Week in Review: 10/5 - 10/11

I agree that Young was miscast in left field. I understand the mentality at the beginning of the year; Don't move Michael Cuddyer from his comfort zone, and he knows how to play the baggie in right field at the Metrodome.

Once Cuddyer was injured though, Denard Span should have been in left field. His range would be far more beneficial there, with Delmon and his arm in right.

Either way, I just can't see how a team could give up on a talent like that so early on. It shocked me when Tampa Bay did it, but they had clubhouse issues there it seems like. I'll be surprised if Young doesn't turn into a potential 30/20 candidate with power to all fields eventually and an unbelievable arm in the outfield.

I don't see the logic in trading him at all.

How does this trade for Milwaukee and San Francisco sound. The offensively starved SFG trade raw potential power pitcher Jonathan Sanchez (SP 25yrs), a solid first base prospect with lofty expectations in John Bowker (1B 24yrs) and Pablo Sandoval, a rare combination of well-rounded offense and defense capabilities at catcher (C 21yrs) to the Brewers for the second best first basemen in the game with Bonds-esque power Prince Fielder (1B 24 yrs), a gritty veteran outfielder who can take Fred Lewis under his wing and teach him tremendous amounts in Gabe Kapler (OF 32yrs) and a proven veteran reliever coming off a bad stretch in Derrick Turnbow (RP 31yrs). Possibly a few minor league prospects thrown in on Milwaukee's behalf as well.

I agree-- do NOT trade Delmon Young. That would be utterly stupid to trade a guy like Young after 2 years of above par baseball-- and hey, 3rd times a charm right? Young is the future of the Twins-- righty power bat who will be a 30 homer guy one day. I mean, he adjusted to a whole new position in a whole new atmosphere, give the guy some time!

I dunno if I like the Redmond option or not-- why not bring up Morales as our back up catcher instead? In 3 major league AB's he got 3 hits! You think he's ready?

Someone mentioned Jake Peavy for the Twins... I seriously doubt that will happen, but, I'm sure a lot of Twins fans would be willing to give up Perkins or Blackburn plus prospects for 5 years of Jake Peavy!

Woah... sorry for the double post!

I haven't heard anything about Jake Peavy and the Twins, but if that were even going to be considered, it would take more than Perkins and prospects. You'd be looking more along the lines of Glen Perkins, Denard Span, Luke Hughes, Rob Delaney, and additional prospects. Peavy's bounty will be enormous given his talent and affordability. Besides, I don't think additional starting pitching is the Twins' need, not that Peavy wouldn't improve ANY rotation he was added to.

As for Sanchez/Sandoval/Bowker, that seems like a lot for the Giants to surrender when factoring in Prince's big payday, and adding Turnbow's salary.

Delmon Young is still just barely 23 years old, and improved his walk rate from 2007 to 2008, drawing 9 more walks in 10 less games (70 less ABs). I think telling young hitters to try to pull the ball for power is a terrible thing to do, and I still believe that Young's power will develop as he continues to mature. Whether he is in Minnesota or somewhere else in a few years, I think that team will find themselves with one of the best all-around offensive players in the league.

Insomniac,

The idea behind trading Young is that the Twins have him, Denard Span, Carlos Gomez, Jason Kubel, and Michael Cuddyer creating an outfield logjam. They wouldn't take on another outfielder most likely.

Besides, I think most would view Delmon Young as far more valuable than Franceour. The Twins are looking for right-handed power in the infield, and while Yunel Escobar is a good player, he won't exactly fill that need.

The Braves need an outfielder, but they don't seem like a good matchup for the Twins and Delmon Young.

How about Young or Cuddyer for Escobar and a reliever/prospect or two?

We need an extra INF and they need OF help and OF power. That's a trade both clubs would have to heavily consider!

Yeah the thing with Cuddyer is he is expensive and not valuable.

And thinking about it now, with all that cash, the Braves wouldn't give up their starting SS for Young when they could easily bring home Dunn or Burrell.

Sorry about the mixup, Jerry Hairston is on the Reds, but the thing with Scott Hairston is that he needs baserunners when he comes up! 17 homers and only 31 RBI is showing something about who is hitting in front of him.

The only thing I know is one of our guys is gonna have to go, unless they plan to use Kubel/Cuddyer in a corner OF/DH platoon role.

I would love to trade KJ and Lillibridge to the twins for Delmon.....The twins would get some solid young infield pieces and the braves would get a young left field bat with great upside.....
However, I see three big reasons why this is probably not going to happen....

1.On the twins side, what sense does it make to trade delmon for some more infielders who are similar to what they already have in place. Kelly johnson is basically Alexi Casilla with power, and Brent Lillibridge is basically Brandon Harris with speed. If he twins are going to trade delmon, I agree they are going to have get what they wanted in delmon himself to begin with, a young righthanded run producer to balance out the lineup, except this time one that plays the infield.

2. While the braves do have the depth of young middle infielders to take on the loss of KJ and Lillibridge, trading those two for Delmon is not really an economically effective mood because we really are trading a surplus for a surplus. What I mean is that right now, we have Yunel, Omar, Prado, KJ, and lillibridge to feel 3 positions(mainly SS and 2b, but you have to include 3b since CHIP is hurt alot.) While I do agree we should use 1 or 2 pieces from this surplus in a trade, it really does not make sense to the braves to trade a prospective player or two for another yet to develop prospective player, in this case delmon. He would just be another young OF who needs to develop, and we already have one of those in francouer. Furthermore, the OF is where the bulk of quality in terms of position player prospects resides, in the form of Schafer, Gorkys, Heyward, Johnson, B. Jones, and probably Flowers.

3. The braves need to be smart witht their trades and get established success. As mentioned in point two, it really is not in the braves best interest to trade for delmon when we already have Frenchy, a player of similar skill set (I think Frenchy of 2006 and 7 is more of what you will get). The braves need to trade for a young established pitcher who can anchor our staff into the near future and get an established veteran middle of the order bat to solidify our lineup. I would rather get the bat in FA in Burrell, Dunn, or Rivera, and the pitcher in a trade, in Peavy, Cain, Snell or so on.

So, as much as I would be excited to get Young from the twins.....It is not the most effecive trade for the twins or braves to make. The braves could get more needed and established pieces by using their young MI, and the twins should use young, even though I do not think they should trade him at all, to get the young, right handed run producer at 3b.

My suggestion.....If the pads want to truly rebuild, a nice trade for both teams would be

Delmon Young
for
Kevin Kouzmanoff and Cla meredith

Two needs are filled for the twins, and the pads have their middle of the order bat to pair with A Gonzo and headley in the future.

"Well anyone who thinks we're letting go of Span is stupid!"

As good as Span was this year, he doesn't carry half the talent that Young does.

I agree with you nick in a sense that just as much of a possibility it is that infante and'or prado could be at least decent everyday options at second if we were to trade KJ, it is just as much a possibility that they could be flukes.

With that being said, the year Prado/Infante had this year compared to the talent they have vs. KJ mirrors AA's point about Span and Delmon. Yes Span, Prado, and Infante had great years in terms of performing above and beyond what was expected of them, but that is each player's talent level is to be taken with a grain of salt when it comes to expecting them to better a better replacement for the talent level of a KJ or Delmon being traded away.

86 WS,

Giants want to get younger...trading 3 kids for 1 kid and 2 30+ would be incredibly stupid!!!!

Fielder/Hardy/Gamel should be the only players the Giants look at.

"That is true, the physical factor belongs to Young-- strong, good arm, good power.

But the smarts go to Span, he was probably our 2nd half MVP and along with Mr. Mauer, he was probably the smartest and most plate-smart of anyone on our team."

I agree that Span was huge for the Twins, but that doesn't mean he is more valuable than Young. He is even older than Young, without possessing the obvious physical gifts.

"It worked for the Rays. Seriously, why immediately call this a mistake, I think that is odd, since Young did already bring in a nice haul that is contributing to a possible championship pennant."

The Rays got an MLB ready Number 2-3 caliber pitcher for Young, and the jury really still is out on the deal.

You trade Young if, and ONLY if, you're getting something really nice in return. Like, for example, in a package or standalone for a young 3B/SS (or prospect at one of those positions).

Young has great potential, but he shouldn't be "untouchable." He should be tradeable with the right offer.

Why would you trade Young that would be hella dumb. Just look down like 2 years from now and the Twins will have the best line up in the majors unless they trade or free agents take their people.

C- Joe Mauer,25, He will be MVP sometime in his career and will be one of the best at the position for a long time.

1B- Justin Morneau,27, Already an MVP and probably win it again this year.

CF- Carlos Gomez,22, Even though he struggled this year with the bat, he will be one of the best lead off guys in the game at some point.
RF- Denard Span,24, Better bat then Gomez this year but pretty much the sam as him those 2 will be a great one-two punch with Gomez.

LF- Delmon Young,23, Will become a elite hitter with Mauer and Morneau. And will make will show it would be dumb to trade him.

SP- Francisco Liriano,25, Will become one of the most dominant pitchers again and will win the Cy Young.

So pretty much you guys needs are SS, 3B and probably some more SP. Yeah Twins will be good.

I think the Cubs should trade for Cuddyer he is a 90 + RBI guy with some pop. Even though he was injury plagued this year I would still trade for him.
Casey McGehee and 2 others should get it done.

Let me just bring up one thing ...WE F'IN GAVE UP DAVID ORTIZ BECAUSE WE THOUGHT HE DIDN'T HAVE TGE POWER POTENTIAL THAT WE THOUGHT HE WOULD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!......................DON'T TRADE DELMON YOUNG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE. Sure, he hasn't shown the power potential that we all thought he had, but he was still able to hit for average. I never thought he would become a 40 home run guy, I thought he was more of a 20-25 home run guy and I THOUGHT everyone else knew that too!!! He has had two decent years as a starter in the majors so far. His day will come, the guy is still extremely young, GIVE HIM A BREAK!! I still see more potential in Young than I did with Michael Cuddyer when he first came up. Even if we were going to trade Delmon Young, we should AT LEAST get somebody who's worth as much as Young. HELL, we should have gotten Jose Reyes or David Wright for Santana as opposed to four mid-level prospects because GETTING QUALITY MEANS GIVING UP QUALITY!!! As an alternative to get a thirdbaseman or shortstop, I suggest we trade Jason Kubel, Glen Perkins plus two top prospects such as Brian Duensing and David Winfree for Adrian Beltre or Edwin Encarnacion. This way we would keep our outfield the way it is plus the DH spot would be open to either Cuddyer or Young. Then we could sign a free agent shortstop such as Orlando Cabrera, but if we can't, we have Punto and Harris split time at short, big deal.

Another possible trade I would consider would be Cuddyer, Perkins, and two prospects to the Marlins for Jorge Cantu and Kevin Gregg.

And, no way I do Fielder for Cain straight up. There has to be more added in on the Brewers' part. Cain is worth much more than Fielder.

Dcaff,
David Ortiz and Delmon Young are not at all analogous. Ortiz posted strong OBP's and passable slugging percentage's in almost every year as a Twin at the major league level, even though they jerked him between the majors and minors. In his last year with the Twins, he slugged 500 in over 400 at bats. Young has never hit nearly that well at the big league level, despite being given a full-time job for two years, unless you count his 30 game cup of coffee in 2006. His OPS+ the last two years have been 91 and 100, respectively. In Ortiz, the Twins traded a guy who had actually hit at the major league level. Trading Young would be different.

Young to the Phillies does seem like a good fit.

"Fielder is worth about 3 wins over the course of the season, where Cain is worth about 4.5, will cost about 1/3 less, and has an unreached ceiling. We know what Fielder can do, and although impressive, most GM's in baseball would take Cain consistency and ceiling over Fielder in a heartbeat."

You have to look at the two organizations. Fielder is exactly what the Giants don't have - a bona fide #3/#4 hitter. With Lincecum and Sanchez already in the majors and severak others (Bumgarner, Alderson, Sosa) on the way, they have a ton of young pitchers in the system. I agree that a one-for-one swap is unlikely, but if you add in another player like Hardy or Weeks, the two infield upgrades should offset the loss of Cain, especially with replacement starting pitchers waiting in the wings.

"David Ortiz and Delmon Young are not at all analogous. Ortiz posted strong OBP's and passable slugging percentage's in almost every year as a Twin at the major league level, even though they jerked him between the majors and minors. In his last year with the Twins, he slugged 500 in over 400 at bats. Young has never hit nearly that well at the big league level, despite being given a full-time job for two years, unless you count his 30 game cup of coffee in 2006. His OPS+ the last two years have been 91 and 100, respectively. In Ortiz, the Twins traded a guy who had actually hit at the major league level. Trading Young would be different."

In his last two years with the Twins, Ortiz had OBPs of .324 and .339 with AVGs of .234 and .272. Meanwhile he was 25 and 26 years old. Young, at 21 and 22, had OBPs of .316 and .336 and AVGs of .288 and .290. Ortiz also never had Young's speed or defensive gifts. The fact that Young can play the field and saves approximately 10 runs a year with his arm alone also adds significant value that Ortiz, a DH who is a defensive liability when he does play, simply doesn't have.

I'm not sure why you quoted my post in an attempt to disagree with me, when in the end, you agreed my most obvious point that 1:! for Fielder in Cain is uneven.

I see Zach Greinke as a better fit for the Phillies than Delmon Young. The Royals need a shortstop, outfielder and catcher. How about Jason Donald, Greg Golson, Chris Coste and Travis D'Arnaud?

A recent Baseball America interview mentioned Donald, Golson and D'Arnaud as possible top 100 prospects. Golson and Donald could be the Royals' opening day starters at CF and SS. Until D'Arnaud is ready, Coste would be KC's short-term solution at catcher, and they could use his bat at DH and 1st base. Travis D'Arnaud might be a better all-around prospect than Lou Marson,(better defense, more power) but needs a couple years to develop.

The Royals like speedy, toolsy outfielders and don't seem to emphasize emphasize OBP as much as other teams, so they might like Greg Golson.

There's no way the Phillies trade Lou Marson this off-season- forget it.

Houston really needs pitching but who would they trade to get Jake Peavy. there farm system consists of maybe three good prospects i said good not great.