Dave Cameron slammed the trade but this is exactly what the Twins need to be doing. They are a 65 win team with almost no pitching anywhere in the system. If possible I would like to see a similar deal with Willingham.
The Nationals announced that they acquired center fielder Denard Span from the Twins for minor league right-hander Alex Meyer. The Twins have confirmed the deal.
Span, 28, provides the Nationals with an established center fielder. His presence will presumably keep Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth in outfield corners. It could also impact the Nationals' interest in Adam LaRoche, since Michael Morse's primary position might now be first base. Alternatively, the Nationals could move Morse to a team seeking offense and continue pursuing LaRoche.
Span posted a .283/.342/.395 batting line in 568 plate appearances with Minnesota in 2012, numbers that compare closely to his career mark of .284/.357/.389. The five-year MLB veteran will earn $4.75MM in 2013 and $6.5MM in 2014. His contract includes a $9MM club option for 2015 with a $500K buyout.
Meyer, the 23rd overall selection of the 2011 draft, pitched well in 2012, his lone season as a pro. He pitched at Class A, posting a 2.86 ERA with 9.7 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 129 innings. The 6'9" 22-year-old might rank sixth among Twins prospects, John Manuel of Baseball America notes (on Twitter).
There needs to be a distinction made between rebuilding and dumping salary since the two are not exclusive. The Twins are not a poor team and aren't going to dump expensive players. At 14M Morneau basically has no value (probably negative value) so he wouldn't net much of a prospect unless the Twins covered a lot (more than half of the contract) so there isn't much of a reason to trade him. Willingham OTOH has pretty good value and that's why I would like to see a similar move made with him. I could see the trade market for morneau picking up at the deadline when he's only owed 4-5M though.
Just to get this out of the way - mauer isn't going anywhere for the reasons explained above.
kab21 wrote:Dave Cameron slammed the trade but this is exactly what the Twins need to be doing.
Seems to me he didn't slam the idea of the trade as much as the return.
Slamming the return is slamming the trade which is exactly what I said. If they had traded Span for a pile of crappy pitching prospects then I would have slammed the trade also despite acquiring pitchers.
I continue to be impressed with Terry Ryan in his 2nd offseason. He signed Willingham and Doumit last year to great contracts. And now he has pulled off two nice trades.
Revere was just traded to Philly for Trevor May and Vance, Vance Revolution
Perhaps I'm too excited about a #4 starter and a lottery pick prospect but the Twins have no pitching so this is a nice start. May does have some big issues to work out though. OTOH Revere really wasn't all that good unless you love an empty BA and SB's. Not a bad deal for Philly though.
kab21 wrote:I continue to be impressed with Terry Ryan in his 2nd offseason. He signed Willingham and Doumit last year to great contracts. And now he has pulled off two nice trades.
Revere was just traded to Philly for Trevor May and Vance, Vance Revolution
Perhaps I'm too excited about a #4 starter and a lottery pick prospect but the Twins have no pitching so this is a nice start. May does have some big issues to work out though. OTOH Revere really wasn't all that good unless you love an empty BA and SB's. Not a bad deal for Philly though.
Vance is an underrated starter. No telling what swapping leagues will do to him, but I'd be happy with him in the back end of a rotation.
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by kab21 » Thu Nov 29, 2012 11:42 pm 
