The Detroit Tigers are letting it be known that center fielder Curtis Granderson is available for trade. Several teams are rumored to be interested in Granderson including the Cubs, Yankees, and Angels.
The Cubs are rumored to have the most interest and are willing to give the Tigers a prospect-laden package built around 19-year old shortstop prospect Starlin Castro. Castro still has some maturing to do physically but he recently turned heads by hitting .388 in the Arizona Fall League and has hit .301 in his three years at the minor league level. The book on him is that he is an above average defensive player has tons of upside but needs to add a bit of muscle to play at the major league level.
I am not sure this is a guy the Cubs should be targeting though. From a defensive perspective he improves the outfield, but, he does little to upgrade the team offensively. Granderson struck out 141 times last season and they already have 3 guys who struck out over 100 times and Milton Bradley struck out 95 times in 124 games. Granderson also only hit .249 last season and the Cubs, as a team, hit just .255. Granderson, however, is a career .272 hitter
Newsday’s Ken Davidoff writes Granderson prefers to play for the Yankees who reportedly have an interest in his services as well. If the Yankees were to land Granderson it would mean that either Johnny Damon or Hideki Matsui would not return to New York next season. In all likelihood Melky Cabrera would move to left and either Damon or Matsui, likely Damon, would be retained as the DH.
If the Angels grab Granderson it would likely mean the end of Vladimir Guerrero’s days in Anaheim. The Angels are rumored to want Granderson to man left while moving Juan Rivera to DH. With the team recently re-signing Bobby Abreu it would make free agent Guerrero the odd man out. Given Torii Hunter was just awarded another Gold Glove earlier this week it seems unlikely they would ask him to change positions.
What makes Granderson so attractive to teams is he is an above average defensive player who can hit 25 to 30 homers and has a rather modest contract that runs through 2012 with a team option for 2013. The contract tops out at $10 million with the option being worth $13 million.
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