Detroit Tigers: 5 best moves in Dave Dombrowski era

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.

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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