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

(Guest blogger TD — thanks, bud! — covered this transaction while I cavorted about the Pacific and was similarly unimpressed.)

I don’t really see how the Angels were even players here given that they threw $50 million at Gary Matthews Jr. last winter to play Hunter’s position. Matthews had a nice little Damion Easley type season, which isn’t bad, but which also isn’t worth $10 million a year.

Presumably Hunter’s presence pushes Matthews to a corner outfield spot, reducing the latter’s value even further. I guess the good news, if you’re an Angels fan, is that the franchise has plenty of dough and can afford to be a little careless at times. Best hope it doesn’t happen too often, though.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

• Barry Bonds: .272/.446/.558
• Alex Rodriguez: .303/.420/.588
• Kosuke Fukudome: .283/.373/.465
• Torii Hunter: .282/.345/.491
• Andruw Jones: .246/.339/.472
• Mike Lowell: .283/.346/.455
• Aaron Rowand: .277/.343/.443
• Mike Cameron: .246/.331/.435
• Mike Piazza: .260/.321/.430
• Sammy Sosa: .234/.303/.418
• Julio Franco: .231/.307/.324

I hope Franco keeps playing till he’s 50. Anyway, download the whole dealio and entertain yourself for hours…

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Post from: Knuckle Curve

There are a few bonafide studs available — Jorge Posada, Ivan Rodriguez, Alex Rodriguez, Bob Abreu, Mike Cameron, Adam Dunn, Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones — as well as a bunch of guys who are potentially useful. And of course, we’re all waiting to find out where Julio Franco ends up next year. My money is on the Lido deck, playing shuffleboard.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

American League

• Red Sox at Orioles, 4:05 p.m. PT — Not that the Red Sox need my help in the hype department, but a battle between Daisuke Matsuzaka and Erik Bedard could be a lot of fun to watch. Bedard has emerged in a big way this season. He’s fourth in the American League in ERA, first in H/9, first in K/9 (11.20!), and first in strikeouts. With all due respect to perennial favorite Johan Santana, Bedard and Oakland’s Dan Haren have to be the front-runners for this year’s Cy Young Award. Of course, we’ve still got plenty of baseball yet to play…
• Yankees at Indians, 4:05 p.m. PT — Two playoff contenders, two up-and-coming young pitchers; what’s not to like? Philip Hughes got knocked around by the Royals last week in his return from an extended stint on the DL. Fausto Carmona, meanwhile, has been one of the bigger surprises in the AL. His low strikeout rate suggests perhaps another Jake Westbrook, so who knows how long this level of success will last. Still, might as well enjoy it. Cleveland has some terrific hitters; the Indians are getting nothing out of second base or right field, but guys like Victor Martinez, Ryan Garko, Grady Sizemore, and Travis Hafner create serious problems for the opposition.
• Twins at Angels, 7:05 pm. PT — I forgot Kelvim Escobar. He could make a run for the Cy Young Award, too. There are a lot of worthy candidates this year. The Twins need to move over to the NL Central. What are they going to do without Torii Hunter next season?

National League

• Braves at Phillies, 4:35 p.m. PT — Speaking of Cy Young, he’s not there yet, but Cole Hamels will be a serious candidate possibly as early as next year. Chuck James is no slouch himself, although he’s up against a ridiculously deep lineup. Do folks in Philadelphia really think Pat Burrell stinks?
• Cubs at Rockies, 6:05 p.m. PT — Meaningful games at Coors Field in August — what’s up with that? The Cubs and Rockies have identical records (59-55) headed into this one, although the Rox play in a much tougher division. According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the Cubs had an Opening Day payroll of just under $100 million, while the Rockies check in at about $54 million. Brad Hawpe and Matt Holliday are young studs, and Todd Helton has done a nice job reinventing himself as a productive hitter despite the power outage; the pitching staff, meanwhile, owns a 4.46 ERA (including 4.58 at home) as of this writing. Someone deserves a medal for that.

Got time for just one? Toss-up between Orioles/Red Sox and Braves/Phillies. The former offers a slightly better pitching matchup, while the latter has more far-reaching playoff implications.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

The rule, 21-b, regards misconduct and is titled “Gift for Defeating Competing Club.” It prohibits anyone connected with a particular team from offering a gift or reward to a person connected with another club for an attempt to defeat a competing club. The giver and receiver, without notification of the commissioner’s office, are subject to ineligibility for “not less than three years.”

Look, if MLB couldn’t get guys like Steve Howe and Darryl Strawberry out for three years, there’s no way Hunter will get even three days. Here’s a suggestion: rewrite the rule so that it doesn’t make everyone look like an idiot when it’s violated.

Cheers!

Post from: Knuckle Curve

• Brett Myers and John Smoltz both were in mid-season form yesterday. Smoltz in particular was making guys look silly with off-speed stuff. He seems like another one of those pitchers that could keep going strong well into his 40s.
• Adam Dunn is a very strong man. That second home run he hit to dead center on the first pitch from Carlos Zambrano was a jaw-dropper. It must be fun to get a hold of one like that.
• Johan Santana looked almost mortal. The Twins still managed to win thanks to some timely hitting from Justin Morneau and Torii Hunter. Oh, and the Orioles’ Nick Markakis has a sick arm in right. Dude nailed Morneau twice last night — at home and at second (though replays suggest that Morneau might have beaten the throw to second).
• Gil Meche? Seriously. The guy gets the big bucks and suddenly he shuts down the Red Sox? It’s a long season; I remain skeptical that his signing was a good idea.
• Casey Kotchman had some nice at-bats for the Angels. If he can stay healthy, he’s a terrific breakout candidate. Look at what Adrian Gonzalez did for the Padres last season, and you’ll get an idea of what Kotchman might be able to do. If he does step up, the Angels could be scary good.
• Speaking of the Angels, I never get tired of watching Vladimir Guerrero bat. He is so aggressive at the plate, and his coverage is ridiculous. Plus he won’t chase everything like he did when he first came up with the Expos. And no batting gloves. Gotta love it.

Well, those are my thoughts. What are yours?

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Some impressive homers on Opening Day. Adam Dunn knocked a couple of serious bombs for Cincy, as did Edgar Renteria for the Braves.

Ah, baseball…

[Update: The Orioles have knocked three doubles in the fourth off Santana to take a 3-2 lead. The home crowd got real quiet.]

Post from: Knuckle Curve