Nate Robertson

As the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaches, the question is, will the Marlins ultimately become buyers or sellers? The team is currently 10.5 games out of first place in the National League East Division with the Braves, Mets, and Phillies ahead of them.

Fredi Gonzalez is gone, but the Florida Marlins keep losing ground.

As the Atlanta Braves slowly walk away with the National League East, the Fish remain 10 games out of first, and four games below .500.

With the Midsummer Classic in a few days, Larry Beinfest and Co. must decide whether to become a buyer or seller.

Can the team pull off a win streak and stay in the race?

At this point in time, it appears to be the latter.

They used to be scattered all over the state, particularly in the tri-county area.

The tony suburbs of Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills were popular for them, but towns like Washington and Livonia were home to some of them as well.

Theirs was a time when you not only played baseball for the Detroit Tigers, you stuck around to experience our winter months, too.

If nothing, this was a sign of trust in Dontrelle Willis and Jeremy Bonderman.

Because what the Tigers did on Tuesday—dealing left-hander Nate Robertson to the Florida Marlins for left-hander Jay Voss—was nothing short of a release.

Did anyone really think otherwise?

The Tigers are paying $9.6 million of his $10-million salary this year and are virtually giving the payroll-sensitive Marlins the left-handed starter that they desperately needed.  

When you commit $64 million dollars to three pitchers over the span of two years, there are certain expectations that need to be met.

Take a look at the San Francisco Giants. Their three headed monster of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Barry Zito are making $54.05 million collectively in 2009 and 2010. Last year they won a combined 39 games in 98 starts and struck out 586 batters in 635 innings pitched. Those numbers are produced by, what some regard, the best top end rotation in the league.

If Nate Robertson were a right-handed pitcher, he’d be as expendable as a finished bag of potato chips.

Robertson ought to thank the right-minded God who made him a lefty, because that’s what’s keeping him in the big leagues right now.

The Tigers say that, if worst comes to worst, they’d be happy to venture north with five righties in their starting rotation—if they are the five best, most capable starters.

That’s a bunch of bull excrement.

The July 31 trade deadline is still two months away, a relatively small blip on the radar screen, to be sure, but the trade winds seem to always blow in baseball.

The Detroit Tigers, who many presumed would be weak in starting pitching, may soon have a surplus of hurlers ready, willing, and able to take the ball every fifth day. As a result of this reversal of fortunes, the Tigers may be in the rare position of “selling” at the deadline while remaining a strong playoff contender.

The Detroit Tigers are one of the hottest teams in baseball and are currently in first place in the American League Central Division. After being a major disappointment last year, not much was expected out of them in 2009.

This a group still has a large part of the nucleus that was in the World Series three years ago, but are they for real?

Looking at some of the players they have and the division they are in, I think they are definitely contenders.

In the current economic slump, only the New York Yankees seem to be unfazed by it. A very cavalier off season for the Yankees saw them heap nine-figure contracts upon Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia. Throw in another 80+ million dollars for A.J. Burnett, plus the bloated contracts of Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, and the Yankees, again, will wear the crown for largest payroll in Major League Baseball.