MLB: Trying Not to Beat a Dead Horse

Posted on | August 5, 2009 | No Comments

There is something I really don’t understand. And I don’t want to get boring or seem like I’m beating a dead horse but I need to get this off my chest.

When the Detroit Tigers made the trade for Jarod Washburn I didn’t like it. I like Washburn, and I think he makes the Detroit staff better. But I don’t think he makes the team any better. The Tigers already had good enough pitching to win the division. What they needed (and still need) is hitting.

Surprisingly most of the supposed “media experts” loved this trade. I didn’t see any of them go against it and I even saw a few of them rank it as the best trade.

Well, I know it’s still way too early to bury the trade but last night gave an indication of how it might turn out and so far, not so good. Washburn was shelled last night by the lowly Baltimore Orioles and the Tigers lost the game 8-2. The fact that Washburn gave-up 6 runs in 5.1 innings isn’t why the early returns on the trade are bad either. The reason I’ve never liked the trade is because the Tigers only scored 2 runs.

Washburn could’ve been awesome. He could’ve taken the mound and pitched a complete game and given up just 3 runs. And you know what? He still would’ve lost. And that was my main point when this trade went down. Every fifth day the Tigers will now lose the game 3-2 instead of 5-2. If the Tigers don’t hit then they don’t win. And the Tigers aren’t hitting at all in way too many games.

Even worse news to the Tigers was that the White Sox and the Twins won last night. So now the White Sox are within a game and the Twins are just 2.5 games back. It will be interesting to see when the media catches on and finally calls this a bad trade. I say two more games without run support will make the “media experts” wake-up.

Related posts:

1. MLB: Looking at the American League in Early August
2. MLB: Looking at the American League
3. MLB: Looking at the American League on September 1st
4. MLB: Games Growing in Importance
5. MLB: Rays are The Team to Beat… So Far

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