Everyone knew Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis were leaving Florida, but for Detroit? Here's how the deal went down and what it means for the rest of the American League. (Bad news)

Ilitch didn't balk at the cost -- $20 million more in payroll and six players -- for Cabrera (left) and Willis (right). Rick Bowmer/AP

Ferocious With the addition of Cabrera, the Tigers' projected 2008 Opening Day lineup is a Murderers' Row 1. C. Granderson CF .302/.361/.552* 2. P. Polanco 2B .341/.388/.458 3. M. Ordoñez RF .363/.434/.595 4. M. Cabrera 3B .320/.401/.565 5. G. Sheffield DH .265/.378/.462 6. C. Guillen 1B .296/.357/.502 7. E. Renteria SS .332/.390/.470 8. J. Jones LF .285/.335/.400 9. I. Rodriguez C .281/.294/.420 * Denotes '07 batting avg./on-base pct./slugging pct.

At one-thirty in the afternoon on Dec. 4, while the rest of baseball was failing to live up to expectations of an active trade market, Detroit Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski was one phone call away from locking up the blockbuster of the season, an eight-player megatrade with Florida constructed from start to finish in a whiz-bang 17 hours. From suite D6090 of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Dombrowski dialed Tigers owner Mike Ilitch at his office in Detroit. The call was routed to Ilitch at his home.

"Mr. I," Dombrowski began, "are you sitting down?"

There was an excited chuckle on the other end from Ilitch, who took Dombrowski's caution literally.

"Wait, let me sit down," Ilitch replied, adding after a pause, "I thought you might give me a call like this. Go on...."

"We have a deal with Florida to get Miguel Cabrera," Dombrowski said, "and Dontrelle Willis."

Precisely two weeks earlier, Ilitch had called up Dombrowski at home after hearing reports that the Marlins intended to trade Cabrera, their 24-year-old four-time All-Star third baseman. Though the Tigers already had plenty of offense, Ilitch was interested in more. "If there's something you can do," Ilitch had told his G.M. then, referring to Cabrera, "maybe we push our situation and see if we can make it work."

But Cabrera and Willis? The third baseman and lefthanded pitcher would add about $20 million to Detroit's payroll, sending it near $120 million, a 26% jump from last season for a team with little room for revenue growth from ticket sales. (The Tigers sold 95% of their available tickets last season.) Additionally, the trade would cost them their first-round picks from the 2005 and '06 drafts, outfielder Cameron Maybin and lefthanded pitcher Andrew Miller, respectively, in whom the Tigers had invested a total of $6.1 million in bonus money.

What happened at the end of last week's phone call served as a reminder that doing business in the AL these days is like playing at a high-stakes baccarat table: You better bring a strong stomach and piles of cash. ("What's happening in the American League now," says one AL G.M., "is that when one of the big teams makes a move, you have to respond if you want to keep up.") Ilitch, 78, just pulled up a chair with the Yankees' Steinbrenner family, the Red Sox' John Henry and the Angels' Arte Moreno, whose teams ranked 1-2-3 in AL payrolls this year.

"Let's find a way to do this," Ilitch said.

The makings of the deal were hatched only late the previous night, when Detroit's assistant G.M., Al Avila, called Florida G.M. Mike Hill to inquire about Cabrera. When the Marlins asked for Miller and Maybin, the Tigers insisted that Willis be thrown into the mix too. By 9:30 the next morning Florida president Larry Beinfest had given Dombrowski a list of six names he wanted for Cabrera and Willis: Miller, Maybin, catcher Mike Rabelo and minor league pitchers Burke Badenhop, Eulogio De La Cruz and Dallas Trahern.

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