On Saturday, outfielder Elijah Dukes got into a little brouhaha during a Dominican Republic game; on Monday the Tampa Bay Devil Rays traded Dukes to the Washington Nationals for minor-league left-hander Glenn Gibson.

The Nats are in a good position to take on high-risk, high-reward players. If Dukes doesn’t get his act together, it only cost them a pitcher who is a long way from the big leagues. If Dukes does figure it out, Washington could have quite the player on its hands.

Other Voices

• Capitol Punishment
• Mr. Irrelevant
• Rays Anatomy

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Dukes reacted angrily after being called out on strikes in the ninth inning and was ejected after going chest-to-chest with the umpire, and had to be restrained by several teammates at different times.

Given Dukes’ history, this isn’t exactly surprising. Still, you hate to see stuff like this happen…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

My condolences to Kennedy’s friends and family.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

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.

Others Voices

• Twins Geek
• Rays Index
• crashburnalley

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Enter Tampa Bay Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon, talking about the fact that his outfielder, Delmon Young, didn’t win the AL Rookie of the Year:

It’s really disturbing. I can see him not winning the award, but leaving him off eight ballots is just a sign of personal prejudice.

In this case, “personal prejudice” is code for “understanding the criteria for determining excellence.” The folks who left Young off the ballot presumably recognized that a 91+ OPS from a corner outfielder just isn’t all that exciting.

Don’t get me wrong, Young has a bright future ahead of him if he can keep from doing Really Stupid Things, but aside from the batting average and RBI, his rookie season wasn’t special. Each writer gets to put three names on the ballot, and I could totally see going with Dustin Pedroia (an easy choice for #1 despite his Red Sox affiliation), Brian Bannister, and Daisuke Matsuzaka. I’m not sure that’s how I would have voted, but I think it’s perfectly justifiable without bringing any nonsense about “personal prejudice” into the discussion.

I think it’s wrong. At that point, it has nothing to do with the player’s performance. The award is not a popularity race.

Okay, how long has Maddon been in baseball? And he honestly believes that the award is not a popularity race? Is he even paying attention?

I don’t think there was any way he wasn’t one of the top three rookies in the league.

Right, but eight writers disagreed, and it’s a defensible position.

And how many other rookies in the history of the game played 162 games like he did?

So now excellence is a function of showing up to work every day. Sorry, but this doesn’t belong in the discussion at all. Still, give Maddon credit for defending his player even if it’s not entirely justified.

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Knuckle Curve and you’ll never miss another article…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Pena, in case you missed it, ranks second in the American League with 33 homers through September 1. This is a guy who hit 23 home runs all last year at Triple-A (plus one with the Red Sox). Hot prospect? Well, yeah, like in 2000 and 2001. Pena had his shot with the Tigers, did okay before fading away, and now has come back with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Somewhere along the line, Pena turned into an unstoppable power source. That’s not supposed to happen at age 29. Not without at least some indication that it’s coming, anyway…

Post from: Knuckle Curve