This Winter in Baseball, Part 1

In this series of posts I'll be tackling some offseason moves I've found interesting. I'll do a few transactions at a time, and in a few days I'll get to the Giants and A's, and how they look going into 2010.

So...here we go.

In a three team deal, the Yankees sent prospects to both Arizona and Detroit in exchange for Curtis Granderson. The Tigers recieved CF prospect Austin Jackson from NY, and RHP Max Scherzer and LHP Daniel Schlereth from Arizona. They then sent P Edwin Jackson to Arizona.

Arizona sent the two young pitchers (Scherzer is the obvious key to the deal) in exchange for Jackson from Detroit and RHP Ian Kennedy, a former first round pick out of USC I believe, from New York.

Essentially, the Yankees filled their center field hole with Granderson in exchange for a pitcher (Kennedy) who will end up at the back of a rotation, and a medium-level prospect (Jackson).

The Tigers sent Jackson, who has been overrated for, like, ever, in exchange for a younger, cheaper, and probably better pitcher in Scherzer. They got a cheaper hopeful replacement for Granderson in Jackson. They also got two lefty relievers, hard throwing Schlereth from Arizona, and LHP Phil Coke from the Yankees. They could have perhaps gotten more for Granderson, but did well to get value from the very fungible Jackson.

However, and this is important, they are also counting on Scherzer to stay healthy and remain in the rotation. Scherzer could become apart of, along with Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello, a trio of young and hard throwing right handed hurlers to front the Tigers rotation for the 2010s. But he needs to stay healthy, as we'll see in a second.

The team that this deal doesn't make sense for is Arizona. They sent Scherzer and a solid prospect to the Tigers in exchange for Jackson and Kennedy. Jackson has been around forever, and will be a free agent after 2011. More importantly, while showing flashes of brilliance, he has also had years of pointlessness. Kennedy, oft injured, is a strike thrower, without overpowering stuff. While I can appreciate someone who lacks the 'stuff' of an ace, but throws strikes nonetheless, Kennedy is no star. Scherzer will be better than both, and more importantly, will be under club control for much longer than Jackson.

Commentators have pointed out that perhaps Arizona thinks Scherzer will become a reliever. If this is true, it certainly makes more sense. However, I definitely think they shipped upside for two pitchers that certainly are not sure things. As I pointed out earlier, Jackson put up a 5.76 ERA and 88 walks just three years earlier for Tampa Bay.

In short, the Yankees got a good-if-not-great player in Granderson (who was certainly an upgrade on what they had) in exchange for two solid-if-not-spectacular prospects.

The Tigers received one of those prospects, a pair of lefty relievers, and also got the best player in the deal, Scherzer, in exchange for Granderson and an inconsistent Jackson.

The D-Backs shipped two young pitchers away in exchange for one pitcher nearing free agency and another who threw just 24 innings in all of 2009.

You make the call.