Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner, For All?

In the offseason before 2010 the Detroit Tigers made a trade that confused their fans, me included. They dealt fan favorite, model citizen and player Curtis Granderson to the New York Yankees. Edwin Jackson a young starting pitcher coming off an All-Star appearance was dealt to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Detroit was also coming off a season where they missed the playoffs by one game. But in hindsight maybe it wasn’t terrible. The Tigers needed to save money and dealing players in Granderson and Jackson who both had big numbers next to the money symbol they did just that. They got four guys who the casual fan hadn’t really heard of. They got top prospect and likely Granderson-successor, centerfielder Austin Jackson. Also coming over from the Yankees was reliable relief pitcher Phil Coke. The Diamondbacks sent over two young pitchers in fireballer Max Scherzer and relief arm Daniel Schlereth, who was probably best known then as being former NFLer Mark Schlereth’s son. But like I said, in hindsight it wasn’t bad. Jackson was Granderson’s immediate predecessor and finished second in rookie-of-the-year voting in his first year. He has also established himself as one of the game’s more reliable centerfielders. Scherzer has won double digit games in each of his two years in Detroit, and Coke and Schlereth are both vital parts of the Tigers bullpen. The financial side of the deal looks good as well seeing as they used part of the money to sign closer Jose Valverde who has been a huge part of their success this year.
The Diamondbacks side of the deal is that they got their ace in pitcher Ian Kennedy from the Yankees, along with Edwin Jackson, who after throwing a no-hitter, was spun into Daniel Hudson, their current number-two pitcher. The second Jackson deal came a la the Chicago White Sox.
The Yankees got what they needed, a centerfielder, who not so coincidentally fits the Yankees style of out-slug-the-other-team almost every day of the week. The Yankees did part with nice young players like Kennedy and Jackson, but they preferred Phil Hughes to Kennedy and thought that Granderson was obviously a better fit than Jackson.  The Hughes preferential seemed to work out as he posted double digit wins in a breakout year, but then fizzled this season as the Yanks went with a more patched up rotation.
So enjoy your chicken dinner Detroit, Arizona and New York.

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