Tradeline Heartbreak, or the Friendly Ghost Floats out of Detroit

I'm a bit late to be talking about tradeline news, but I'm always late on the blog posts, as I am in life.

So, the Tigers picked up Doug Fister before the trade deadline, and that's great. We desperately needed another solid starter, instead of pushing rookie after rookie into the fifth spot, or, worse yet, turning a good relief man into a bad starter. That's like turning a Coke into a Pepsi. No one needs a Pepsi starter. So, I'm happy to welcome Fister. Hell, he's probably thrilled, since he's had no offensive support from the Mariners.

I was happy until I found out who we were trading. I knew we'd offered up Furbush and two ambiguous prospects. (Um, we traded Furbush for Fister--the twelve-year-old in me can't stop giggling.) Well, stop laughing. This is far from funny. One of those prospects was Casper Wells. Nooooooooo!

He hasn't been great for the Tigers in 2011, but he's more than a solid outfielder, and his bat has a lot of potential. I started collecting him over the winter, perhaps because he's from Grand Rapids, which is about an hour away from me. Hometown pride and all. Plus, he has one of my favorite names in baseball. Anyway, I picked up this auto over the winter:

Snagged it off ebay for around $3 shipped. Casper has a great sig, this interesting spiral going on with a strike threw it. It's unique, the kind of sig a collector could dig.

I picked up this one a few weeks ago:

This one is numbered 12/199. I did a best offer on ebay of $2.50 shipped and was surprised when the seller instantly accepted it. I was thrilled to get this card, but now, what do I do?

Do I become a diehard Fister fan? Do I trade off my Casper collection?

Nope. I'll stick with the guy. He's still a Michigan native and a player I enjoy watching. Really, this trade will likely be the best thing that could happen for his career. Now he'll get more play time, not having to compete with a Tigers line-up full of consistent sluggers. The Mariners need his bat, and they'll use him. It's kind of a similar situation to Scott Sizemore, who went to the A's earlier this year. Since leaving the Tigers, Sizemore is hitting a career best .236 with 5 home runs and 27 RBIs in 182 at bats. In 39 at bats with the Mariners, Casper already has 4 home runs and 14 hits, batting a zany .359. OK, maybe he's not so much like Sizemore, because he's really blossoming into some great numbers. 

So, maybe what's heartbreaking for me is best for Casper. I'll stick with you, Casper, and keep on collecting. I'm sure he was pretty nervous about losing me as a fan.

Any Mariners fans reading my blog? How happy are you guys to have Casper?