Mailbag: Granderson and the MVP

You're talking about two different situations in two different leagues. In the American League, there was Alex Rodriguez, then Magglio Ordonez, then everybody else, and Granderson was lost in the shuffle. He arguably had a good case to finish higher than he did, but he wasn't going to be in the top three, not in this league and this season.

Rollins was leading off for a team that reached the postseason, he's a more established player, and he was seen as the biggest contributor to his team's offense. Add to that the fact that he also had bigger numbers in the glamour categories -- runs scored, home runs and RBIs -- and he had a stronger case in the National League.

In the years before the homer era, many, many players stole 25 or more bases without being caught at all. Since Sam Jethroe's 35-for-35 season in 1950, however, nobody has done it, and just four players have stolen at least 25 bases while being caught just once, according to research on baseball-reference.com. Carlos Beltran in 2001 and Brady Anderson in 1994 both went 31-for-32, while Granderson's 26-for-27 efficiency tied him with Pittsburgh's Chris Duffy from 2006.

It could end up a side benefit if it happens to take that long, but the Tigers would not have a big problem creating room for Rogers on the 40-man roster beforehand.

That's probably the biggest question around baseball right now, and there's no obvious answer yet. From a prospect standpoint, it'll be almost impossible to get fair value in return for Santana, and recent reports suggest the Twins could want a proven quality player back in addition to several prospects. On the other hand, the Twins will receive just a couple Draft picks as their return for the departure of free agent Torii Hunter, whom they could have traded during the season or a year ago. The Draft picks arguably aren't a bad return for Hunter, but with Santana, obviously, they could get more by dealing him. It's a matter of how much is enough to justify doing it.

No. Unless a need for a backup first baseman comes up, that experiment appears pretty much over.

First, I think the comparisons are a little different. Maybin is a different type of athlete than Encarnacion and Kapler, and the acclaim for Maybin is pretty much universal. Second, if the Tigers still have hope of contending year in and year out, they have to hold onto their top prospects. Trade Maybin and Andrew Miller, and Detroit becomes much more of an aging team with a short window in which to win and another stretch of losing seasons potentially a few years down the road. It's about the philosophy as much as the player.

Former first-round pick Chris Lambert went from the Cardinals to the Tigers near the end of August. The 24-year-old right-hander made one start at Triple-A Toledo and tossed six scoreless innings with two walks and 10 strikeouts, finishing out his 2007 season with a 1-6 record and 5.80 ERA between the Triple-A and Double-A levels.