Almost daily, ..no .. ..definitely every - single - day ..I continue to see and read an enormous number of negative & resentful posts on numerous Detroit Tiger discussion sites where (so-called) Detroit Tiger fans are very disgusted (even angry, as if loathing in self-pity) that the Detroit Tiger current total 'rebuild' is now in its 4th year since DD traded David Price, Yeonis Cespedes, and Joakim Soria in July 2015 for Daniel Norris, Matthew Boyd, Michael Fulmer, and Jacoby Jones.
In regard to folks who redundantly (ad-nauseam) complain that the rebuild began in 2015 and the Tigers have made very little to no clear progress in 4 years ..what they fail to understand is that David Price, Yeonis Cespedes, and Joakim Soria were all going to become Free Agents after 2015 anyway ..that is, unless the Tigers were willing (and stupid enough) to add even more very high-priced long term contracts than they already had. Indeed, David Price signed a 7yr/$210m contract with the Bosox ..Yeonis Cespedes signed a 5yr/$137.5m contract with the Mets ..and Soria has earned $31.5m over the past 4 years. .. And lest anyone 'conveniently' forget, the Detroit Tigers already had Justin Verlander @ $28m/yr, Miguel Cabrera @ $30m/yr, Victor Martinez @ $18m/yr, and Anibal Sanchez @ $16.8m/yr.
Thus, taking a look back at those 3 trades back in July 2015 ..research reveals that since beginning of 2016 season up to today (salaries through end of 2019) ..Price, Cespedes, and Soria have accumulated a combined 19.9 WAR at a $260.1m price tag. That = $13m/WAR. ... .. Correspondingly, Fulmer, Boyd, Norris, and Jacoby have accumulated a combined 22.2 WAR at a $11.2m price tag ($0.5m/WAR.) Yes, $13m per war vs a mere $0.5m per war! Hmmmm? Why do the chronic complainers not look at and consider the actual research ..and at least attempt to understand???
OK .. considering those statistics above ..and in my humble opinion ..trading Price, Cespedes, and Soria was not part of the current 'total' rebuild. Rather, a very good case could have been made (and still can) that DD and the Tigers at that time may have actually increased the Tiger's 'then-window-of-opportunity' for long-term success by acquiring 4 highly regarded youngsters in Fulmer, Norris, Boyd, and Jacoby Jones.
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Further evidence that suggests that the 2015 trades were not part of a total rebuild is the fact that while the Tigers traded David Price, Yeonis Cespedes, and Joakim Soria before they could bolt for Free Agency and left the Tigers with nothing to show for it ..or could have cost the Tigers upwards of $65m/yr to resign them IF the players would have accepted (Price & Yeonis wanted out anyway) ..the Tigers then went out and signed Free Agents Justin Upton, Jordan Zimmerman, Mike Pelfrey, Mark Lowe, and K-Rod during that off-season. Irregardless of the fact that only the JUp signing was a success (until they traded him less than 2 years later) while..the Zimmerman, Pelfrey, Lowe, and K-Rod signings were absolute disasters ..the Tigers shelled out approximately $64.375m/yr for various number of years for those Free Agents. Basically, by trading Price, Cespedes, & Soria, they shed $65m/yr in salaries and acquired 4 highly regarded young prospects in Fulmer, Boyd, Norris, & JJones ..then added $64m in salaries for JUp, JZimm, Pelfrey, K-Rod, and Lowe in the hope the then-Tigers might still bring a World Championship to Detroit. Indeed, at the time ..by going into the 2016 season with a roster that included Miggy, VMart, JDMartinez, JUpton, Kinsler, Iggy, Nick Castellanos, CMaybin, JVerlander, Zimmerman, Anibal Sanchez, Fulmer, Norris, Boyd, K-Rod, AWilson, ..., it is abundantly evident that the Tigers fully expected to compete for a World Championship for the 2016 season.
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To be clear, I contend that the current total rebuild is very different from what DD did when he traded Price, Cespedes, and Soria ..and that the current total rebuild did not truly begin until July/August 2017 when they traded JD, JUp, JWilson & Alex A, and JV.
