By Phil Rogers, Chicago Tribune –
CHICAGO — Checkmate?
That’s not a word you really can use in baseball, especially not on July 24. But the Tigers’ trade with the Marlins for Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante on Monday, a day after sweeping the White Sox in a weekend series that changed the division leadership, definitely puts Robin Ventura’s team in a “check” situation.
Sox general manager Ken Williams doesn’t need to top the move, not after making a badly needed one himself Saturday when he added Brett Myers — and the Infante pickup was chasing Williams’ acquisition of Kevin Youkilis — but the Sox have to start playing better. That’s the only way to protect their king in a situation that has gone from deluxe to dire in a week.
You knew Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski was going to make a major trade at some point. He always does, with owner Mike Ilitch bankrolling his moves in an unconditional way that doesn’t require him to try to find outside help to meet his payroll commitment.
In acquiring a solid middle-of-the-rotation arm in Sanchez and filling his team’s one huge void at second base with Infante, Dombrowski has given manager Jim Leyland the kind of help his buddy Tony La Russa got about this time last year in St. Louis.
The Cardinals added Edwin Jackson, Marc Rzepczynski and Rafael Furcal in moves that paved the way for their World Series parade. It feels like the Tigers made that same type of midseason adjustment on an intriguing Monday in which the Cubs and Braves apparently agreed to a Ryan Dempster trade — pending Dempster’s approval — and, in a true stunner, the Yankees got Ichiro Suzuki to waive his no-trade rights to come to Yankee Stadium.
While Ichiro, 38, has been sliding for three seasons, it thrills me that he’s going to be wearing pinstripes. I’ve always loved watching him — who doesn’t? — but felt he has been a hugely wasted asset since the Mariners stopped being competitive. It will be highly entertaining to see his idiosyncratic style and still-impressive speed on display with the Yankees, who will use him to replace left fielder Brett Gardner.
There was thought that GM Brian Cashman would go get Shane Victorino or Denard Span, but instead he nabbed Ichiro, shortly after former Mariner Jay Buhner was widely quoted as saying he would “vomit” if Mariners management played to Ichiro’s popularity by giving him a contract extension. Does Ichiro have anything left? We’re going to find out.
To make this deal even more fun, the Yankees are in Seattle. Ichiro played for the Yankees on Monday night, joining Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez to give manager Joe Girardi a trio of hitters who had combined for 8,613 career hits. That’s crazy.
It took two midlevel pitching prospects for the Yankees to get Ichiro, while the Tigers sacrificed their top pitching prospect, Jacob Turner, to land Sanchez (eligible for free agency after the season) and Infante. Dombrowski has long had a mandate to get the Tigers back to the World Series in the lifetime of Ilitch, 83, and this trade follows the offseason signing of Prince Fielder as a step in that direction.
In winning 13 of 15 through Sunday, the Tigers climbed from third place in the American League Central, 41/2 games behind the Sox, to first, 11/2 games ahead. They are starting to look like the powerhouse they were expected to be in spring training before they limped out of the gate 25-31.
The pressure’s on the Sox to show they can hang with the Tigers. It’s imperative they win against the Twins, whom they play six times in a nine-game stretch that started Monday. Otherwise, they will be in serious trouble.
The Cubs’ Dempster deal remains a tentative proposition, pending Dempster waiving his 10/5 no-trade rights. Theo Epstein must be very nervous about whether it will go down, as the Cubs reportedly are receiving right-hander Randall Delgado, 22, in the package.
That’s exactly the kind of trade Epstein and Jed Hoyer have been trying to pull off, leveraging a veteran in the last year of his contract to get a young, live arm with staying power. It’s a good move, but it could be blown away by an offer the Cubs may have on the table.
According to the MLB Network’s Jim Bowden, the Cubs also are working toward a deal that would send Matt Garza to the Dodgers for a package of players, including Zach Lee. That will be huge if it happens, as Lee, 20, is a front-line pitching prospect, the kind teams almost never deal.
During the offseason, the Tigers held serious talks with the Cubs about Garza but wouldn’t part with Turner, a 2009 first-rounder who throws in the mid-90s and received $5.5 million to sign. But Ilitch’s thirst for postseason success — and the 4.13 ERA of the Tigers rotation — caused him to be deemed expendable. The Dodgers are ambitious too, and if they’re willing to deal Lee, the Cubs need to make that happen.
