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Would You Trade Delmon Young For Matt Garza?

I linked to this article earlier in regards to Francisco Liriano, but I missed a bit at the end:

Trade rumor that won't die: Twins pitcher Matt Garza for Tampa Bay outfielder Delmon Young.

I can definitely see the positives for both sides in this deal. Garza would give the Rays another MLB-ready young pitcher to add to Scott Kazmir and James Shields. They also have Jason Hammel, J.P. Howell, Andy Sonnastine, and the six-foot-nine monster Jeff Niemann likely to break camp with the team. Arranging those guys between the rotation and the bullpen could work out for the Rays. The move would also allow them to slot Elijah Dukes in right field. Or hey, unlikely as it is, maybe Rocco Baldelli stays healthy (yeah, right).

The Twins would be adding a power bat in Young, a much-needed piece. A trade of Garza likely wouldn't hold them back from trading Johan Santana, since they'd likely receive a starter in such a deal that could be plugged into the rotation in 2008 (Clay Buchholz/Jon Lester, Phil Hughes, Chad Billingsley, Mike Pelfrey/Phil Humber).

Does anyone see any aspects that would make this deal uneven? Let's crank out the discussion.

Joe Pawlikowski is co-author of River Ave. Blues.


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Comments

Straight up would be fair for both teams, and help both teams out.

Trading surplus for a need, makes sense.

Even though adding Matt Garza would obviously be a huge asset to the Rays' rotation, I think they need to hold onto Delmon Young. The guys makeup isnt perfect but he's just got so much ability and it's too early to move him. I think he will have a really good year in 2008, and even though I like Garza a lot, he isnt worth Young. I think the Rays would be better off holding on to Young and moving Crawford for multiple young guys

i think it's a very even trade. a great young center/left fielder the twins need, and a great young power pitcher the devil rays need. even all the way around.

HOWEVER, it needs to be said that the twins don't necessarily usually go for bad clubhouse guys. now i don't personally know how good of a teammate delmon young is to the other guys, but the whole bat throw and fued with joe maddon doesn't give me a good vibe. i think it's risky, but i think you have to make that trade if you're either team. the rays need pitching, and the twins have plenty of young pitching, especially if they get a hughes/bucholz in a trade for johan. DO IT!

Funny thing is I have never heard this rumor. But I think the Twins would have to give up more becausee Young is potential .300 hitter and 30-40HR guy so for the Twins they would have to give up a little more.

I know Matt Garza is good but it is almost the same with M Cabrera, the Angels have to give up more than a great young pitcher.

I agree the Twins may have to give up a little more, but my concern would be maybe the rays want him out. If thats the case I can't see him fitting with the Twins who are known for their great clubhouse. Either way I would love to see Young with the Twins, but if the Rays want a guy with that much potential gone I can't imagine the Twins taking him.

i think this is a solid deal for both teams. the rays would add a solid starter and would add to their surplus of young starting pitching while the twins would get an impact bat that would help soften the blow from losing torri's offense. if im the rays, i pull the trigger on this deal then turn around and deal crawford. this would allow them to ask for solely position prospects, and i think teams would be willing to give up more if no pitching prospects are included. these are they types of deals that well see more often in the years to come, garza-young and mccarthy-danks (ughh) deals.

a 'challenge' trade! I love it!

hey, if the Rays were to add in another bat, say the sorely misused Jonny Gomes, would the Twins be interested in trading a reliever along with Garza?

Delmon Young's upside is simply too high to make this trade. The makeup questions could factor in. But Young has Hall of Fame talent. I wouldn't be ready to say that about Garza, much as I like him.

baldelli and hammel for garza

I'd much rather have Matt Kemp than Delmon Young...what would it take to trade Kemp to the Twins?

Garza?

Or only with a package for Santana?

I dont get why the rays are looking for SP, theyr totally set, its bullpen help they need. Theyv got Kazmir, Shields, Hammel, Sonnanstine, Howell, Niemman, David Price

I don't think that this is a fair trade for the Rays' sake. Garza may be a good, young pitcher, but Delmon is a good, young outfielder. The difference is that Young plays every game (or just about). Garza would pitch every five days. So, contribution-wise, Young provides a great deal more than Garza. Not only that, but Young is still developing and will be a future star-- if not a superstar. In the end, the Twins would be getting the better deal.

This would be a pretty bad deal for the Rays IMO. Young has superstar potential. I would rather trade Crawford for a Garza package.

I too think that the Twins would be getting the better of the deal. Garza will be a fine pitcher, #3 type of guy. Nothing wrong with that at all. Young though could be a superstar.

Although, in this market, young starting pitchers are a strong commodity. If they can't land Young, Garza should bring in quite a bounty if moved.

Maybe Garza plus another mediocre piece for Young?

what about garza for hunter pence? i love pence to death, but the stros need a potential top of the rotation starter more than a rightfielder right. they can stick luke scott over there anyway.

thoughts?

If I was high. Garza is quite, quite overrated.

I bet Edwin Jackson would like to see him traded.. he wouldn't have to get hit in the face with any more balls from right field..

sorry, i meant to say they need another starter more than a rightfielder right now

I don't think the Twins will trade Garza, since Santana will be gone sooner or later. Liriano is a legit #1 if healthy, but Garza is the only other guy with top-of-rotation potential (a very good #2). Baker, Slowey, Bonser, Perkins are more middle rotation guys if they pan out.

The Twins do need to fill some holes but they don't necessarily need all-stars.

something along this line certainly make a little more sense for the Twins than trying to figure out a super trade with Santana.

Curious if any Tampa Bay fans give give us their perspective on Young. There was some negative baggage associated with him last year, but it seems that he was a pretty good baseball citizen this year. I didn't really hear of any negatives.

I think this would be a win for Minny. Garza is a big talent, but I don't think we've even seen the tip of the iceberg from Young.

One flaw in logic in this plan is that the Rays have Dukes to plug into right....Dukes will almost certainly be moved too, possibly to Wash.

If I'm the Rays I try to see if Baldelli can put together a good, healthy first half and trade him for a useful pen arm or two

How about both Young and Baldelli for Garza, Bonser and Rincon?

Sorry Twins fans, this aint happening. The Rays have no motivation for a dumb trade like this. Delmon was a saint all year except one blemish at the end. We dont need Garza anyways. We have Price, McGee, Davis and Niemann who could all be pitching for us in 08. All of them will be better than Garza. We need 2 or 3 bullpen arms, not starters. If this site wants to makeup rumors they should start with one of our backup OFers for bullpen help. That would actually make sense. Delmon is not going anywhere.

What about a trade centered around Neshek and Crawford? That would seem to make more sense for both teams.

No.

Young could probably fetch Lincecum from the Giants.

In any case, its not like he's got Dukes' level problems.

Keep Crawford, Young, Upton and add Longoria. That's the core of the Rays' lineup for the next decade.

Rays' should just trade Baldelli, Gomes, Cantu and Dukes for young power relievers.

That's all they need.

Obviously it would take more than Neshek for CC but you catch my drift. Anyway, Dukes is expendable and they might have someone who can fill the LF if Joel Guzman fills his shoes, or even Desmond Jennings.

I like what the Rays are trying to do here, and they have the right mindset of taking their young outfield surplus and trying to make it into a young pitching surplus. But I echo the recurring theme in the thread, delmon young is simply too much for matt garza. I would agree that Tim Lincecum from the Giants is a beter fetch and a more even trade from the rays standpoint. The Giants and twins both are in the same boat where they have tons of young pitching, and in the giants case especially, a big need for young hitters.
Garza is not projected as highly as lincecum is, and he does not have as dominant an arsenal. My guess would be that if the Rays were to seriously market Delmon, there only real deal would be with the giants for lincecum, as they would get a pitcher who has just as much superstar potential as delmon.

With that being said, I agree with JLONG and Twinsfan. Yall definitely have enough young pitching, and in a few years, it may become a surplus itself, so I really do not think that another young potential guy would be worth trading delmon, unless it was for lincecum. With that being said, if i were the rays, I would, as was mentioned earlier, I would take my spare outfield pieces (Gomes and Baldelli and so on) and trade them for established bullpen pieces, and then have those veteran bullpen guys for the next few years to make a run.

Also, and this is just me spitballing, if the rays really wanted to make a decent move, why not take Crawford or Delmon, if you just need to trade them, and try to go after Haren, Snell, or Blanton, a guy who is young and controllable for a few more years, and can be aa dependable top of the rotation guy while the other young pitchers in the rays system develops. My whole point is, do not trade crawford or delmon to get more guys with potential, trade them for a 26 or 27 year old who already has established himself as being effective in the majors.

Yup but the D Rays are a bunch of softies, to put it PG. They won't do anything, they will just sit back and watch my Sox win the AL East forever, and never utiize the prospects they have and will continue to lose.

Screw you sox bangwagoneer. 1 division title in over a decade an you think Boston will win forever. Truth is, we need some bullpen help. A couple pitchers and thats it. Give it two years tops and we'll see whos at the top of the division.

"the D Rays are a bunch of softies, to put it PG. They won't do anything"

i love your use of facts to back up your claim here. you should start writing columns on espn b/c you're so good at writing interesting and relevent information. take some advice, slowly pull your ego out of your butt, and maybe it won't hurt as bad when the sox don't repeat next season

I didn't understand that the Rays were already so great. I mean, everyone here is saying that they have tons of excess talent in the field. Then we hear that they are set with an abundance of pitching.

If this is truly the case how in the world did this team go 66-96 (worst record in baseball), 30 games behind the Sox? Are Rays fans really thinking that if they just stay the course they can make up THIRTY games on the Yankees and Sox?

There is a lot to be excited for in Tampa. Call me a skeptic, but until the team can win more than 70 games (the most in their 10 year history) I'm a little hesitant to crown them the team to beat.

Here is my question boomshwa, why would you want to trade pence. I figured in terms of an average/power combo, he was a much needed addition for the astros last year, and while the stros do need young pitching, i would see what i could get for luke scott.

that's true, getting something good for scott would be ideal. i just don't think it would be anyone good. pence is an important part of the team, but we'd still have lee and berkman providing thunder in the order...which is more than we could have said the year the stros went to the world series

crap, it cut off the rest of my post. my theory is that the stros can trade pence deal for either garza or ian snell, and sign fukudome to man right field. i'm surprised more teams aren't pursuing him at his asking price

i question whether garza is even worth pence right now though. i think trading him for snell would be an even deal, but idk about garza. it's just an idea i'm floating around

Yea that would be a pretty even trade when you think about it, but i think the stros like pence too much to trade him. And i agree, while garza may have more stuff, snell has proven that he can succedd as a top tier starter in the majors, so he is very valuable right now

It seems to me that Chris Duncan to the Twins for a pitcher might be a good fit. Maybe Baker?

A Smart GM would move Lee or Berkman before they moved Pence. But since you have Ed Wade, you will trade away your young talent for middle-aged names, but, on the other hand, you will draft well. Then again, you might trade away those great draft picks for middle aged names.

Enjoy!

It is a bad idea to give up a potential MVP player like Young for Garza. They have too many pitching prospects as it is; give them a chance. If you get Garza for Young, they are weakening that OF position. If they wanted Garza, they could had gotten him during the trading deadline for Ty Wigginton and trade Edwin Jackson and Elijah Dukes for relievers. Andy Friedman does not think that way. This guy does not have no backup plan. It is either Plan A or nothing. He does not have plan b or plan c. The Rays have issues in the bullpen and finding a SS. Either acquire Royce Clayton, Juan Uribe, David Eckstein, or Jack Wilson. 2nd option put Brendan Harris at SS; Ben Zobrist can not hit in the major league level and Josh Wilson is a career backup.

Umm.... yea I highly doubt terry ryan would have traded garza for wiggington. Just really do not see that as anything but a bad crack at a joke from you.

And yes, very much so, the twins and cards would be very smart to talk with each other about a trade. However, i do not think the twins will part with baker for duncan, but the cards should pursue baker by all means. I think the twins would be mroe willing to talk bonser.

I think Bonser sucks, though. Do the Twins not view Baker as a step down from Garza, or do you not think it's worth Duncan either way?

Duncan and a prospect not named Anderson, Perez or Rasmus?

matt garza = a career #4 or 5 starter.

no way would i trade delmon young for him. and as a cards fan, i wouldn't be too happy about trading duncan for him. i know we need pitching, but a bunch of mediocore pitchers doesn't create one good pitcher.

I admittedly don't know much about Twins system pitchers, but ZiPS at least projects him to put up a 4.21 ERA (140 K, 52 BB, 19 HR) in the AL Central. That would put him below 4.00 and much better than a #4 (I hate numeric starter notation) for the Cardinals. Something like a second Wainwright results-wise.

Just curious whether those referring to Delmon Young as a future MVP are doing so just based on scouting reports, or whether there is something in his performance that suggests his ceiling is at MVP heights.

I know he's very young, and he performed very well as a 19-year-old in AA. But last year he had a .724 OPS, and was below the league average in adjusted OPS (not just for his position, but including all position players). Certainly, there is room for his power to develop, but unless there are indications that he will develop a better batting eye in the next few years, his OBP will be tied to his batting average.

Garza is 24 and is ALREADY an above-average major-league starter. He has a minor-league K/9 rate of 10.04 and WHIP of 1.09.

I see the argument for holding onto Young while he matures, but I don't think the trade's as lopsided as others are suggesting.

The Devil Rays or so called just "Rays" have a large number of outfielders but a weak pitching and infield staff. They have Crawlford, Baldelli, Gomes, Upton, Young, Dukes. they would be best too trade Crawlford Because he'll leave for free agency after this year. He would command top prospects. Baldelli has been a good player but has numerous injures. Gomes showed he can play in the league even though his horrible 2007 campaign. I couldn't believe uptons numbers when i saw them. Upton, Young and Dukes should be hard too touch.

I don't know who this "Crawlford" guy is, but Carl Crawford has options for 2009 and 2010. He may or may not be leaving, but they (or any team who trades for him) can keep him if they want which affects things.

The Rays would be giving up a little much to be getting only Garza in return.

What about Nathan for Delmon? Nathan would give the Rays the elite closer they need, and the Twins are able to trade him given their glut of young pitchers.

I'm not sure of the specifics, but I believe Nathan is becoming a free agent after '08 and Delmon Young would certainly be more valuable to the Twins than a 1st round draft pick.

Jesse Crain or Pat Neshak could assume the closer's role in Minnesota. They could then move one of their talented young pitchers to the bullpen to begin grooming a long term replacement or target one in the impending Santana trade.

but why would the rays want nathan? he's a year away from free agency and would probably be the highest player on their club. no way do they trade young for him

if they trade young at all, it'll be for a young stud like everyone else has been saying. garza, lincecum, chad billingsley maybe (or kershaw)

Here is my solution to the Twins' problems:
Trade J. Nathan to HOU for H. Pence.
Trade M. Garza to MIL for J. Hardy.
Trade J. Santana and J. Tyner to LAD for C. Billingsley, M. Kemp, A. LaRoche and J. Loney.
Trade J. Loney and J. Bartlett to BAL for B. Roberts and M. Mora.

That would leave the Twins with this:
C - J. Mauer
1B - J. Morneau
2B - B. Roberts
SS - J. Hardy
3B - A. LaRoche
LF - M. Cuddyer
CF - H. Pence
RF - M. Kemp
DH - M. Mora

SP - F. Liriano
SP - C. Billingsley
SP - B. Bonser
SP - S. Baker
SP - K. Slowey/G. Perkins

CP - P. Neshek

Thoughts?

Who do the Brewers use at short. There is no way they trade their beloved J.J. Hardy, who is under control for a while. Aren't the Brewers trying to build through their young corps?

Why is everyone dumping on Garza? BP and BA slot him as a potential All-Star, ahead of Slowey, Baker and Bonser. In think the Devil Dogs could maybe squeeze an extra low A pitcher out of this deal.

Oh and Lincicum needs to pitch one more year of strong injury free ball before I start drinking the Kool-Aide.

Maybe you all have been confusing Garza with Slowey and Baker?

I think the Twins should focus on trading Santana (if that's the direction) and see what they get in return. Take care of one thing at a time.

The only reason for trading Garza/Slowey/Baker is to bring back offense. I expect that a Santana trade would bring some of the needed offense.

I'm not too big of a fan of targeting a corner OF/DH type player. There are arguably 10-12 cheap guys in FA or available cheaply on the trade block that can put up a .800+ OPS in a platoon. I've called these rent-a-wrecks. It's not glamourous, but effective. Kubel and Cuddyer adequetely fill 2 of the 3 positions (LF/RF/DH).

However there is nobody in the Twins price range that can put up a decent OPS at CF or 3B (and also 2B). Personally I would concentrate my trade efforts here if I was trading premium pieces like young starting pitching.

What about a deal of Huston Street and Joe Blanton to the Rays for Delmon Young, Reid Brignac, and Andy Sonnastine?

Street and Blanton are signed or under team control for another 3 years, so the money works, and this would give them 3 very good starters and a proven closer.

The A's, meanwhile, get a new OF who can play right now, their SS of the Future, and a SP with a high ceiling to plug into Joey B's old rotation spot.

The Rays aren't interested. Both Blanton and Street help this year, but they still won't win this year. And they aren't that good.

They are better off waiting another year. I'm guessing that they have another young starting pitcher succeed this year to go with Kazmir/Shields.

Arguably the Rays pitching prospects are better than the Yankees young starters, but they are a year behind in their development. They just don't get any of the Yankee hype.

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