Motor City Sports

Remember when the Red Wings almost traded Steve Yzerman? It was just before the 1995-96 season, and Scotty Bowman was ready to pull the trigger on a deal that would have sent The Captain to Ottawa for a package built around Alexei Yashin. Obviously, the trade never happened, but on Opening Night, the rumors were still swirling. That night, as the team was being introduced, Bowman got one of the most negative reactions I’ve ever heard from a Detroit crowd. This was a man who is arguably the greatest coach in NHL history and who had just gotten the Red Wings to their first Stanley Cup final in 40 years. But because he wanted to trade Steve Yzerman, he was Public Enemy #1.

I’m seeing the same kind of anger from Tigers fans about stories that Curtis Granderson is on the trading block.

Granderson isn’t close to Yzerman in terms of accomplishments in his sport. Yzerman was a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and probably the fourth-best player in franchise history behind Gordie Howe, Terry Sawchuk and Nick Lidstrom. Granderson’s not getting anywhere near Cooperstown, and he’s lucky if he’s the fourth-best player on the current Tigers roster. He’s definitely behind Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera, and you can make arguments for Magglio Ordonez, Edwin Jackson and Rick Porcello.

That comparison completely misses the point. In his six years with the Tigers, Granderson has become one of the most popular athletes in town. Not only does he look like a great player with his speed and his spectacular plays in centerfield – he’s one of the best people in sports and he does huge amounts of charitable work. That’s the reason that people are upset about this.

I understand the reasons that Dave Dombrowski is shopping Granderson. It’s no secret that Jim Leyland was frustrated with Granderson’s offensive performance last year, especially his increasing inability to hit left-handed pitching, and he’s going to be 29 on Opening Day. For most major leaguers, skills start declining around 30, so what the Tigers see now is probably as good as it will get.

So his trade value today is higher than it will be a year from now or two years from now. Even though he had a bad year at the plate, he was still an All-Star, he’s still considered a top defensive centerfielder and he doesn’t have a huge contract. There will be a lot of teams that are willing to assume that last year was a fluke, and he’s still the player he was in 2007 and 2008.

There’s also the money issue. The Tigers lost fans this year, even while leading the division for most of the season, and the economy isn’t going to be any better by April. The payroll is out of control, thanks to some terrible contracts given out by Dombrowski, and there’s no simple way to fix it. They aren’t going to trade Miguel Cabrera, and no other team is going to take on the eight-digit salaries of Ordonez, Dontrelle Willis, Jeremy Bonderman and Nate Robertson. That means, to save any money, you have to get young, cheap players in exchange for the guys a little lower on the salary ladder – Granderson, Jackson and maybe Brandon Inge.

On the other hand, when do you start cutting off your nose to spite your face? Sure, the Tigers could get a ton of prospects for those three players, and that might be a good idea in the long run, but how much damage does it do in 2010? The Tigers still drew 30,000 fans a game last season, but they can’t count on that. Remember what the crowds looked like in 2002 and 2003? How long do you think it will take to get back to that level if they decide to rebuild next season, and do it without two of their most popular players in Granderson and Inge?

I’m not saying the Tigers shouldn’t listen if a team makes an offer for Granderson. After all, maybe the Cardinals have gotten bored of watching Albert Pujols crush baseballs. The Royals might have decided that they are destroying Zack Greinke’s soul by making him play for the worst organization in the sport. If Detroit gets offered one of those two players, I suspect the fans would understand if they made the trade.

(By the way, one of the persistent rumors has the Tigers talking to the Yankees about a trade that would feature Joba Chamberlain. Joba is going to end up as a reliever. With his stuff, he’ll probably be very good at it, but do you really want to make a major deal for a pitcher that the Yankees only trusted in middle relief in the postseason? They were desperate for a fourth starter and refused to use him, even though he made 31 starts in the regular season. That’s a massive red flag. It’s not at all hard to see Joba Chamberlain turning into Fernando Rodney, and I suspect no Tigers fan would trade Curtis Granderson for Fernando Rodney.)

If they are going to do this, they need to do it for the right reason. Trading Curtis Granderson because it makes a lot of sense on the baseball field might be acceptable to the fans. Getting rid of him in a fire sale would be a very bad idea.