Cabrera, Willis to Detroit for Six Prospects

Word is the Florida Marlins are sending Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for a six-player package, including super-prospect OF Cameron Maybin and LHS Andrew Miller along with four fringe prospects.

This seems like a pretty solid package for the Marlins. One can never be certain what other offers were on the table for the Marlins with the two LA clubs, but neither seemed willing to offer multiple, upper-echelon young players.

In Maybin the Marlins get the Tiger’s first round pick in 2005. He projects as an athletic, speed-power outfielder with a high ceiling–his knowledge of the strike zone still needs work. He will likely start the year in AAA and step in to center or right field for the Marlins by mid-season. Miller was the consensus top-talent in the 2006 draft, but fell to the Tigers at 6th overall due to his high asking price. Miller pitched out of the rotation for Detroit in 2007, but his command was never where it needed to be and he struggled at the big league level. Still, the 6′6″ lefty projects as a potential ace and should make major improvement this season, his second full season of pro-ball.

Of course, the Tiger’s acquisition of Cabrera is huge news as he will likely step in to replace Brandon Inge at third and bolster an already strong offensive team trying to dethrone the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central. I don’t have to sit here and go over how good Cabrera is. His numbers speak for themselves and won’t be affected playing in spacious Comerica park as Dolphin stadium is also vast. If anything, Cabrera will instantly become a perennial MVP candidate, stepping into a strong contending team.

The Marlins also included Dontrelle Willis into package, shedding his salary, which will increase in his final year of arbitration. Willis was included, like Mike Lowell in the Boston deal, as a player coming off of a bad year. Willis, as a pitcher, is durable (200+ IP last three seasons) but relies too heavily on his deceptive delivery and not enough on pure stuff nor on command of his pitches but a move to a new team and a good ballpark may see him return to a league average lefty starter.

I see this as a major boost for the Tigers who now are the team to beat in the AL Central and a decent return for the Marlins, netting two potential super-stars. I have to wonder if they might have been able to get more and should have in a deal with the Dodgers. The “other four guys” included in the deal don’t project for much beyond a decent starting pitching prospect and a decent relief prospect as well as 27 year-old catcher.