ESPN reports that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have traded outfielder Delmon Young, infielder Brendan Harris, and minor-league reliever Eduardo Morlan to the Minnesota Twins for right-hander Matt Garza, shortstop Jason Bartlett, and minor-league outfielder Jason Pridie.
Headed to Minnesota

The Chicago Cubs have traded outfielder Jacque Jones to the Detroit Tigers for infielder Omar Infante. Jones began his career in the AL Central, with the Minnesota Twins in 1999. For his career, he’s a .280/.329/.455 hitter. Last year, Jones hit just .285/.335/.400 with a career-low five home runs.
Jones, who will turn 33 a few weeks after the 2008 season begins, has played mostly right field over the past few season, although he did get into 84 games at center field last year. Presumably with Curtis Granderson patrolling center, the Tigers will move Jones back to a corner spot and …read more

One of the chapters in my book, the Ducksnorts 2007 Baseball Annual, examines strategies teams like the A’s and Twins have employed to remain successful over the past several years. The A’s are fairly well chronicled in Michael Lewis’ Moneyball, but what about the Twins?
One thing I discovered about the Twins is that their pitching staff tends to force the opposition to put the ball in play. They’ve surrendered the fewest walks in the American League in each of the past three seasons, and they’ve finished no worse than third in that category since 2001.
This year, however, the Twins find …read more