This is Bad News

Talk about your worst case scenario if you are an Indians fan. The Detroit Tigers just pulled off a heist, mortgaged their future, but come out looking like an all star team after acquiring all stars SP Dontrell Willis and 3B Miguel Cabrera from the Florida Marlins for top prospects SP Andrew Miller, OF Cameron Maybin, C Mike Rabelo, and three minor league pitchers. So in the past three weeks, the Tigers have dealt their top two pitching propects in Miller and Jair Jurrjens, their top two position player prospects in Maybin and Gorkys Hernandez. Their minor league system is officially dry.

But what does it matter to Mike Illitch, Dave Dombrowski, and Jim Leyland? They are looking at the best lineup in baseball and a payroll that will approach $140 million dollars. The lineup is deadly. Take a look and puke along with me:

CF Curtis Granderson

SS Placido Polanco

3B Miguel Cabrera

RF Magglio Ordonez

DH Gary Sheffield

1B Carlos Guillen

SS Edgar Renteria

C Pudge Rodriguez

LF Jacque Jones

There are no holes. None. This is sickening on so many different levels. First and foremost, as an Indians fan, our top competition has just gotten a lot better this offseason, while the Indians have done nothing thus far to improve their offense. The meat of the Tiger order boasts two of the best pure hitters in the game in Cabrera and Ordonez along with a great talent in Sheffield. They still have the speed at the top with Granderson and at the bottom with Jones. Guillen and Renteria are known Tribe killers. Sickening/

This move has Illitch's fingerprints all over it. For the last two years, Dombrowski coddled Maybin and made him untouchable. The same went for Miller, their first round pick two years ago who was fast tracked to the majors. Illitch clearly stepped in because he wants to get his title and get out. He is doing his best to buy himself a title in a dying city. Again, sickening.

I said this before, but it bears repeating, the Indians blew their golden opportunity in 07. This was the year. Everything was lined up for them to win it all. The Tigers faded, the Yankees were taken down in the first round in four games. The Rockies were waiting in the World Series. It was all too good to be true. Then they blew the 3-1 lead to the Red Sox. It is so hard to get back to where they were, and it may not happen again with this current group, especially with CC Sabathia just one year away from a free agent deal the Indians will never be able to match. As good as they may be this year, its going to be that much harder to get back with the Tigers looking like they are owned and operated by George Steinbrenner, the Yankees still being the Yankees, and the Red Sox on the verge of acquiring the best pitcher in baseball, Johan Santana. Sickening, dude.

But what sickens me the most is commissioner Bud Selig allowing the Florida Marlins to exist. This franchise should be contracted right now. Every single year, their top players become a year or two away from being free agents, and they deal them away for prospects and the cycle repeats itself. they try to win games with a $10 million payroll in a city that could care less about the team. They have the worst fan base in the game and the lowest attendance in the game by a mile. The ranked 32 out of 32 and only drew 1.3 million "fans," and MLB counts paid attendance, which means 1.3 million fans didn't walk through the turnstyles; that is tickets sold. A September three game series against Washington drew barely 1,000 fans TOTAL. Yet, Selig allows them to exist under these current conditions? That is an absolute joke. If you don't think Hanley Ramirez will be traded in two years when he becomes too pricey you are fooling yourselves.

The Marlins will continue to trot out kids at every position, go through their growing pains, and win 70 games tops with a $10 million payroll, while the Tigers can field an all star team with a payroll over $140 million higher and compete for the same championship? Hilarious. Why even compete if you are the Royals, Pirates, Rays (who should also be disbanded), Twins (once they trade Santana), A's, Rangers, Nationals, or the Orioles? The sport has become the have's and the have-nots. Going into Spring Training, 60% of your teams have no shot at sniffing the playoffs and 80% of the league has no shot at winning the World Series.

I'll tell you what, I'll take the Tigers, Red Sox, Yankees, Indians, Angels, Mets, and Rockies and you can have the field. I bet one of my teams wins the World Series next year. In fact, I guarantee it.

More good news, my Indians ticket prices just went up to $50 each. In 1994 when the Jake opened, the same seats were $16.