For the D-Train's sake, he had better hope not. For those who didn't hear, Willis was sent down to class-A Lakeland last night. Not because he was injured, but because the nine million dollar left-hander was demoted.
Remember the Winter Meetings of 2007? There was a blockbuster trade that went down. The Florida Marlins traded Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera for Andrew Miller, Cameron Maybin, Burke Badenhop, Dallas Trahern, Eulogio De la Cruz and Mike Rabelo.
At the time, the Motor City was about to paint 2008 World Champions on Comerica Park and people criticized the low market Marlins for trading their franchise away in Cabrera and the left-handed Willis, a former 20-game winner.
Well, here was the part people didn't realize. One, Willis finished the 2007 3-12 in his last 15 decisions. That's not good. Two, Cabrera was gaining weight, and although moving to the American League would allow him to DH, this isn't beer league softball, he's going to get pitched to and it's not going to be soft-tossed to see if he can hit .340 again.
The problem with players getting enormous salaries is that they don't have to try anymore. They are in a comfort zone because they get the money no matter how bad they play.
For example, Barry Zito. Zito signed for $18 million a year for seven years. The Giants just assumed he would pitch like a Cy Young Winner for the next seven years. The money is guaranteed, the effort or results are not. So far, Zito has made Giants GM Brian Sabean look like the biggest sucker in the game. Zito was hideous last season and started out this year 0-9 before breaking his losing streak to Scott Olsen and the Florida Marlins on May 23 in Miami.
Here are the blockbuster players:
MIGUEL CABRERA
Certainly, Cabrera would be the one player who would come through, because after all, he was tagged as one of the best hitters in the game and almost certainly would be in Cooperstown after watching him hit over .300 for four seasons.
Through June 11th, Cabrera is "crushing" .278 with 8 home runs and 38 RBI. He's tied with Curtis Granderson for second in home runs on the Tigers. However, Granderson is a lead-off hitter who was injured for parts of this season. His .278 average is currently 32nd in the American League. This is a guy who rarely fell out of the Top 10 in the National League, a pitching heavy league. By these standards, Cabrera is projected to hit 20 homers and knock home 97. And they paid him what?!!!
DONTRELLE WILLIS
Willis is currently one of the toughest pitchers to hit against in the American League. In 11.1 innings pitched this year, he's only allowed seven hits and opponents are hitting a mere .189 against him. Of course, it's kind of hard to hit a guy who can't find the plate. Why are opponents only hitting .189 and have seven hits? It's because he's walking the entire ballpark. Willis is 0-1 with a 10.32 ERA and has issued 21 free passes as opposed to five strikeouts. He's thrown 265 pitches, 127 for strikes (48%).
NOW THE MARLINS...
ANDREW MILLER
The prize of the class so far and that's not saying much. The highly-touted all-American out of North Carolina is 4-5 with a 5.65 ERA in 63.2 innings this season. Opponents are smacking a .310 average when he puts the ball in the vicinity of the plate. On the other hand, he did beat Greg Maddux keeping the future Hall of Famer from his 350th win on May 4th. He also threw seven scoreless innings against Washington (2 H, 7 K) May 10th and against Arizona (2 H, 9 K) on May 22nd.
CAMERON MAYBIN
This guy couldn't make it out of Spring Training on the roster, but was supposed to cover everything from Miami to Naples in the outfield. In fact, thank god Maybin wasn't a Rule V or the Marlins would have had to send him back for half price. So far in Carolina (AA), Maybin is hitting .264 with 12 HR and 29 RBI. He does have five triples and is 13 of 16 in stolen bases, but he's struck out 79 times already. Lead-off hitters on pace for 170 strikeouts in a season rarely provide the results MLB teams are looking for.
MIKE RABELO
Rabelo was the added switch-hitter to lend some support behind the plate to go with Matt Treanor. I can't say Rabelo hasn't come through with some big hits... he has. Just not a ton, as he's tallied a .214 average with three homers and 10 knocked in.
BURKE BADENHOP
Badenhop was supposed to have a killer sinker. After getting rapped in one outing, the Palm Beach Post headline was, "Rookie's Sinker is a Stinker." Not the kind of press he was hoping for. Badenhop is 2-3 with a 6.00 ERA in 12 starts covering 45 innings.
DALLAS TRAHERN
Dallas, seen wearing a Lakeland Tigers jersey here, would probably be better suited for Class-A ball. In Albuquerque (AAA), Trahern is 1-5 with a 7.23 ERA in eight games started. Opponents are batting .302 against him in 42.1 innings.
EULOGIO DE LA CRUZ
I remember when the hard-throwing De La Cruz was called on to start Game 5 of the Florida State League Championship (seen above). He was solid for four innings, one more inning than he lasted in the Major Leagues this season (3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 1 K). In Albuquerque, De La Cruz wasn't bad (7-3, 3.92 ERA, 12 GS, 66.2 IP, 51 K) but, as you can see, the promotion was about a half a shot of cappuccino without the caffeine... instead of a full cup of coffee.
ANALYSIS
People may wonder who got the worst of this trade, or if there even was a team who got screwed over worse than the other. Maybe even "BOTH". Bright spots are hard to come by.
Yes, Cabrera is healthy and on pace for 97 RBI, but for his contract, they were expecting a Pujols-like .330-30-100 every year, no questions asked. Most likely more.
Miller and Maybin were supposed to start in Florida and play a full season. Miller, more on the side of 10-11 wins; Maybin on the roster all season. The southpaw can probably still make it, and is a fan favorite of the Fish Tank, providing them with several opportunities for souvenirs this season.
I can sum it up in these facts on who got the better end of the deal:
-The Marlins unloaded two guys demanding big contracts and were able to sign their future star Hanley Ramirez (.304, 15 HR, 32 RBI, 16 SB) to a multi-year deal. The deal was signed May 18th. In June thus far, Ramirez is hitting .324 with 5 HR and 8 RBI
-The Marlins are in second place in the N.L. East, three games behind first place Philadelphia and six games over .500
-The Tigers are fourth in the A.L. Central, 10 games behind Chicago and 10 games below .500
-The Marlins are three games behind St. Louis for the N.L. Wildcard
-The Tigers are 10.5 games behind Tampa Bay for the A.L. Wildcard
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