The Texas Rangers and the Detroit Tigers pulled off a shocking and surprising trade swapping second baseman Ian Kinsler and first baseman Prince Fielder. The trade came as such a surprise that Kinsler’s agent learned via a push notification from ESPN on his phone.
“I got an ESPN alert and then everybody starting texting,” Kinsler’s agent Jay Franklin said, via ESPN Dallas. “Ian is in Hawaii. He texted me and said, ‘I think I’ve just been traded. Can you check?’ We didn’t see it coming.”
Since Kinsler asked his agent to confirm, you can assume that he learned in a similar way. Had the front office called him to tell him he had been traded, there would’ve been no reason to ask your agent to look into it. The Rangers stated that the trade story leaked before they could inform everyone involved and they were not pleased with that.
In Kinsler’s contract he submitted a list of 10 teams he’d be willing to accept a trade to, and the Tigers were on that list.
“Ian is excited about Detroit,” Franklin said. “He wants to win, and he works hard. I think Detroit fans, much like the Texas fans, will appreciate that he gives you everything he’s got every day. He leaves it all out on the field.”