Imagine the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers are playing Go Fish. They both happen to have the same two cards in their respective hands: a seven and a ten. If they don't trade with each other, then neither team can get a pair and their cards will be worthless. But if the Tigers send their seven to the Rangers, and the Rangers send their ten to the Tigers, then both parties would have a pair and be better off.
That's the simple beauty of the Prince Fielder for Ian Kinsler swap that was finalized earlier in the week: mutual benefit. We typically think of trades as zero-sum games: upgrading one area of a roster demands a downgrade in another, and one team's improvement requires another team's decline. But in this case, a trade made two rosters unequivocally better off than they were before.
The Tigers and Rangers matched up so well for this trade because both were dealing with a significant logjam at different positions. For the Tigers, their issue was at the corner infield spots. They were committed to Fielder at first base for seven more years (and $168 million), and with Victor Martinez locked in as the designated hitter, Miguel Cabrera was stuck playing third base. There were a few major problems with this configuration that made it unacceptable:
1. Playing third almost certainly took a toll on Cabrera's health last season.
2. Playing Fielder and Cabrera at the corners every day makes for a truly miserable defensive infield.
3. Shoehorning Cabrera in at third blocked the Tigers' elite hitting prospect, Nick Castellanos, another third baseman.
4. The huge financial obligation to Fielder -- the source of this logjam in the first place -- may have prevented the Tigers from making other significant moves, like re-signing the reigning Cy Young winner, Max Scherzer.
The Rangers, meanwhile, had a similar positional bottleneck. Theirs was in the middle infield. They had awarded large extensions to shortstop Elvis Andrus and second baseman Ian Kinsler, keeping both under contract for the next four or five years, minimum. But those two commitments left no spot for top prospect Jurickson Profar, who's also under team control for the rest of the decade. Without a trade, the Rangers may have been forced to permanently move either Kinsler or Profar to the outfield. Not only would that have been a vastly inefficient use of resources -- it also may have kept the Rangers from signing the good-hitting outfielder that they need.
So the Tigers needed to trade a corner infielder and the Rangers needed to trade a middle infielder. It just so happened that each team also had a need for the asset that the other team was trying to dump. The Tigers didn't have a second baseman after Omar Infante's free agency, and could have used a defensive upgrade there. The Rangers had a gaping hole at first base -- they just gave 500 plate appearances to Mitch Moreland, who hit .232 with a .299 OBP. The solution, then, was too simple: the Rangers sent Ian Kinsler to the Tigers in exchange for Prince Fielder (along with $30 million to offset some of the difference between their contracts).
Immediately, both teams are in a much better place. The Tigers can now move Cabrera back to first base, protecting his health. They're a lot more flexible at third base: they can use Castellanos there, or sign a free agent like Stephen Drew. Either way, that's a significant defensive upgrade. So is the addition of Kinsler at second. Suddenly, the Tigers have a more-than-competent defensive infield. And they saved money in the process. Instead of paying Fielder $168 million over the next seven years, they'll pay Kinsler about $62 million over the next four and send $30 million to Texas. That's upwards of $70 million saved, which can be used toward a Max Scherzer extension or a free agent like Drew, Carlos Beltran, Shin-Soo Choo, or a closer. So the Tigers protected their star's health, upgraded at second base, drastically improved their infield defense, opened up third base for their best hitting prospect, and gained some long-term financial flexibility. Giving up Prince Fielder's hefty contract was certainly worth all that good stuff.
The trade had a similar impact on the Rangers. Which is the better infield: Elvis Andrus, Ian Kinsler, and Mitch Moreland, or Elvis Andrus, Jurickson Profar, and Prince Fielder? Exactly. Upgrading from Moreland to Fielder is significant, and the presence of Profar means that losing Kinsler almost doesn't even matter. Plus, they're not paying the sticker price for Fielder. Though he's owed $168 million over the next seven years, the Tigers are assuming $30 million of that total, along with the $62 million contract that the Rangers once owed Kinsler. So ultimately, the trade will only add about $76 million to the Rangers' existing financial commitments. In exchange, they made a huge upgrade at first base for a discounted price, opened up second base for their top prospect, and kept left field open for a potential free agent signing, like Jacoby Ellsbury. They dealt from their position of strength to address their most glaring weakness.
The Tigers had a square peg and round hole; the Rangers had a round peg and square hole. They just swapped pegs, and both teams got better. But the trade does not come without risk -- especially for Texas. Although Prince Fielder is just 29 years old and one of the most durable players in the game, his 2013 season was alarmingly subpar: a .279/.362/.457 line with 25 home runs, roughly comparable to what Adam Lind and Mike Napoli did. Because Fielder is a miserable defender and baserunner, his bat is the only source of his value. If 2013 was indicative of a larger trend, and Fielder really is in the midst of a steep offensive decline, then he's useless dead weight who's owed $138 million over the next seven years. In that scenario, he's about to become the most undesirable contract in baseball.
The Rangers are gambling that Fielder's down season was just an aberration, perhaps influenced by his divorce. The promise of a move to hitter-friendly Arlington offers additional hope for a return to his former self. If the Rangers are right, they just got one of the game's most elite and durable sluggers at less-than-full price. If Fielder really is declining, then they just acquired one of the most toxic assets in the sport, and what looks like a win-win deal today could eventually be perceived as one of the most lopsided trades ever.
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