Twins close to landing Delmon Young
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
The Twins and Tampa Bay Rays are close to finalizing a multi-player deal, according to several sources with knowledge of the discussions. The deal could be announced as soon as today.
The main pieces changing teams would be outfielder Delmon Young and righthander Matt Garza. But indications were strong on Wednesday that as many as six players could be involved.
In addition to Garza, the Twins would send Tampa Bay shortstop Jason Bartlett and reliever Juan Rincon for Young, shortstop Brendan Harris and outfielder Jason Pridie. Pridie was with the Twins during spring training of 2006 as a Rule 5 pick.
Young, 22, hit .288 last season with 13 homers and 93 RBI and is considered one of the better young hitters in the game. Harris, 27, hit .286 with 12 homers and 59 RBI.
Wow. From a Twins perspective, this move doesn't make immediate sense. Is Bill Smith trying to give the team a completely different look? Bartlett was finally coming around and now he's gone. As for Delmon Young? Granted, he has a lot of talent and will add pop to the lineup, but he also threw a bat at an umpire. As Smith's first major move, I wonder how this will foreshadow the rest of his work this offseason.But for those of you who don't care about the Twins' problems, look at what this does to the whole Santana situation. Suddenly, the need for the team to acquire a center fielder (e.g. Melky Cabrera) vanishes. And if the Yanks refuse to budge on Hughes, does this remove them from the running? Do the Mets, Dodgers, and Angels suddenly have an advantage in the Johan sweepstakes?
Speaking of the bidders, the Twins officially want Clay Buchholz, Jacoby Ellsbury and others from the Red Sox. Other names thrown around were Lester, Crisp, and Youklis. Being that Epstein would be burned at the stake for letting go of any of the "wonder kids," I'm pretty sure the Sox are doing what the Yanks just did to Lowell. And besides, with Beckett, do they really need Johan anyway? The Boston rotation isn't exactly in shambles.
This whole plot just gets more and more complex every day. I'm beginning to think that Bill Smith has no intentions on losing Santana, and is instead just setting off this alarm to see how the rest of MLB will react. I wouldn't be surprised if the club and the pitcher reached an agreement at the Winter Meetings next week (because lord knows Carl Pohlad can afford to give the man whatever he wants). Ha...wishful thinking from a Twins fan who wants to see one of his favorite players stay put who's also a Yanks fan who doesn't want to lose Hughes or get beaten by the Angels, Red Sox, or Mets? Probably.
And now on to a pet peeve of mine. It's funny to see how the fanbase of each side of the Twins-Yanks drama is reacting to this. Being in the middle, it's hard to stay sane whenever one side assumes the other is mentally retarded. For example, from the Yankees mailbag:
Would it be out of the question or even possible for the Yankees to give Johan Santana the money to land him and give the Twins enough cash not to give up any of our prospects? Can a deal be made with just cash?
Reporter Bryan Hoch had the right answer--that's called free agency. I mean, honestly people. What respectable team is just going to "trade" away its star player for cash only? What a ridiculous proposal.
And on the Twins' side, we turn to reader responses in the Tribune:
Perhaps this is being done to move Castilla over to SS and obtain Cano and Hughes from the Yankees for Santana. I could see this taking shape nicely then.
Makes it sound so easily, doesn't it? The Yanks are just going to nicely hand over Phil Hughes and Robinson Cano (?). Newsflash: the Trade-the-youth-so-I-can-build-a-team-of-stars Steinbrenner is no longer in charge.
I love how this is all going on during one of my busiest weeks ever. Someone should make a move to end it soon so I won't fail all of my classes.
