Detroit Tigers: 5 best moves in Dave Dombrowski era

(AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

#5: Trading for Carlos Guillen

The 2003 Detroit Tigers were filled with a mix of young players that didn’t have much talent and aging veterans that never made much of a difference during their careers throughout baseball. The result was the loss of an American League-record 119 games.

It was clear to owner Mike Ilitch that the logic of counting on a flawed minor league system and not scour the free agent market to build your team was not the best course of action for the franchise at the time.

In his second offseason as the GM of the Tigers, Dave Dombrowski sought to rebuild this team. He signed Ivan Rodriguez late in the off-season, but he brought in a trio of veterans that had decent track records in OF Rondell White, IF Fernando Vina and RP Ugueth Urbina.

One of the moves that received little fanfare, but might have been perhaps the most important one considering his longevity with the club, was the acquisition of Carlos Guillen from the Seattle Mariners for Ramon Santiago and Juan Gonzalez (no, not the one you’re thinking of).

This immediately upgraded the shortstop position both offensively and defensively.

Forgive the Mariners for giving up on him for they knew not what they had. Guillen’s best season with Seattle was 2003 when he hit .276 with seven homers, a far cry from his first season in Detroit in 2004 when he found his power with 20 homers and a .318 average.

He went to the first of three All-Star games in 2004 and was a key member of the AL Championship team in 2006, hitting .320 with 19 homers and a .920 OPS. He was also one of the few Tigers to hit in the World Series with a .353 average to go with a .370 average though the three rounds of the postseason.

Sadly, he was mostly gone by the time the Tigers started their divisional dominance in 2011 and retired in 2012.

Next: Placido Polanco

Aug 8, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Tigers former player Placido Polanco throws out the ceremonial first pitch before the game against the Boston Red Sox at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

#4: Trading for Placido Polanco

In 2004, Fernando Vina was supposed to be the Tigers’ second baseman for the next couple years to form a keystone combination with Carlos Guillen, but injuries ended his career after just 29 games in Detroit.

This meant an ever-evolving circle of players at the position in 2004-2005 that included Omar Infante (in his first Tigers’ tour of duty), Jason Smith, Ryan Raburn, John McDonald, Ramon Martinez and Kevin Hooper.

In the middle of 2005, the Tigers dealt one of those, uh, prized second sackers, along with set-up man Ugueth Urbina for eight-year veteran Placido Polanco. Ramon Martinez was never heard from again and Urbina was convicted of attempted murder and sent to prison in Venezula two years later.

Poly easily made his presence known, stabilizing second base for the first time since Damian Easley was stellar there in the early 2000’s. He hit .338 in 86 games that season.

He went on to have a stellar 2006 season and was the ALCS MVP for the Tigers. He peaked in 2007, finishing among the AL batting leaders with a .338 average and earning his only All-Star appearance in Detroit.

His production dropped of a tad the next two seasons until the Tigers decided to not pursue him in free agency, opting instead for Scott Sizemore at second base. Sizemore made the Opening Day roster there, but was demoted to Toledo and traded later in the season.

Once again the Tigers had a glaring hole in that position while Polanco had another couple of stellar years back in Philadelphia, including his second and final All-Star appearance in 2011.

We may touch on this one in next week’s worst moves by DD….

Next: Max & Austin

Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

#3: Trading for Max Scherzer, Austin Jackson and Phil Coke

One of the knocks people had with Dave Dombrowski that came up again last week was, “well with that payroll, anyone could have been successful.”

But as you have seen from all of the moves on this list (and, in fact, four of the five on the list) are trades and not free agent signings. Any GM can be “good” by spending the owners money, but Dombrowski’s genius was on display through numerous trades, including the next one on our list–which fans HATED when it was first announced.

On December 9, 2009 the Tigers traded fan favorite Curtis Granderson and one of the better pitchers on the team the year before, Edwin Jackson, in a three-way deal with the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks. The Yankees sent the D-Backs Ian Kennedy, the Tigers sent Jackson to Arizona while Granderson landed in New York.

More from Detroit Tigers History

• Celebrating Willie Horton’s Return to the All-Star Game
• Of Trade Deadlines, Detroit Tigers, Fidrych, Smoltz, Skubal
• Recalling Each of the Current Detroit Tigers’ First MLB Hits
• Eduardo Rodriguez versus Justin Verlander: Money Well Spent?
• Detroit Tigers retired numbers

The Detroit haul included Max Scherzer, Daniel Schlereth, Phil Coke and Austin Jackson.

Fans, including myself, were furious over the loss of Granderson, who many saw as the face of the franchise. No one saw the raw talents and the potential of Scherzer.

Jackson had a good run here, arguably outplaying Granderson each year while he was in Detroit and Granderson was with the Yankees except for 2011.

Coke wasn’t good here, but he did have one big moment in the sun when he got it all together for a couple of days in October 2012 to shut down the Yankees in place of broken down Jose Valverde, and clinch a World Series berth.

Scherzer, after a rough beginning and brief time in Toledo, became part of the formidable rotation that helped the Tigers win four straight AL Central championships and win the 2013 Cy Young Award.

Granderson is now on the Mets, Edwin Jackson is on his 80th team–so this was clearly one of the best moves of the Dombrowski era hands-down.

Next: Pudge

Aug 14, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers former catcher Ivan Rodriguez watches the game in the third inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

#2: Signing Pudge

The only free agent signing on this list, Ivan Pudge Rodriguez may not have had as big of an influence on the field as many Detroit Tigers’ fans seem to remember, and he was only really here a short time, but his decision to join the Tigers before the 2004 season signaled a huge culture change with this club.

Truth be told, Pudge didn’t want to come here, but he was out of good options. To sign in Detroit would be moving from the penthouse to the outhouse as just a few months prior he was winning his first (and only) World Series championship with the Florida Marlins. Now he was faced with the prospect of joining the worst team in baseball, coming off a 119-loss season.

There was a clause in his contract that precluded the Marlins from re-signing him until May so Rodriguez hit the open market and found little suitors because of the demands of his agent Scott Boras.

Betsided

The Tigers, desperate to make a splash and in need of a catching upgrade over incumbent Brandon Inge, moved forward in hot pursuit of Rodriguez, one of the best defensive catchers in the last 20 years of baseball. He and/or Boras seemed to be using the Tigers as leverage for other teams, but no one could (or wanted to) beat Detroit’s 4-year, $40-million deal.

Once here, Pudge accepted the situation and became a great teammate, seeing that the franchise had something special in the making. He was the perfect catcher to mold the young pitchers on the Tigers’ staff such as Jeremy Bonderman, Mike Maroth and, most notably Justin Verlander. He also contributed at the plate, hitting in the high .300’s for most of the first half of 2004.

Rodriguez was an All-Star in each of his four full seasons in Detroit. His leadership and experience from three years prior helped the young Tigers blow past the Yankees and Oakland Athletics in the AL playoffs despite not hitting himself.

After heavy expectations in 2008, the Tigers fell to last place and shipped Rodriguez to the Yankees in August of that year. Despite never playing a role in any of the recent Detroit playoff teams, it’s hard to argue that if Pudge didn’t take the bait, Magglio Ordonez may not have done the same one year later, and who knows if 2006 would have even happened.

Next: C'mon, what else is gonna be #1?

Jun 13, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera (24) in the dugout against the Cleveland Indians at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

#1: Trading for Miguel Cabrera

It is hard to think of a more lopsided trade than when a young and emerging slugger from the Florida Marlins was brought onto the Detroit Tigers prior to the 2008 season.

You often see superstars going to other teams through free agency or trades at their peak or just past their peak, but Dave Dombrowski was able to fleece the Marlins of a young star that was still several years away from his peak.

Miguel Cabrera was just 24 years old when the Tigers nabbed him. That is an age when many players are making their Major League debuts, but for Miggy, he was already a five-year veteran and had won a World Series in 2003.

He had quickly developed into a star for the Marlins and hit 33 homers twice, and 26 and 34 before being traded.

Cabrera, along with Dontrelle Willis, came in the trade that saw Andrew Miller, Dallas Trahern, Eulogio De La Cruz, Burke Bradenhop, Cameron Maybin and Mike Rabelo head south. Only Miller has proven to be a reliable major leaguer, and that was just a recent transformation.

All Miggy has done for the Tigers since 2008 is hit 267 homers, hit over .300 every year here (except for his first–.292), lead the team to four playoff appearances (five if you count the 163rd game in 2009), become the first major leaguer since 1967 to win the Triple Crown and win the MVP twice.

The Hall-of-Fame is calling for Miguel Cabrera, even if he retired today.

And we have Dave Dombrowski to thank for that.

We will look at DD’s not so great moves next week at this time. 

Next: Tigers 2015 deals are not yet done