To paraphrase Edmund Burke, all that is necessary for evil to triumph is . . .

. . . for your general manager to trade your 28-year-old all star centerfielder with the cheap long-term contract to the New York Yankees.

Granderson had a bit of a down year in terms of batting average, and he has a pretty huge platoon differential, which could be a problem playing for a team that sees more than its share of left-handed starters, but the guy could hit 40 homers in his new park (two years ago he hit more triples in a season than any player since WWII). He’s also a very good centerfielder who has made a lot of spectacular catches, although he did have a few odd lapses last season.

The Tigers do get a good young starter who isn’t eligible to be signed by the Yankees for five years so that’s something.

Arizona gets a petrified starfish and two complementary copies of Going Rogue.

Update: After looking at Scherzer’s peripheral stats and his minor league numbers I don’t hate this trade as much from Detroit’s perspective. He could definitely be a star in the making, although a 24-year-old starter with a great arm and an impressive MLB rookie year will end up disappointing you more often than not. Arizona on the other hand basically gave away their most valuable young asset for next to nothing.

UPDATE the second [by SL]: See also Dave Cameron. Like Cameron and update-Paul, I don’t think this trade is a disaster for the Tigers; they need to dump some payroll and Scherzer arguably has the highest upside of anyone in the trade. I’m not sure I would have made it, but the D-Backs are the real suckers here. But, of course, as someone whose primary interest here is Yankee-hating I’m appalled. It wouldn’t be strictly accurate to say that the Yankees got an excellent CF for nothing, but Jackson is a classic overrated Toolsy Yankee Prospect (TM); he’s young enough to improve, obviously, but he also had 4 homers and a .350 OBP in a full season of AAA. In other words, he has much more potential to be the new Melky Cabrera than the new Bernie Williams. You just knew the Yankees were going to find some idiot to overpay for his inflated reputation when they figured out he was nothing special, and sure enough. Arrrrrrrgh.

UPDATE the third [SL]: Neyer is a little more optimistic from the Tiger POV. Obviously, this comes down to whether Austin Jackson is a legit A prospect. And I just don’t see it; unless he’s an outstanding CF I just can’t see a .350 OBP with no power in AAA, even at 22, as an impressive performance. He’s young enough to have upside, but I don’t see him as exciting at this point.