| Curtis A. Clark. 1st August, 2006 - 1:42 am
 Detroit sought dependability and a left handed bat as the Major League Baseball trade deadline loomed. They found both in veteran 1st baseman Sean Casey. Casey an 8 year veteran was acquired in a trade with the Pittsburg Pirates for minor league pitcher Brian Rogers.
Casey will replace struggling Tigers 1st baseman Chris Shelton and be leaned on to provide a steady stick against left handed pitching. Casey, a career .304 hitter, should fit nicely in the bottom half of the Tigers rotation.
Casey having only one year remaining on his contract allowed Detroit to get him for a relatively cheap price in Brian Rogers a pretty average prospect. Casey a 3 time NL all star has spent almost no time on an AL roster in his career. He has however shown 20 homerun and 90 RBI numbers for most of his career, and should be considered a defensive upgrade over Chris Shelton. Comerica Park is not known as a great power park, but it has been a good place for solid average hitters
The Tigers feature only 1 full time left handed bat in their starting lineup, leadoff man Curtis Granderson. Casey along with the Tigers two switch hitters, Dimitri Young and Carlos Guillen, give manager Jim Leyland more options in match ups against tough lefties.
GM Dave Dombrowski should be commended for his control at the deadline. With rumors swirling of division rivals and star outfielder Alfonso Soriano, Dombrowski kept his composure and didn’t feel the need to splash back with a big move of his own. In the end neither Chicago or Minnesota landed Soriano or any other big name. More importantly to Detroit however, they kept all of their coveted minor league prospects and still improved.
Despite Detroit floating on a 8 and a half game cushion in the division they will still need to play good baseball and post an above .500 record to ensure a playoff birth. Detroit can aid its cause by manufacturing more runs with base hits. Sean Casey, who doesn’t strike out a lot and hits for a good average, should help Detroit put runners in scoring positions. The bottom half of Detroit’s order features a lot of low average power hitters in Brandon Inge and Craig Monroe. If Casey can get on base in front of them it will help their averages as well as score some more runs.
You would have to give Dombrowski an “A” for this trade. He didn’t gamble, he didn’t over pay in a sellers market, yet he still got the player he needed. His team stays intact and he didn’t get a player that will rock a ship pointed in the right direction.
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