:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/23671659/20130909_jel_ae5_048.0.jpg)
The Ian Kinsler/Prince Fielder trade between Texas and Detroit has generated a huge amount of discussion from around the interwebs, so here is another roundup of reactions and analysis...
Over at Grantland, Jonah Keri writes that this is a good trade for both teams. His use of those newfangled stats upset Chuck Cooperstein, though:
Talk about your esoteric stat. @jonahkeri comes up w/something called "isolated slugging" http://t.co/3ZvGhP3HkW" #watchthedamngame
— Chuck Cooperstein (@coopmavs) November 21, 2013
Those statheads with their newfangled stats like "isolated slugging" (which I first read about in the 80s in one of Bill James books). That tweet led to an amusing exchange between Cooperstein and Keri. Personally, I think if you're going to use "watch the damn game," you shouldn't turn around and reference the stats that you like, such as RBIs. But that's just me.
Joe Posnanski offers his thoughts, though the focus is on the mistake that was the Prince Fielder contract, with Joe calling the financial obligations due to Fielder (even with the subsidy from Detroit) "radioactive."
Jamey Newberg's report today is about Ian Kinsler, Prince Fielder, and Breaking Bad.
Dave Cameron looks at the deal from the Rangers' standpoint, and he's less than enthused, even though he believes that Kinsler had negative value, given his contract.
Craig Calcaterra says this deal is as much about past mistakes -- specifically, Detroit's mistake in giving Fielder that contract, and Texas's mistake in trading Chris Davis and not finding a suitable first baseman since dealing Mark Teixeira away -- as anything else.
Over at Baseball Prospectus, Sam Miller thinks folks are focusing too much on the potential downside of this deal for both teams, and are ignoring that each team got a really good player...and while the players are heading for decline, we shouldn't assume they are going to decline so rapidly that their deals won't seem reasonable compared to other free agent signings this offseason.
Peter Gammons calls this trade coming together "The Perfect Storm," with Detroit having too many good 1B/DH types and Texas having too many good MIFs.
Buster Olney lists out the winners and losers of this deal, and calls the Tigers and the 2014 Rangers winners, while saying the 2015 and beyond Rangers are losers.
Jeff Zimmerman at FanGraphs analyzes the trade from a fantasy baseball perspective.