDATE: According to Jack Curry of the YES Network, the Yankees have acquired Ichiro Suzuki (and cash) for DJ Mitchell and Danny Fahrquar. The Yankees were thought to be pondering an outfielder in light of Brett Gardner’s season-ending injury, but this is this first we’ve heard of something like this. Wow. There’s not really much of an impact on the Cubs here, but, still, it’s just a fun, crazy trade.
