Whether or not this is a good signing depends entirely on $$$.

I disagree because, barring further moves, it means they are choosing Casey over Thames, Shelton or Infante. I think choosing Casey over any of those guys would be a mistake. He's good for at least one injury per year and if they choose him over Shelton, they don't really have another first baseman on the roster. Choose him over Thames and you don't have a fourth outfielder (besides Gomez or Clevlen). Choose him over Infante and Neifi is your only backup infielder.

The only way this mistake is lessened is if they aren't done dealing and bring in a truly solid hitter in the 1b/lf/dh mold (Catalanotto?).

They'll probably deal Thames or Monroe or Shelton.

If anything, they've got a potential decent platoon in Shelton and Casey.

Projection 486 65 144 28 0 11 74 41 58 1 .296 .360 .422

I'd be shocked if Shelton comes anywhere close to that.

I was on the fence about this till this (from DTW):

UPDATE 2: Sean Casey is here to be the starter. That was made very clear by Dave Dombrowski who indicated that Chris Shelton would need to earn his way on to the team in spring training and would otherwise be optioned to Toledo.

Dombrowski also said that the starters appear to be set and he isn’t looking to make any more deals for starting players.

So, yeah, this sucks. We're an injury away from last year's offense.

If that ZIPS projection has any likelihood of reflecting likely performance, there should absolutely be a Casey/Shelton platoon next year. That gives Shelton a year to work the bugs out of his swing before assuming the position full-time in 2008.

The only way this mistake is lessened is if they aren't done dealing and bring in a truly solid hitter in the 1b/lf/dh mold (Catalanotto?).

like gary sheffield?

If you look at the mlb.com shop, Sheffield will apparently be wearing number 3. That's so wrong.

They already had Sheffield, and they've already said he won't play first base. Not to mention Sheffield doesn't seem to high on the idea of playing first base, either. I'm actually a little less opposed to this after finding out they're sending Shelton down to Toledo. At least that way they can keep Infante and Thames on the roster. It also means if (when) Casey goes down, they can just plug in Shelton.

Shelton still has a minor league option, so he can be shuttled back at least once. Casey at (reported) $4m is A) less than he cost last season and B) perhaps a *big* bargain based on rumblings about how silly the money is going to get this offseason. Signing Sheffield and Casey early may look very, very smart once the Soriano, Lee, Drew contracts cross the finish line.

Having a minoe league option is good for the whole year - so Shelton can get real familiar with the Toldeo - Detroit commute.

For one year and 4 million (more than the combined lifetime earnings of groups of primates but chump change in MLB) its an OK deal.

I have to think if Shelton is tearing up AAA and Casey is hitting .265/.330/.360, they'll make a switch. Dombrowski knows what he's doing.

If they don't sign Casey, then they take a risk that Shelton can't come back to his 2005-April 06 form, and then if they want to make a trade they've got to trade value from somewhere else.

Ugh. I can't wait to see Craig Wilson's ZiPS.

Thinking of the Sheffield trade, I'm wondering if Cashman ###### this one up a bit. Stockpiling young arms is great, but I wonder if Shelton could have been had. He's a great defensive 1B, and a RH bat.