Tigers Trade Star Players In Deal Seen By Some As A Salary Dump

Writer Says Tigers' Trade Of Granderson And Jackson Suggests Team Surrendering '10 Season

The Tigers yesterday traded CF Curtis Granderson and P Edwin Jackson for "question marks" in a deal that "certainly resembles a team that already has surrendered the 2010 season," according to Drew Sharp of the DETROIT FREE PRESS. The team's "bloated payroll" left President, CEO & GM Dave Dombrowski with "no alternative but maximizing the worth of his few affordable contracts, converting them into a bushel of prime but unproven talent." Tigers Owner Mike Ilitch in recent years "thought he could buy a title." It reflected the "passion of a man who desperately wants to bring a baseball title to his hometown, but unfortunately let his emotions cloud his business judgment" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 12/9). In Detroit, Bob Wojnowski writes the Tigers can "call it whatever they want, but this is a salary dump for a batch of prospects." It reflects a "sobering reality of the economy in Detroit." The Tigers have "spent freely in recent years and it just bit them -- hard." The team yesterday took a "wobbly short-term step backward -- while requesting a leap of faith from the public." If he is being "completely honest, Dombrowski will admit money forced his hand" (DETROIT NEWS, 12/9). Also in Detroit, John Lowe notes with a "bloated payroll in a region with a reeling economy, Tigers officials looked at 2010 and decided they couldn't have as many big salaries as this past season" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 12/9). The DETROIT NEWS' Lynn Henning notes Detroit "got rocked harder than any major metropolitan area" during the economic recession, and the Tigers "became an inevitable casualty." Henning: "So now we have this: a baseball team in a bind" (DETROIT NEWS, 12/9).