November 10, 2006
Sheffield Deal Done
I thought Friday afternoons were supposed to be slow for news. I go out for 45 minutes and Gary Sheffield is now a Tiger. He's traded for three prospects instead of an established pitcher:
In return for Sheffield, the Tigers sent Humberto Sanchez, Kevin Whelan and Anthony Claggett to New York. Detroit agreed to a two-year contract extension with Sheffield through the 2009 season.
...
Sanchez, 23, was a combined 10-6 with a 2.53 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 123 innings with Triple-A Toledo and Double-A Erie this year. Whelan, 22, was 4-1 with a 2.67 ERA and 27 saves for Class A Lakeland. Claggett, 22, was 7-2 with an 0.91 ERA and 14 saves for Class A West Michigan.
All are young. Sanchez is a high strikeout, low home-run pitcher. He walked a lot of batters so far, but his BB per 9 improved as he went through the minors. Whelan is the same, except he looks pretty unhittable. Claggett also has high strikeouts and low home runs, and his walks are already decent. This looks like a deal the Marlins would have made last year. I like the fact that the Yankees are going for strikeout pitchers. That really takes pressure off their defense. I don't know if any of these players can step in next year, but suddenly the Yankees minor league pitching looks pretty good.
Posted by David Pinto at
05:01 PM
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I like this move a lot for the Tigers. Sanchez was a prized pitching prospect, and it hurts to give him up, but they kept Bonderman/Verlander/Zumaya (and heck, they still have Ledezma, Tata and Miner for that matter; the Tigers have a lot of useful young pitchers).
The two year extension I don't like as much, but the Tigers have three more years for Ordonez and two more for I-Rod, if I remember right; their competitive window seems clearly defined. If it all falls apart, a lot of salary comes off the books at the same time.
I hope they ask Sheffield to keep his 1B glove broken-in; they have room in the OF for him, but it would be nice to have the flexibility to rotate him through 1B/DH/LF/RF to give everyone some rest.
I also like this move for the Yankees. Sanchez was a prized commodity, and the other two pitchers seems pretty good too (although only Sanchez has made the jump to AA+). They ended up not getting Robertson foisted on them (not that he's not useful; he's just not going to able to keep his high-wire act going at this level forever) but they got something they can use down the road.
