However I will say this.....I was on a one-person campaign for Dave Dombrowski to sign Felipe Lopez in Free Agency once he was lingering on the market DEEP into the off-season. His price dropped like a Mafia-hit victim in Cement Shoes even though he had a really productive season last year. He signed in STL for a measly $1.2M w/no compensation required beyond it. He plays 4 positions and over the last two seasons had really become a much more viable offensive threat. There have been whispers over time about his character and motivations....but for $1.2M he's cheap and cut-able, you can cut ties on a miscreant at that price if there was validity to those concerns. My hunch is that stuff is overblown and something that may just be dogging him from some early career attitude issues. His game has gotten better with age, I bet his maturity level has as well. Too bad Dombrowski passed on this Lopez opportunity, as did 28 other clubs. It would be disappointing to see him having a panic-attack about Sizemore at this early stage. It should also be stated again that Stark's report could be all rumor mill garbage as well and the Tigers aren't really worried about Sizemore. It could be Dombrowski just doing the due diligence of talking about everyone who is available.
On the Nate Robertson front.......he pitched well versus the Yankees B-squad yesterday. This could only help incrementally in finding a trade partner if that indeed is what Dombrowski is up to according to reports. Nate now has 19 K in 19.1 IP, so his "stuff" is looking solid right now. In my opinion clubs like the D-Backs, Dodgers, Cubs, Astros, Mariners, and Mets are all possible targets with a couple of other possibilities out there.
The big question is what will Dombrowski be looking for in return for Nate? To me, it all comes down to how much of Robertson's tab he's willing to pick up. If they are happy to merely clear the spot on the roster and pay half to 2/3rds of his salary I don't see them getting much of a return, perhaps even the dreaded "PTBNL". If they'll pay nearly all of his salary I could see them getting a better player in return. Or they could do a salary-match trade and take some other bloated deal in return to match Robertson's cash.
Personally? I'm leaning toward keeping Robertson. He's throwing well and the Tigers need the pitching depth. Getting a backup catcher or a middling middle infielder doesn't thrill me. Heck, Robertson posted a 3.68 ERA during his short stint in the rotation last year, it was his bullpen work that torpedoed his ERA overall. I think he's relatively viable. We'll just have to see what Dombrowski can work out.....one thing we know is that Dombrowski has gotten the better end of the deal on the majority of trades he's worked in Detroit, at least in my opinion. So I'll rarely say "You CAN'T trade so-and-so" because ol' Dave might just shock us. (the Renteria Trade Debacle notwithstanding! LOL)
For what it's worth....Stark also was reporting the Tigers were shopping Brad Thomas. This makes some sense. The Tigers have a fair amount of lefties in the system right now and Thomas has no minor league options left. A club like the Rays may need a lefty for their bullpen for instance....so I can see why Dombrowski would be trying to see if Thomas has any cache' on the market right now.
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