This isn’t a huge surprise because as of right now, they’re players who don’t have much of a role on the team (whether justified or not), but Jayson Stark commented that both Chris Shelton and Marcus Thames were Tigers’ players who are on the market. I’m not sure if this is just speculation or whether he knows of something specific out there but I’ve also read that some teams are interested in Thames (as they should be). Keep in mind that a trade isn’t out of the realm of possibility as spring training wraps up. One of the greatest Tiger trades ever (Willie Hernandez and Dave Bergman for John Wockenfuss and Glenn Wilson in 1984) happened in late March. In fact, Saturday is the anniversay of that trade.
I believe there’s somthing in the works.
There are as many teams weak at 1B as there are that need a decent 5th starter. In my mind, Shelton in a package with a servicable pitcher who can start, like Durbin, Grilli, or Miner could fetch us that catching prospect we’ve been looking for.
I’ve noticed that a lot of teams are stocked at catching in the minor leagues while the Tigers system is bare of prospects at that position.
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Completely inept managment here. Both Shelton and Thames should be kept on the 25-man roster, let alone be traded. Ridiculous. Casey is injury prone and not even good in the first place, and all Thames has done is hit for the last 3+ years. The Tigers have absolutely no idea what they have in Thames, a guy whose DOWNSIDE is Craig Monroe, and whose upside is a .950 OPS. These idiots are going to take hacking losers like Neifi Perez north while trying to trade away two of the better hitters in the organization. This is absurd.
--Posted by Dan on March 22nd, 2007 at 12:32 pm