Tigers trade Prince Fielder to Rangers for Ian Kinsler

While no one actually knows who will come out ahead in this deal for some time, there are plenty of baseball writers who have dipped their foot in the water and at least made a tentative stab at the subject. The general consensus seems to be that both teams are the better for making the trade, though a few seem to think that one team came out ahead a bit more than the other.

Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the #hottakes:

Cabrera dealt with injuries down the stretch of the 2013 season, but still managed to hit .348/.442/.636 with 44 home runs. The injuries were due in part to the large number of innings he logged at third base, an issue that could be somewhat mitigated if the Tigers decide to move Cabrera to first base on a full-time basis now that Fielder’s spot has been vacated.

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The trade, which also includes the Tigers sending $30 million to the Rangers, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan, is pending league approval.

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Fielder is as good of a candidate as anyone in the game to give Texas what it has been missing. He has missed only 13 games in eight full seasons and has never posted an OPS of fewer than .819. The one red flag is that the .819 OPS came last season, when Fielder finished with career lows in home runs and slugging percentage. Still, the 29-year-old slugger is very much in his prime, has appeared in 162 games in each of the last three seasons and will be moving to a hitter’s paradise that boasts a home run park factor of 110 for left-handed batters.

The Tigers are parting with a guy who wasn’t the greatest fit for their ballpark and will get back a guy who is an above-average hitter and a terrific defender. Kinsler has a career .804 OPS, good for a 110 OPS+, and has reclaimed the great glove that briefly abandoned him in what now looks like an anomalous 2012 season. He was worth 11 runs above average on defense in 2013 and had a three-year stretch from 2009 to 2011 during which he was worth 47. His fielding ability could significantly help the Tigers, who ranked No. 27 in MLB in defensive efficiency and No. 28 in defensive runs saved in 2013.