By The Heckler
Baseball Big Mouth
baseball news 

Look, The Heckler‘ll say right up front - I like Sean Casey – he hit the ball a ton in the post-season last year, is a great teammate and can flat-out pick-it at first – but hitting .252 without a homerun and a mere 10 RBI on May 22nd is a red alert to look elsewhere for a regular first baseman. That cannot be denied. With that in mind, SI.com’s Jon Heyman’s idea for a Troy Glaus acquisition by Detroit from Toronto makes a lot of sense to these ol’eyes. Sure, he would be another right-handed hitter in a line-up stacked from that side of the plate, but what other alternative is there?

“Hee-hee! You ain’t gonna take my job, are ya Troy!?!” 

The overpriced Todd Helton? Does Detroit really need to add another multi-multi-multi million player - and one rapidly in decline at that? Scratch him: he’s owed $92 million through 2012. I know we’re all holding our breath for Texas’ Mark Teixeira to sign-on next year as a free agent (especially after outright gushing about possibly signing with the city last year on local radio) but this year is this year, and the Tigers need some help there — and in a hurry. Would you really want to trade for someone you could have for nothing next year? And no, don’t even think about Chris Shelton as an alternative - the one-month Wonder Kid from last year. He can’t even hit Triple A pitching anymore, either. Thus far? A .260 average and only two homeruns for Shelton. It’s too bad (he looked so good at one time) but it appears his prospect days may be over, all before they really even had begun. That being said, back to the the parent club and what to do at first.

I’d keep Casey regardless if the Tigers picked up someone else. He makes little dough and — at this stage of his career — would surely settle into a Dave Bergman-type role nicely: good lefty backup; nice glove for late innings; good guy in the clubhouse; solid member of a 25-man squad. Just not a starting first-baseman anymore, that’s all. Adding Glaus from a Toronto team sure to start dealing as the reality of another failed season sinks-in could be another nice bat to add to the mix - right side or left side. Would Toronto do a Mike Maroth for Glaus straight-up? Just a thought. You don’t think they’d actually peddle Lyle Overbay, do ya? Hmmm . . .

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007 at 7:45 pm and is filed under The MLB Hotbox, Baseball News and Views, Heckles All Around. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.