Headed to Minnesota

Interesting deal for both sides. In Young, the Twins get a replacement for Torii Hunter, who recently bolted for the greener pastures of Anaheim. Although Young may have been a tad overrated by his former manager in Tampa Bay, the kid has game. Also, he’s young, cheap, and likely to improve.

Young hasn’t always been a model citizen, but there is a ton of upside here. He could outperform Hunter as soon as, well, right now. Given their financial situation, this is a shrewd pickup for the Twins.

Harris had a nice season at shortstop for the Devil Rays, but the sense I get is that he’s a bit stretched defensively at the position and might be better suited to second base or even a utility role. Then again, that’s what folks used to say about Bartlett, and he’s turned out to be a solid big-league shortstop, so who knows.

Pridie is a prototypical Devil Rays prospect — power, speed, no plate discipline. His stock had fallen in recent years, and in an organization as stacked as Tampa Bay’s, he wasn’t likely to get much of a shot.

Headed to Tampa Bay

On the other side, Garza was Minnesota’s #1 prospect headed into 2007 according to Baseball America, which said among other things that “calling him a No. 2 starter behind Johan Santana almost seems conservative.” For a team desperate to add depth to a rotation headed by Scott Kazmir and James Shields, the acquisition of Garza makes perfect sense.

Bartlett provides the Devil Rays with a more proven big-league shortstop, albeit one whose value is heavily tied to his ability to hit for a high batting average. Morlan, the other player coming to Tampa, is a native of Cuba who had been a starter before 2007 and who had been rated Minnesota’s #21 prospect by BA coming into the season. In his first campaign as a full-time reliever, the 21-year-old posted some impressive numbers (most notably 12.61 K/9) in the Florida State League.

Fun trade. It isn’t every day you see two of the top young talents in baseball swapped for each other.

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Post from: Knuckle Curve

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 hope that his power magically returns.

On the other side, Infante hit .264/.317/.449 in 2004 as Detroit’s starting second baseman at age 22. Since then, his offensive game has deteriorated and his role has diminished accordingly. I really liked this kid when he and Ramon Santiago were coming up through the ranks, but it looks like Infante is destined to be nothing more than a utility player.

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Post from: Knuckle Curve

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 themselves in the middle of the pack. Through May 18, six teams have allowed fewer walks than the Twins.

 
We’re only a quarter of the way through the season, and it’s not like this is the only reason Minnesota is struggling. That said, the Twins appear to be straying pretty far from something that has helped give them an advantage over the past several years.

I wonder how much of this is due to the retirement of strike thrower extraordinaire Brad Radke. More importantly, I wonder if the Twins can get their mojo back before it’s too late. In the AL Central, there is precious little margin for error. Now would be a real good time to stop walking batters and start winning games.

Post from: Knuckle Curve