The moral of the story, of course, is to never, ever, ever, ever, |STAR|ever|STAR| underestimate Scott Boras. Did anyone really believe that he'd get Prince Fielder nine years and $214M?
There's plenty of data out there that players hit worse as a DH than as a position player. It's not uniform, obviously, but the Frank Thomas effect (dating back to my first memory of an elite hitter having big DH/1B split) could hold sway here with Miguel Cabrera. Scott Pianowski has already researched Miggy's numbers as a DH - and I agree with his conclusion. The Tigers are best off trying him out at 3B rather than stashing him at DH.
That makes Miguel Cabrera a strong candidate for the #1 overall pick. Really, he was already a strong candidate in a year where I think that there are 4-to-5 legitimate options - along with Matt Kemp (my choice), Albert Pujols, Jose Bautista and Troy Tulowitzki. We've commented already on how thin third base is - Cabrera obviously would go to the top of that position with the eligibility.
That said, it was already a little dicey to be a groundball pitcher for the Tigers. An infield of Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta, Ryan Raburn (when he's in there over Ramon Santiago, at least) and Prince Fielder is pretty scary.
Who's the best remaining free agent hitter, not counting Yoenis Cespedes, who isn't eligible yet? For my money, it's Derrek Lee. Milwaukee isn't a terrible match for him, except it makes them even more right-handed tilted. I'd prefer him over Vladimir Guerrero.
The "mystery team" is the new Spanish Inquisition - you never see it coming.
Brandon Inge's whinge about not being a platoon player is even more unintentionally hilarious now.
I don't think this changes Nick Castellanos' future very much - by the time he's ready, either Cabrera or Fielder will be the DH. It does put the brakes on the Tigers trying to rush another prospect, at least.
The Brewers lose out a little bit on the draft pick with this. The Nats had the 16th overall pick in the first round, meaning that it wasn't protected. If it's true that they had the second best bid, the Brewers drop 11 spots in the draft because of this contract.