Adios Garza

Sidler breaks it down more eloquently than I ever could, but I have some thoughts on the Twins/Rays deal as well. First off, the fact that they traded a young arm for a young bat makes me giddy. I don't remember the Twins ever attempting this type of deal, and it screams progress to me. Remember Young finished second in the rookie of the year race, and he's not a superstar yet, but he may very well get there. The guy has hit the ball well at all levels and has yet to reach is potential. The 26 walks last year make me a bit nervous, but I'm cool with it.

I hate trading Garza, but when you have a ton of quality young pitchers, and not much in the way of position players, somebody has to go. I would have much rather traded Boof, Baker, or Slowey, but I'm guessing you don't get somebody like Young in that case. Garza obviously also has the potential to develop into a #1 pitcher, and that would suck to have let that go, but overall this is an excellent trade for both teams - Trading strength for weakness on both ends.

The other throw-ins are pretty much a wash. Bartlett for Harris is exchanging defense for offense, and to be honest, I'm a little sick of the "great field no hit" Twins the last fifteen years. I'll take a little worse fielder for a better hitter at this point. Pridie for Morlan is kind of like, who really cares? I'd rather have Morlan because he could be a future closer, striking out 99 in 70 innings last year with an ERA of 2.82 in four minor league seasons, but Pridie could be ok. In 245 AAA at-bats last year, he OPSed .914 (.318 avg/10 hr/22 bb) and could be a good fourth outfielder type.

The really interesting thing is what this means for the Santana deal. I see this going one of two ways, either they think they have a shot at the playoffs and hold Santana until the deadline at least, or they decide they need two pitchers back in the deal. I'm hoping for the second option. Build for 2009/2010 at this point, this isn't going to be a playoff team this year.

The latest trade rumor I've heard is the Red Sox, for SS Jed Lowrie, P Jon Lester, P Justin Masterson, and CF Coco Crisp. The parts of this trade are all nice, with 3 major league ready players. Lowrie is a good hitter and good fielder, and allows the Twins to move newly acquired Brendan Harris to second or third, Crisp is a good enough replacement in center, and Lester is a major league ready starter. Only problem with this deal is there is no star here. If they're going to trade Santana, they need to get a future star, which means if we're talking Red Sox either Buchholz or Ellsbury. Additionally, the only substantial rumors I've read have been about the Red Sox or Yankees, nothing yet from the Mets, Angels, or Dodgers. I wouldn't move anything until I talk to them, specifically about Angels 3B prospect Brandon Wood and Dodgers OF prospect Matt Kemp or 3B/OF Andy LaRoche. In short, this new Red Sox rumor would be a consolation prize, and not a horrible one, but they should be able to do better. Plus, I really don't want to give stupid Boston another Minnesota guy.

I would also just like to add here that Rico Tucker is on a roll, following up a 16 point effort in a win over CS-Bakersfield with a 9 point, 3 steal, 0 TO game in another win over Northern Arizona.

George Mason -7 vs. Drexel (W)
Temple -5.5 vs. Ohio (L)
Gonzaga PK @ St. Joe's (W)
Vanderbilt -12.5 vs. Southern Alabama (L)
Oregon -2.5 @ Kansas State (W)
Oklahoma +6.5 @ USC
Eastern Washington +9 vs. Santa Clara (P)

Yesterday: 4-6
Season: 58-50

And I guess since there's football tonight I need to make a pick, so it's Dallas -6.5
Last week: 7-6
Season: 82-82-10