Deal of the Century?

The Tigers just positioned themselves to head back to the World Series for the second time in three years, and the Marlins have once again bagged themselves a goodie bag full of prospects that should make them a competitor within three years.

While neither club has confirmed or denied anything as of yet, MLB.com and the rest of the baseball world are reporting that the Florida Marlins have traded Miguel Cabrera AND Dontrelle Willis to the Tigers for SP Andrew Miller, CF Cameron Maybin, C Mike Rabelo, and THREE OTHER pitching prospects.

What will trouble most people right off the bat is that none of the players the Tigers are giving up will seem familiar to anyone, and I myself must admit that of the three named players I only know Miller specifically, Maybin vaguely and I have no idea who Rabelo is.

But's let's focus on what I do know. Andrew Miller is widely regarded as one of the best young pitching prospects in baseball. As far as I'm concerned he is the "Hanley Ramirez" of this deal, and could pay similar dividends for the Marlins. Maybin is an OF prospect with a cathedral high ceiling, but never got much chance to play in Detroit with Granderson setting season records and Magglio making a run at the MVP. And like I said, I have never heard of Rabelo before in my life. And then there's the matter of the THREE OTHER pitchers yet to be named. I'm sure the Fish did their homework on those guys, as they are the masters at acquiring minor league talent.

In Miggy and Dtrain, the Tigers have given themselves one of the most lethal offenses in all of baseball AND potentially one of the most well rounded rotations as well, depending on how quickly Willis can adapt to the American League and bounce back from a down year in general.

By combining Willis with Cabrera, the Marlins were able to turn what would have been a monster return for Miggy into a Global Thermonuclear package of 6 prospects. Not a bad idea, considering Willis' trade value is the lowest it's ever been.

And of course, scratch off one more starting pitching option for the Mets, who seem to be more desperate than ever.