Matt Garza Traded For Delmon Young In Blockbuster

It seems to me that the Twins are getting the short end of the stick here.

Are the Rays retarded?

Garza's good and all but Young could've fetched more.

Wow. But you're bang on about Santana now. He'll require a legit front-end starter so the Sox will probably have to pony up Buchholz and the Yanks will have to give up one of Hughes/Joba.

If that's the case... I hope the Yanks stay put.

I don't think Johan is 20 million dollars better than Hughes.

I'd probably still trade Kazmir at this point.

With his small frame, the velocity he generates and the insane pitch counts he runs up to get through 6 innings, he's an injury waiting to happen.

Holy crap, where did that come from?

Santana's price just jumped up. I think it's a lot less likely that the Red Sox will bite now, and probably true for the Yankees too.

So this deal would eliminate demanding a CF in the Santana deal?

Wow, i'm in shock. With Price, McGee, Davis, and Niemann i just don't see the point. Furthermore, i don't like Bartlett much at all. Brignac should be ready come 2009.

What does the Rays OF look like in 2008? Crawford seems like the only definite. Dukes is insane. Baldelli can't stay health. Upton is more valuable as a 2nd baseman. Gomes doesn't strike fear in many pitches hearts.

I would assume they put Upton in center and hope that one out of the other three pans out?

I'm not going to believe this thing before its finalized. This trade is so monumental that I cant help but have doubts about it. It really would reshpare both franchises dramatically, giving the twins a potentially lethal bat and the rays another potentially good starter to accompany Kazmir and Shields. I feel like people are forgetting about Shields. The guy is the real deal.

If you remember, the Twins drafted Pridie in the Rule V a couple years ago, but returned him to Tampa Bay. I saw him play in Montgomery that season, and he is no future center fielder for a major league club, especially a talented club like Minnesota.

This would be the Twins 2nd acquisition of Pridie, He was a Rule V pick a couple years back and didn't stick. So it doesn't surprise me that they want to get him again.

That's what I was thinking too. Maybe the Twins would switch to wanting 3b prospect/young pitcher instead IF this deal went down.

@jehu:

They gave up the wrong OFs.

The Rays have a boatload of starters in minors that should be ready very, very soon.

Baldelli and Dukes are the ones to get rid of.

Then play Upton in CF, Delmon in RF, Crawford in LF, Longoria at 3B, Breignac at SS, Iwamura at 2B.

They could pick two guys off a street to play 1B and C and still score a lot of runs with those players.

Kazmir, Shields, Price, Niemann, McGee, Davis makes a fine rotation.

I don't like this trade for the Rays.

I saw Pridie lined up opposite Justin Ruggiano when Ruggiano was playing in Jacksonville, and Ruggiano was far better. Pridie has a very low ceiling and will never last as a Major League center fielder.

Unreal, this would be absolutely un expected and huge. If i am the twins, I could not help be just estatic. While you do trade garza, you get a right handed masher to throw in the mix with mauer and morneau. Delmon could actually handle center if need be. Another factor that makes this a win for the twins is that if they do trade Johan, they probably will just be able to replace garza with a younger, higher ceiling option.

As far as the rays go, it just does not seem to be enough to constitute trading delmon. You have to like it that they now have one of the best young pitching surpluses in the majors, but i think they would be better off trading another outfield piece. Like the fact that they get some of their needs filled, but just feel that they could have gotten more.

If this trade goes go through, and i want to see it go through before i believe, and if the twins get phil hughes and delmon young, I may seriously go ahead and put bill smith in for executive of the year.

I love this deal for the Twins. They got a better hitting prospect than they would have in any Santana deal. Bravo. Now they can look at all of the pitching prospects that New York, Boston, etc. have and make a decision. I would say that the Twins will have very little interest in Melky Cabrera now.

I wonder now, do they trade Santana, or wait things out until July. With Santana and Liriano at the front of the rotation, and a little luck (ok, maybe a lot of luck), they could compete. I can see Delmon Young immediately making up for the loss of Tori Hunter next year.

I love this trade for the Twins whether or not they trade Santana.

I really like this deal for the Rays, too. They are still strong offensively, with Upton, Crawford, Pena, and some mix of Gomes/Baldelli. But now their rotation is something to be feared. No team will want to go into a three game series facing Kazmir, Shields, and Garza. Mix in the emegance of Longoria and this team is trouble, even in the AL East.

Exciting trade.

the twins should not give santana to the yankees or red sox they should trade him to the mets if they give them to anyteam in the AL that will be so dumb

it is like handing them a championshipand if they will get to the playoffs in the future expect to be eliminated real quik

I like the deal for both sides...TB is gonna score enough runs once Longora and Brignac are up and producing...I think there are very few questions about those guys...great make-up on both of them. Tampa should try and put together a package for Jonathan Meloan from the Dodgers...

Pridie's ceiling you mentioned is very optimistic and not realistic. Solid for a half-season at Triple-A is not the same as big league center fielder. He gets caught on the bases too much, doesn't walk enough, and will lose speed very quickly. He started the season in Montgomery, and he was very underwhelming, despite having already played a season on that level before. Pridie is a good player, but he is not a player who will secure a long-term big league center field job.

Dark...

Believe it or not, I totally agree. As it stands, this really helps both clubs, fills a ton of needs, and no one got fleeced. Good trade

i know brenden harris wasn't bad, but who is going to be the starting shortstop for the twins?

jose reyes anyone???

Reyes or no... the Twins should see if the Dodgers are interested in Santana.

No other team can match what the Dodgers could offer.

Fleecing them for Kemp, Kershaw, LaRoche would be insane.

"i know brenden harris wasn't bad, but who is going to be the starting shortstop for the twins?

jose reyes anyone???"

Are you giving us back Joe Mauer and Johan Santana? Thats the only way youre getting Reyes. Not saying it is fair but it is the reality of the situation.

Garza is regarded as a #2 at best. He is not Buchholz or Joba or Kershaw.

I like this move for the Rays. What wins championships? That's right, pitching. A team can never have to many starting pitchers. Plus, Young did not impress me last year. His power should develop, but I just don't see him getting enough walks.

Here is a good anaylze from a very solid Twins blog http://www.sethspeaks.net/ , not a pure fan site.

This trade can be broken down three ways:

1.) Matt Garza for Delmon Young – Matt Garza has “ace” potential. Once every five days, he could give the Twins a chance to win. He is still quite young and although he hasn’t dominated yet, but he will. Delmon Young has the type of bat that could develop into a .300 hitter with potentially 35 homers or so. (and he refuses to walk, so maybe a .310 OBP?) Of course, he comes with some concerns, or baggage. High potential young pitcher for high potential young hitter. It’s a challenge trade and the winner probably won’t be known for a couple of years. However, as of right now, the advantage goes to the Twins. This also officially ends the Terry Ryan era!

2.) Jason Bartlett for Brendan Harris – I am a big Bartlett guy. I’ve always liked him. But look at the numbers, Harris is not really a step down. In fact, he provides a little more home run potential than Bartlett. However, he is not the defender that Bartlett is. That is why one of the Rays’ goals this offseason was to find a defensive shortstop and why Bartlett is an asset to them. In reality, this is a pretty even portion of the trade. If there has to be an advantage given, I would give it to the Rays, but not by a lot.

3.) Jason Pridie for Juan Rincon – This isn’t really a comparison at all. The Twins took Pridie, whose brother pitched in the Twins system for several seasons, in the Rule V draft two years ago. He went to spring training, but did not stick with the team. He spent 2006 at AA, and 2007 at AAA. Suddenly this season, he became a bigger prospect. So, is he the Twins CF of the future or is he Jason Tyner II? The Rays need bullpen help, so maybe Rincon makes sense to them. From a Twins fan’s perspective, this part of the trade is very pro-Twins just by ridding themselves of Rincon, who has a year of arbitration left.

Why arent SI or ESPN reporting this trade yet. Im still skeptical.

it's on espn now...

i love this trade. as good as garza could be, the twins have enough depth in the farm with starting pitching. and delmon young is not a fluke. He is 22!! 22!!!! and he hit .288 last year with 93 RBI's and is a great outfielder. Now, it's all up to gardy to settle him down and get him to focus on baseball and there's no telling how good this guy can be.

losing bartlett is not a shame, he wasn't THAT good. harris is just as good if not better, if only his offense. and losing rincon can only be considered a treat. this was a great trade for the twins, we need hitting!

I believe both are eligible for Free-Agency after 2012.

Like I said. Young has monster potential, doesnt change his putrid .724 ops from last year.

Delmon Young was not a good hitter in 2007. That's a fact. The Twins acquired him because of his potential, not his present capabilities. Garza hasn't realized his potential either. That's why the deal makes sense.

I LOVE deals like this, and I hate it that we don't see them more. Two very young guys with high potential at the center of a trade. Awesome.

From the D-Rays perspective, I have to wonder what the thought process was. We knew they had to deal an outfielder, but they had to have exhausted all options to trade Baldelli before doing this. Granted they could not have gotten someone like Garza for him, but they could have gotten something useful.

I'm amongst the people that believe that once Young learns some plate discipline (which there is still ample opportunity for), he will be one of the top 10 players in the game. I'm not sure you give him up for Garza, who at the absolute highest possibility will be a #1 but is more likely to be a #2. He also now has to adjust to facing better lineups in the AL East.

It's a good deal for the Twins right now but we won't know who won this deal for sure for a long time.

1) The Easts' lineups are no better than the Central's.

2) Garza could very well still be a #1. He's the second coming of John Smoltz to me.

Great deal for both teams.

It's being finalized, so it's very close to done. But things like this have fallen apart before.

I like it for both sides. Twins get hitting. And the Rays get defense at SS and a good SP and don't have to rush/wait for their prospects.

I really like this move for the Twins. They have the young pitching depth to give up Garza, and they don't have anybody in their farm system that you could even put in the same sentence as Delmon Young. Even though the Rays probably won the deal when only considering the other four players, I think the oppurtunity to add a player like Delmon Young without giving up any established stars is a very smart move by Bill Smith. If they can acquire a good third basemen and a legit starting shortstop they could challenge the Tigers and Indians.
C- Mauer
1B- Mornueau
2B- Casilla
3B- Punto (replaced, maybe Cuddyer?)
SS- Harris (replaced)
OF- some combination of Young, Cuddyer, Pridie, Denard Span, but hopefully they'll add one more good player

They still have some holes, but Mauer, Young and Morneau are brilliant cornerstones to an offense

Harris COULD play 3rd, but he doesn't hit well enough to play 3rd most probably.

That and then they wouldn't have a SS, unless they made a deal with the Red Sox for Lowrie, or signed or traded for a stop gap type guy (Izturis, Jack Wilson, etc.)

if the twins really like young, maybe they will part with guerrier?

Why do people pencil Price into the Rays rotation plans for next year ???
Didn't he just get drafted ? would he really skip the minors and go right into the majors ? seems odd.

The rest of their rotation besides Kazmir and Shields was garbage and project to be just as dependable.

I think this is a great move for the Rays since now they'll have 3 solid pitchers.

If any of the other guys pick up their games they'll definitly make a decent rotation, but having 60% of your rotation being solid makes such a difference from 40%.

I like this move from a baseball perspective, but from a Bluejays fan perspective i think this is a bad move for us.

Yep its also being posted as official on ESPN.
Twins got: Delmon Young, Brendan Harris, Jason Pridie
Rays got: Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett, Eduardo Morlan

I'm glad this deal got done. I have no affiliation with either of these teams, but you just never see trades like this. It'll be interesting looking back at this deal if Young is an MVP type player, and Garza is a Cy Young type pitcher. Or even more interesting if one pans out and the other doesnt. Gotta say i think the Twins won this deal

Kevin Goldstein just ranked Eduardo Morlan as the twins 4th best prospect in an ehhhh system. Pretty nice substitution.

i absolutely love this trade. i love it for the twins, i love it for the rays, i love it for (hopefully) ushering in a new era in trading, and i especially love it for the mets because there's no way the twins would accept a package from them for santana now. if only haren, blanton and bedard become unavailable i can breathe even easier.

A firesale would consist of only trading Nathan or Santana.

I think this trade allows us to better trade them both.

If I'm BS, I'd require the NY teams to give up a Cano/Reyes along with Hughes/Pelfry. The Dodgers Larouche/Kemp/Billingsly. Nathan for some like Hart or K. Johnson. None of these trades would be a "firesale" as they'd be getting ML ready talent back.

This trade doesn't effect the situations with Santana and Nathan too much. Young will play LF, Kubel will move to DH, so the Twins still need a CF and at least 1 infielder.

As a Twins fan, my hope is that they can be fringe- competitive in 2009 and actually compete in 2010 when the new ballpark opens. It's doable but they have a couple more moves to make.

@Henry
Don't dismiss a GM's trigger finger. I've read that Omar would think about trading Reyes for Santana; I've also read that the Twins would cut off negotiations with the Yanks if Cano isn't on the table.

The Twins can absorb the loss of Garza pretty easily given their ML ready pitching depth (everyone forgets Perkins); if they acquire a 3B or SS w/o giving up Santana or Nathan; the need to trade Santana is much, much less pressing.

Gotta agree with you Vank that the Rays got the upperhand switching Rincon with Morlan(Still a good trade both ways, Twins have tons of pitching). Sorry to say though that as long as the Red Sox are interested in Santana the Yanks are doing their best to keep him from wearing red and white.

Whatta great trade for the Rays. Even better now without Rincon. Their gonna be scary good next year.

Especially if the Yanks decide they are going to give up on next year in favor of keeping Hughes instead of contending by getting Santana. All great teams have an ace, why don't the Yanks want one ? especially the best one ! Cause hughes will be great in a few years ? Pffff

As a Twins fan I like the trade. Picking up a good and improving bat like Young is a great first step to improving the offense. Trading Garza, Bartlett, and Morlan is tough, but you have to give up quality to get quality.

This deal isn't a fire sale. The contracts are a wash (all are the minimum). Pretty much it's trading from strength for weakness.

Trading Santana (one player) isn't a firesale. It's a retooling. It's smart to get value back if you can't resign him.

Of course this offseason isn't going to go over well with the common fan. They will be disappointed with losing Torii and Johan (maybe Nathan), but they would also be disappointed if the Twins continually posted .500 seasons because it overpaid for Torii, Johan and Nathan.

Hopefully the Twins can get the right players for Santana. If they do I think they can be competitive (85-90 wins) in 2009. There is alot of talent on this team still. Still alot of holes to be filled though.

Different definition of firesale I guess. I said before that the Garza-Young trade is strength to fill a weakness trade.

Trading 1-2 players (there isn't a solid rumor of Nathan getting traded yet) isn't considered a firesale IMO. It's disappointing to lose 2 guys like that. Billy Beane had a so-called firesale in Oakland a couple of years ago when he dealt Mulder and Hudson in the same offseason. They came back and made the playoffs 1-2 seasons after that. It's a small market reality. And it makes alot more sense than getting draft picks for Johan.

It does suck however, but it's for the best.

Isnt it obvious what the rays did? They were expecting Young to be the cornerstone of their offense for the next decade. After the out-of-nowhere emergence of Carlos Pena, the Rays felt Young was expendable. They have so much young hitting already, (on top of that brignac and longoria to add to the lineup soon) that they could afford to use their biggest bait (who dissapointed this year with a .723 OPS) to get a solid future 1-2 starter in Garza. A big key had to be Carlos Pena barely making the team and then putting up David Ortiz like numbers to convince the Rays to trade position player for pitcher. Especially with the questions about how long Kazmir will be around. This whole trade made perfect sense from both sides.

Posted by: walkoffblast
~~~ "Hughes and Cano would get immediately rejected by Cashman."
~ "What about the yankees offseason to this point leads you to believe cashman is making the decisions?"

Hahaha...

...Well, He was instrumental in the resigning of Joe Tor...err, NM...