Nationals acquire Doug Fister from Tigers

[captkirk42]

  Why was Lombo part of this deal? Hate to see him go. I hope Fister is worth the 3 players we got him for.

[PC]

Olney weigh in.  He's not impressed.

• The Nationals landed Doug Fister in a trade with the Tigers, and there was a lot of surprise in the industry because Fister has been one of the better pitchers in MLB in recent seasons and because Fister wasn't perceived to be widely marketed. The perception of some talent evaluators was that the Tigers should've gotten more in return. Fister, said one evaluator, "is good and he's cheap and under control, and it's been shown that teams are starved for starting pitching."

There was some regression in some of Fister's numbers last season, with his fastball velocity down a bit; the OPS of opponents climbed from .698 to .781. Some of that could be related to the Tigers' defense; the opponents' batting average on balls in play against Fister was a whopping .332.

You wonder if this is a case of the Tigers seeing some cracks and wanting to make a move early, rather than too late. But Dave Cameron writes here that there's an easy comparison between Fister and James Shields. And it should be noted that Fister has absolutely dominated NL opponents in his career, posting a 2.04 ERA in 79 1/3 innings with a strikeout rate of 21 percent.

The trade is not being received well by Tigers fans. Drew Sharp writes that Dave Dombrowski deserves the benefit of the doubt. Dombrowski made it clear that the Tigers aren't cutting payroll.

Robbie Ray is the key to the deal for the Tigers.

Detroit is betting that the 22-year-old Ray will refine his control. His numbers in the minors:

2011: 38 walks, 12 hit batters and 8 wild pitches in 89 innings (3.8 BB/9)

2012: 49 walks, 11 hit batters and 13 wild pitches in 105 2/3 innings (4.2 BB/9)

2013: 62 walks, 10 hit batters and 8 wild pitches in 142 innings (3.9 BB/9)

Detroit's priority now is landing a closer, and some Tigers evaluators have indicated to others they prefer Brian Wilson to Joe Nathan.

[PowerBoater69]

Olney weigh in.  He's not impressed.

Too late, Nats fans have already declared the trade a steal. 10,000 gifs can't be wrong.

[houston-nat]

Woke up and remembered this happened.

(Image removed from quote.)

wait this isn't a gif

[PC]

Olney mentions that Fister's velocity is down.  He fails to mention that Scherzer, Porcello and Smyly's velocities were also down.  Not to mention Verlander.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

You wonder if Dombrowski sees Ray's curve as a swing and miss pitch and is looking for more of a fly ball pitcher than the Nats want.

link here is to his splits from minor league central.

his GB percentage this past year was around 41% at both levels and, in his good 2011 and bad 2012, was even lower.  His Swinging strike percentage jumped back up to 18.5% this year after taking a dip in 2012.  Dombrowski may see him as a fly ball pitcher who will eventually be tough to take deep if he can just get a bit more control, and with a curve that allows him to get by with less velocity on his fastball.  that probably fits his team and park well, although with Kinsler and Iglesias up the middle and Fielder disappearing, Tigers infield defense should be much better the next few years.

[Optics]

Acquire a solid SP for what is essentially three spare parts players(though I like Krol)? Great trade.

Stras, Gio, JZimm, Fister, Det/Jordan/Ohlendorf...best pitching staff in MLB easy.

[PebbleBall]

Olney weigh in.  He's not impressed.

I think you're taking it a bit far to say he wasn't impressed.  I think he was looking at the trade impartially for both sides. 

[GSW]

Rizzo better find some bats to help Fister..

I like the trade... Better than what we had last year .. and at 6.8 the ball has got to look faster than 89mph

   Now lets see what he does for run production.

[Slateman]

The Fister trade will really pay off if Zimmerman is healthy. He's a GB pitcher. He should thrive with a better defense.

[PC]

I think you're taking it a bit far to say he wasn't impressed.  I think he was looking at the trade impartially for both sides. 

I was being a bit sarcastic, however, he did focus his analysis positively for the Tigers or negative for the Nationals.  He's the first person I've read (and I've been searching around) that questioned Fister's status.

[shoeshineboy]

DD can say he isn't cutting payroll but clearly he is removing financial liabilities. Moving Fister makes sense from a sell high standpoint if you know you will get less in return in a walk year anyway and know you are not going to ink a guy to a long term deal. The question is really on the haul received in return. He is banking on upside from a prospect. But it looks like the Tigers are looking to dump salary and reinvest in youth. Meanwhile the Nats made exactly the trade they should make.

[CurlyW4lyfe]

I need to learn photoshop so I can put Strasburg, Gio, Fister, and Jzimm into this 

[cmdterps44]

[PC]

dschoenfield David Schoenfield

Just wondering: Maybe AL contenders offered more for Fister but Dombrowski wanted to keep him out of the AL?

I actually thought this, just wanting him out of the American League, assuming the offers were close.

[PC]

Schoenfeld also refutes Olney's comments:

dschoenfield David Schoenfield

Re: Concerns about Fister's fastball velocity. Actually allowed lower slugging pct in 2013 despite BA 32 pts higher.

dschoenfield David Schoenfield

Increased average was all singles driven, which perhaps hints at Fielder, Cabrera playing behind him.

[RL04]

Harper and Werth going on the shelf and LaRoche sucking sucked more life out of the team than Espinosa did.

There was enough blame among all of them to go around.

[PowerBoater69]

That also increases the urgency to move Zimmm to first.

[RL04]

Well this was a nice trade.

Still cant score runs though.

Truth.

Having "one of the best rotations in MLB" is nice but unless their names are Koufax or Gibson, we still need to score some runs.

But, as others have said, the off-season isn't over yet.

PS: This also does hurt our bench and I will miss Lombo.

[Jedgi]

Olney mentions that Fister's velocity is down.  He fails to mention that Scherzer, Porcello and Smyly's velocities were also down.  Not to mention Verlander.

How is that relevant to this trade?

[imref]

[color=navy

PS: This also does hurt our bench and I will miss Lombo.[/color]

I really don't think that Lombo gave us anything that one of Walters, Kobernus, or Espinosa can give us.

[imref]

I need to learn photoshop so I can put Strasburg, Gio, Fister, and Jzimm into this 
(Image removed from quote.)

curlyw4lyfe has me on ignore.

[RL04]

[Mr Clean]

More good news today, Rizzo says Rendon and Giolito were and are off limits. I was worried about nothing last night.

[imref]

Saw this on mlbtr:

Before acquiring Ian Kinsler, Detroit was offered Howie Kendrick from the Angels in a deal that would have included Fister, MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez tweets, but declined that option.