https://twitter.com/CJNitkowski/status/543051898186903552

From HardballTalk:

“UPDATE: Alex Speier of the Boston Globe says the Red Sox will send two additional players to the Tigers. Which makes this deal make more sense.

9:40 AM: The Tigers and Red Sox are pulling off a big trade according to Fox’s C.J. Nitkowski: starting pitcher Rick Porcello to Boston in exchange for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes.

Porcello is a perfect fit for Boston who, as you may have heard, is in the market for a starting pitcher. He’ll turn 26 at the end of the month but he already has six full seasons as a starter under his belt. In those seasons he’s 76-63 with a 4.30 ERA and 655 strikeouts and 263 walks in 1073.1 innings. Those numbers have a lot of learning curve built into them, however — he started extremely young — and a lot of TERRIBLE Tigers infield defense over the years, which has hurt the groundball-heavy Porcello a lot. In 2014 he was outstanding, going 15-13 with a 3.43 ERA and 129 strikeouts against 41 walks in 204.2 innings.

Cespedes certainly has pop, an arm built for a big outfield like the one in Detroit and the potential to uncork an excellent season, but his on-base percentage — .294 last season, .316 in his three seasons, heavily weighted by his first one — is a major problem. Also: Comerica Park is not going to be the best place in the world for his home run stroke.

Both Cespedes and Porcello have one year to go before free agency.”

Sit down. Take some deep breaths. Count backwards from 30. You with me? Good.

This trade isn’t nearly as scary as it seems. You could argue it actually helps the Tribe. Yeah, Yoenis Cespedes is a pretty big name. Even the casual baseball fan remembers him for the shows he put on in the past couple Home Run Derbys, and for throwing runners out with the Moonraker laser he has attached to his body. He’s a monster of an athlete and he hits bombs. I’m not denying that. But he’s posted an OBP of .301 and .294 the past two years, both seriously underwhelming. His 5.4 BB% last year was downright awful, and 6.4% the year before that isn’t much better. The guy has struggled to get on base, simple as that. His fly ball % has gone up each of the past three years (40, 46, 48), yet his home run/fly ball % (14.8, 14.4, 9.6) has gone down. This trend should continue with his new home park dimensions in Comerica. And I have zero stats or actual facts to back this up, but there were rumors swirling around Boston that he’s a big giant asshole. I just got giddy picturing him and Miggy getting in each other’s faces in the dugout. Sure, on the surface a lineup that has Kinsler, Miggy, both Martinez boys and Cespedes seems scary. But Kinsler has been on a decline and I just don’t think there’s any way either Martinez has the year they did last season.

Cespedes is certainly an above-average player. He’s just not the STUD a lot of people make him out to be. But the Tigers getting rid of Porcello is FANTASTIC news. He’s been pretty average, some might say below average during his 6 year big league career. But the guy is still only 26 years old and seemed to turn a corner last year, winning 15 games with a 3.43 ERA and three complete game shutouts. He’s always been a ground ball pitcher and the Tigers have (mostly) always had a below average infield defensively. The Tigers should have their defensive wizard Jose Iglesias back at short this year.  And he always seems to shove it up the Indians’ ass.

Not to mention the fact that, if the Tigers do lose Max Scherzer to free agency, they’re going to have to replace about 425 innings and 33 wins in their rotation. That, on top of their abysmal bullpen makes me pretty confident the Tribe can go toe-to-toe with them on any given night, something they haven’t been able to do in the past two years/ever.

But if they do resign Scherzer, or this Johnny Cueto to Detroit rumor materializes, disregard this entire blog, turn all the lights off and curl up in a corner. Jk. Kinda.

KEEP THE CHIEF