I despise fan concocted trade proposals

I know that the Tigers' bullpen is in dire need of fixing. That a honest to God, slam the door set up man, and a closer that actually K's batters more than once a week is needed.

Unfortunately, too many fans think they are good GM's. They believe they know more than Dave Dombrowski. Go to any message board, or listen to any local sports talk radio, and you'll see/hear some version of the following...

Let's trade Craig Monroe for Eric Gagne.

They should trade Marcus Thames for Akinori Otsuka.

Cameron Maybin should be traded for a relief pitcher. (Seriously, there was an actual thread on Motownsports.com proposing this exact thing)

Trading this man won't get you Eric Gagne. It won't even get you Eric Cartman

In response, I have just this to say...

Enough of the laughable, asinine, idiotic trade suggestions, people!

Has anyone checked the stats of Monroe or Thames recently? I like Monroe as much as anyone, but he's had an abysmal year. As of today, Monroe has an OBP of .281! That's point two eight one. That's ugly. It's outright embarrassing. Sure, he has 41 RBI, but that's more in thanks to the Tigers offense being so good that scads of baserunners are in scoring position, than anything Monroe has done.

I'm confident in stating, as sure as all Hell, that Craig Monroe isn't going to get you a quality relief pitcher. Monroe isn't going to get you quality anything. The fact that Monroe is still in the Tigers lineup on a daily basis is baffling. His trade value is nil.

Thames hasn't been much better. His OBP is .286. That literally sucks. Thames might be a little more valuable than Monroe, thanks to his prodigious power, but his stats say he's just about as bad.

To think that either player is anything more than a throw in when it comes to a trade is being delusional.

To gauge trade value, just look back to what the Tigers received in the Mike Maroth deal. I can be sure in stating that Maroth, who was a number 4 or 5 starting pitcher on a contender, is more valuable than a struggling to get on base corner outfielder. Yet Maroth was worth only a PTBNL, and we've been told that player is not going to be of the Cardinals' top prospects.

Shoot, the Tigers got more in return from Atlanta for Wil Ledezma. At least Macay McBride has major league experience, and has the potential to be a good LOOGY. Odds are the PTBNL is going to be minor league roster filler.

So if the Tigers are going to get a legitimate relief pitcher, it's going to take a very good prospect(s), and/or a major league player. Right now, Monroe and Thames can't be considered as such.

I'm afraid that to fix the bullpen, it's going to take a (gulp) Nate Robertson, along with one or more of the likes of Dallas Trahern, Jair Jurrgens, Gorkys Hernandez, someone that's considered a honest to God prospect by both the Tigers and their trading partner.

In other words, fixing the bullpen is going to hurt.

Trading the likes of a Monroe, Thames, Infante, Grilli, or Seay isn't going to hurt the Tigers, but they aren't going to get the needed help, either. Unless they are part of a larger deal that has a player that losing will be painful for the Tigers. Such as Robertson, or one of those valuable prospects.

So I ask all of the wannabe GM's out there, please think before you talk. You are just showing your baseball ignorance by proposing such blatantly one sided deals.