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The First MLB Hot Stove Blockbuster: Granderson to the Bronx

Dec 8, 2009, 8:19 PM UTC

â†µWhen a group of MLB GMs get in a room together at the Winter Meetings, it's the equivalent of trading baseball cards. Except, of course, the players that are on the cards are the things getting traded.â†µ

â†µâ†µIn short, this trade is about as blockbuster as you can get at this year’s Winter Meetings. According to every media member who’s fast enough to tweet the details (we’ll link to SI’s Jon Heyman, because he has the names involved in the trade in his tweet), The World Champion Yankees get one of the best -- if not the best -- centerfielders (for the cost) in the American League in Curtis Granderson, the Diamondbacks get Edwin Jackson, who a lot of teams were interested in and the Tigers seemed hell-bent on dealing, as well as once-untouchable Ian Kennedy from the Yankees. The Tigers get Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth from the D’Backs and Austin Jackson and Phil Coke from the Yankees.â†µ

â†µâ†µYes, about as blockbuster as you can get.â†µ

â†µâ†µFirst, the Yankees get Granderson, who even after a down year is so big upgrade from the Yankees re-signing Damon and/or Matsui that it’s just ridiculous to imagine how much better this team will be in 2009. Granderson has a career on-base percentage of .344 and OPS of .828, and -- not that the Yankees really care -- he’s relatively cheap. It really is amazing the Yankees were able to pull this off.â†µ

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â†µThe Tigers have taken a clear step back, but this deal could prove fruitful in a few years. Scherzer seems to be on pace to become a legit frontline starting pitcher. He was 9-11 for Arizona in 30 starts in 2009, with a 4.12 ERA but just a 1.34 WHIP. He also had 174 strikeouts in 170 innings. The biggest plus to Scherzer is that he's under team control for five years, so he'll be good -- and cheap -- for Detroit.â†µ

â†µâ†µCoke was one of the few young arms Joe Girardi seemed to trust down the stretch for the Yankees, and people are high on Schlereth to help add even more depth to the bullpen for Detroit. For the Tigers to deal Granderson, they needed an almost-ready centerfielder and, according to most reports, they have that in Austin Jackson. The Tigers have clearly gotten younger and will save a lot of money this year on the trade, bolstering their pitching staff in the process.â†µ

â†µâ†µD’Backs fans got hosed. Arizona gave up a potential frontline starter and solid guy out of the bullpen for a mid-rotation starter in Edwin Jackson, who they have to pay more than Scherzer, and a guy in Kennedy would could be an ace, a bust or anything in between. And Kennedy was out most of 2009, so who knows what the D’Backs will get from him at this point. Add in the fact that the team is taking on more payroll than it’s giving up and the deal doesn’t seem to make much sense, unless they know something about Scherzer they aren’t letting on, or this is a first-step to another move later in the off-season.â†µ

â†µâ†µThat’s always the fun of the Winter Meetings. When the GMs get in a room together, sometimes the baseball cards change hands a few times before everyone goes home for good.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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