The Tigers acquired shortstop Alex Gonzalez from the Orioles for infielder Steve Lombardozzi, tweets Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun.
Lombardozzi, 25, hit .259/.278/.338 in 307 plate appearances for the Nationals last year, appearing at second base, left field, and third base. He was traded to the Tigers in December along with Robbie Ray and Ian Krol for Doug Fister. Lombardozzi is a Maryland native whose father spent parts of six seasons in the Majors. The move gives the Orioles added infield depth in light of third baseman Manny Machado starting the season on the DL. The Orioles added Triple-A depth yesterday with their waiver claim of David Adams.
Gonzalez, 37, was in Orioles camp as a non-roster invitee. Gonzalez had signed a minor league deal with Baltimore in January, and put together a strong line in 30 spring plate appearances. Gonzalez provides another option for the Tigers for the injured Jose Iglesias, who will begin the season on the DL and will miss likely significant time with stress fractures in both shins. The Tigers acquired infielder Andrew Romine from the Angels two days ago.
The Tigers' return for Fister, already seen around the game as light, takes a further hit with Lombardozzi being swapped for an expendable player like Gonzalez.
No, No, No, No!!!!
I refuse to accept this.
This guy can still play and clearly could have helped us.
Drat, Drat, Drat!
Really? A week into the season and Gonzalez would have been history. I’m impressed we got someone with Lombardozzi’s skills for a guy we signed on a minor league deal.
Lombardozzi is better than Gonzalez in virtually every area except maybe defense. The only knock is that Gonzalez is primarily a shortstop. The O’s needed more immediate help at 2b/3b than a back up SS. Lomardozzi can also hit pretty decent (backup player, not a starter), could have a future with the club beyond this year. Gonzalez has no future beyond this year, if he even lasts more than a month.
Are you serious? We hustled them and struck when they were vulnerable and in need of a SS. We traded a 37 year old minor league signing from two months ago for a local 25 year old player with major league experience who is under team control for multiple years. HOFbardozzi is our opening day 2B.
Let’s not push things. Lombardozzi should not be a starting 2B anytime soon with Baltimore. I like him as a utility helper who can handle 2B & 3B and 1B in an extreme pinch — nothing more. If he’s starting for the O’s, something has gone dreadfully wrong with Schoop, Flaherty, and Weeks.
Schoop’s down for the first few months because we’re cheap. Weeks is down because he’s bad. That leaves Flaherty, another utility type. Maybe two backups = 1 full timer? Don’t see it in either player’s batting line, though.
Schoop’s down for the first few months because his defense needs work.
Lombardozzi is our opening day 2B, while Flaherty moves over to cover 3B until Manny returns. He will move to a utility role once Manny is back, and IF Schoop hits AAA pitching for the first time in his career then he may get sent down. That would also have to include Flaherty not playing well. Either way, he is solid depth for next off season if Hardy walks.
Lefty I love you man, but you are getting senile.
That’s cause I am old! =P
Plus, I am over it.
However, A Gon had a very good spring, I wanted to see him succeed with the O’s rather then someone else.
Im old too. Look at Lombardozzis minor league stats you’ll feel better. Also he’s a local guy grew up in Columbia, MD.
World Series!!!
Are you being sarcastic? The Os look really good this year and so do the Tigers.
The Tigers have a strong team. But they haven’t made themselves better this offseason, and this move doesn’t help any.
Tigers have a pretty high payroll and look good at just about every position. They were like the second best team in the American League last year. They haven’t made all of the right moves, but this one is of no consequence at all.
Scott Boras isn’t a happy man this morning.
Bahahahahaha
I am so confused with Dombroski this offseason. Normally hes the man and one of the best GMs, but this offseason it doesnt feel like he has as much reign of the team as previous years.
Owner getting old, probably looking to sale, told Dombrowski to slow down!!
Illitch was old 20 years ago. The son took over as CEO of Illitch holdings and rumors around here for a while say that he wants nothing to do with the sports teams. Bring in Gilbert when Illitch goes…..keep this team looking forward
Will agree there, though they did shed Fielder’s salary and get Kinsler.
This means they virtually gave away Fister and will have to massively over pay to keep Scherzer, or lose him after the season. Keeping Fister would have been valuable insurance.
Boras just turned down a 20 million dollar deal.
They’re not going to be able to keep Max
I agree….very puzzling moves.
They really should have made an effort to keep Peralta.’
Nats and Os fan here…. orioles just picked up their new starting second baseman without a doubt, lombo can play
haha no its schoops or flaherty’s job for sure
Flaherty is probably gonna start third wit manny on the DL, and I wouldnt be against starting Schoop the way he’s hitting but I feel they dont want to bring him up this early for financial reasons… Switch hitting second baseman with potential to lead off if needed, cant go wrong wit lombo
Hope the poor guy didn’t sell his house in the Baltimore/DC area only to find out he was headed back that way. That seems like a lot of moving for one offseason!
He is from MD.
oh in that case, welcome home.
This is ridiculous
DD’s offseason looking better and better. Getting a decent utlity/possible starter for a guy that was given just a spring training invite
It took me a minute to realize which team and GM with the initials DD you were talking about. Your description could almost go both ways aside from the ST invite part…
Why didn’t the Tigers just wait a few more days? With team’s facing a roster crunch before opening day guys like Gonzalez were probably going to show up on the waiver wire.
I agree that they should have waited a few more days, I would have waited but they probably didn’t want to DFA someone. Not sure why Lombo was given up but, oh well.
Maybe somebody like Gonzalez, but not Gonzalez. Buck looked to keep him on the roster and we would have cycled through all the 2B candidates who have options — Flaherty, Schoop, and Weeks.
Panic. He knows he can’t win without a decent SS, and is too stubborn to sign Drew because he is mad at Boras for negotiating so hard over Scherzer. He should check his emotions and do whats best for the team.
Awful trade. At least Lombardozzi showed potential to contribute. Gonzalez is past his prime (if he ever was considered ‘prime’ for this position), and him at SS is just as good as our options in Perez and Worth. Just simply wasted a new pickup, and this makes the Fister trade look even worse.
What’s going on in management, Detroit?!
The best I can figure out is that shipping Lombardozzi out on a major league contract and bringing in Gonzalez on a minor contract lessens the expense if it does not work out..
I too think DD has lost his marbles. We have made 2 trades for SS that are in my my mind, not better (defensively or offensively) than our internal options. And yet we have a huge whole in our bullpen with Rondon down. I would have rather gone with Danny Worth at SS and made 2 trades for relief pitchers.
Not really a fan
Lombo wasn’t anything special, but he could play multiple positions in a utility role. Gonzalez played a full season full time 3 years ago and hit .241/.270/.372 which is awfully close to his career numbers.
Very meh. The OBP is way lower than I’d like.
alex gonzalez looked pretty good in SP, but any time we swap a 37 year old for a 25 year old, especially one with upside like lombo, im good with it. saw him when he played for the nats.
Old guy for young guy is always-almost- a win, but I don’t see what Lombardozi has that Flaherty doesn’t have.
Guarantees that Schoop and Weeks don’t make the team, too.
With Machado on DL most likely at least one of those two will make it though since Flaherty will probably start 3rd
Which is ridiculous. Schoop best available 2B in the org. Service time.
Weeks makes the team to start, since Flaherty and Lombardozi will start at 2b and 3b with Machado out. Plus Flaherty doesn’t hit lefties, so they probably brought Lombardozi in to platoon. Once Machado returns from the DL, Weeks is probably demoted.
but this is Flaherty has that Lombardozi doesn’t: Strikeouts. Just look at both of them’s career strikeout rates, Lombardozi is a way better contact hitter than Flaherty.
Just when you thought the Fister trade couldn’t get any worse…
There it is! I got my requisite morning internet laugh. Now I can start working.
Trade makes a lot of sense for the Tigers, not so much for the Orioles. With Flaherty, Schoop & Weeks they could’ve covered it for the time being. When Machado is back they won’t have a place for 2 of those 3 and will be looking to trade at least one of those players and they’ll have to hope the market is in their favor.
We traded a 37 year old SS we signed a two months ago on a minor league deal for a 25 year old player with major league experience that hit .300 down the stretch last season and has options and several years of team control. Detroit got worked because they were desperate. Without even considering needs, trading a 37 year old who was going to be cut in a week for Lombardozzi is a deal you make every time.
Right I was going to say all of those players have options so if anything it is just going to be added depth
And the sad thing is they had an easy option in Drew. Sure, it costs them a pick and some cash, but odds are the guy they gave up for Agon is a better player than they get from the pick given most picks are busts.
only problem is, this leaves an odd man out on the orioles after manny comes back. most likely lombardozzi starts 2B and flaherty starts at 3B with weeks as utility. then when manny comes back, flaherty to 2B and lombo becomes utility and weeks is gone. schoop starts in AAA. due to his back injury last year he really only played a few games at the AAA level. it wouldnt hurt to get some more polish.
maybe theyre loading on 2B players so one of them can move to 3B next year when manny takes over SS
Exactly. Looks like they’re setting up for the potential situation where Hardy leaves at the end of this season.
Don’t forget Brett Wallace who might be able to play 3B. He has in the past and I’m wagering he’ll start there down in Norfolk this year to see if he can handle the job full time.
Stop right there. You’re overlooking one major factor in all of the infielders you’ve mentioned — they all have options. Weeks, Flaherty, and Schoop all have options and my bet is that Buck plays the hot hand all year long as needed. If Schoop flops, he goes down and Flaherty steps into the starting lineup. If Flaherty is needed elsewhere or is floundering, Weeks gets a shot. Right now Lombardozzi is the only one who will probably be kept on the 25-man all year long as the backup to Machado at 3B and whomever is handling 2B at the time. All others have options and they will be used liberally this year.
Guess we had to do something to ensure Don Kelly makes the team…./rollseyes.
I can’t picture the Tigers without him.
Don Kelly should be the LEAST of your worries
Considering what was involved in this trade, the sarcasm of my comment should’ve been crystal clear. Apparently it was not, and I apologize.
Quite a puzzling off-season for Dombrowski.
He needs a Captain but he is MIA due to age
I think DD grab what he could with Lombardozzi because I think he was going to get cut.
Gonzo would have been cut too. Non-roster invitee. Money saving move, that makes DD look better than he would have, if he just simply cut Lombo. He can’t hide from the Fister trade, and now that it’s looking more and more likely that Max is gonna hit FA, DD is left holding a fist full of cash, and a baseball team with numerous gaping holes. I love what DD did in the past, but this off season has been an absolute disaster for a team that was supposed to contend for a WS.
The sky isn’t falling quite yet. The Tigers are still the clear-cut best team in the AL Central by a wide margin.
Nowhere in my post did I say “the sky is falling”. I’m just calling a spade a spade. When you ship off Doug Fister for nothing, then lose your starting defensive star SS for the year, your 8th inning man, and presumably future closer, for the year, and 1/2 of your LF platoon, that amounts to a disaster in my book. That all said without including the Scherzer situation, where everyone knows the writing is on the wall; that Scherzer is gone after this season, and that suddenly our starting rotation next year is looking much more human than the past 2-3 years.
I’d love to agree with your assessment that we are still the best team, and by a wide margin, but I don’t think it behooves me to discount the Indians and Royals, and the teams they are going to field this season. I think the AL Central race will be far more competitive than you believe.
The Nats’ deal for Fister looks more and more like highway robbery.
Meanwhile, with Profar out for up to half the season, might the Rangers sign Stephen Drew after opening day to avoid losing a draft pick to the Bosox?
They would still have to give up a draft pick. The only way they wouldn’t have to give up a draft pick is if they signed him after the draft in June.
Especially with Andrus elbow situation that I have a sneaky feeling might need TJ Surgery despite the clean MRI (MRI’s don’t always detect tears in the UCL)
Wow this is unreal.Getting a 2B for someone who was not going to make the team. looks like this is Hardy last year.Weeks is looking like a flop
Tigers cutting salary to sign Drew
Gonzo is on a Minor League contract, and Lombo is making close to league minimum. The savings, if any, are negligible.
Maybe the tigers just didn’t think too highly of Lombardozzi for now or the future, so they send him to his hometown team and got a veteran venezuelan ss for the bench…and everyone is happy.
Don’t get this deal from the Tigers point of view, really.
They need a SS and don’t want to spend on Drew. Thats all you need to know. They still don’t have a SS who can play the position adequately at much more than replacement level.
Alex Gonzalez hasn’t been “adequate” in a long time, why waste time and a roster spot on him?
Or trade a decent MI/UT guy for him?
As a Royals fan, I approve of this trade.
I always liked Lombardozzi when he was with the Nats. And we don’t need a 37-year-old. And Weeks is looking like a throwaway, so Lombo could be the 2B until Schoop is ready or Machado comes back and moves Flaherty to 2B.
Roster spot…I’m not saying it will happen..just thinking like a GM.
so the Orioles fared almost as good as the Tigers in the Fister trade last Nov.
Feels like an over reaction.
Whats going on in Detroit this offseason?
Starting to wonder if they’ll even win their division this year. Are the royals using the imperious curse on DD? (Harry potter)
Ridiculous trade for the Tigers…..
Very bad offseason overall.
Tigers sifting through the garbage bin for a meal when there is a medium rare sirloin on the table for 13 million or so. LOL. Too bad the Tigers owner is MIA as this is a boat without a clear direction. Tigers need to go all out this year because when Scherzer, Hunter and V-Mart are gone they will have too many holes. Agon has had a nice spring but he is not the answer
The Tigers are clearly no longer making serious strides to win it all. Perhaps the owner falling into ill health has changed the tone; the team no longer has a “win at all cost” mentality. Maybe they decided that approach did not get them the brass ring, but at least it got them close in recent years. The roster has taken a nosedive in this off-season, due to bad trades and injury. A team with three of the better players in the game–Miggy, Verlander and Scherzer, plus an assortment of other good players, should be pushing for something more.
So basically we got nothing for fister…Our bullpen is a mess..and I hate to say it we really need Stephen drew…he would sure up the middle defence and has range to help with costollanos..let’s face it nicks glove is below average..don’t get me wrong it’s time to see what he can do..I think in the batters box this year he will be a beast…and for the love of god we need to part ways with Phil Coke he is washed up with a 79mph fastball…I feel this year on paper we aren’t as good of a team as last year…I feel that without pulling the trigger on Drew we will lose about 10 more games then last year..and with our division getting better and better I don’t see us winning the pennant. ..or the wild card for that matter..I hope I’m wrong! Please give me your thoughts
This Trade is not as bad as everyone thinks, the guy has decent power, something we have been short of. He hit 23 Home Runs in 2010 and 15 in 2011. Now that he is healthy, I would expect around 15 home runs again, if not more. Andrew Romine will often defensive sub and/or Pinch-Run in late innings kind of like in the playoffs when Jhonny Peralta started at ShortStop and Iglesias would sub for him later for defense. Also, the Tigers had no use for Steve Lombardozzi, as Danny Worth is a very similar player. They did, however, need some power. However, the Fister trade was still an absolute disaster.
How many teams carry three head coaches?