Wow did I pick the wrong day to forget my cell phone at home this morning! It’s the only way I have of accessing social media sites like Twitter or any of my personal email accounts from my office. As a result of that (and actually doing some work today), I’ve been a bit slow to catch breaking news. Any other day, that wouldn’t have been a big deal, but today it’s a very big deal!
Many of us have talked in recent weeks about how the Twins need to trade from a position of strength, such as their outfield depth, to fill a position of need (that would be starting pitching, for those who haven’t been keeping up). Today, the Twins doubled down on the gamble they made a week ago in trading CF Denard Span by also trading CF Ben Revere to the Phillies.
Span brought “just” a minor league pitcher with top-of-the-rotation upside. Revere, however, not only brought a very highly rated minor league starting pitcher (Trevor May), but also a Major League starting pitcher (Vance Worley) who, if healthy, could arguably slot in above Scott Diamond in the 2013 rotation.
While I don’t think the Twins went to Nashville intending to trade Revere, the market for CFs seemed to almost explode once they got there and Terry Ryan took advantage of that.
My reaction to the Span trade last week was something along the lines of, “that’s too bad, I really like Span, but the Twins absolutely need pitching that has ‘ace’ potential, so this is a fair deal.”
My reaction to the Revere trade today was more like, “I’m really going to miss Revere’s smile and his overall approach to playing baseball, but HOLY CRAP the Twins got a great return for him!”
This deal didn’t come out of nowhere, but it certainly seemed to fall in place quickly.
Last night, there were rumors that Revere’s name was being mentioned and that the Twins were open to listening to proposals.
This morning, the Strib’s LaVelle E. Neal III posted in his blog that the Twins spent the night isolated in their suite working on a Revere trade and had recalled their PR guy from the airport where he was getting ready to fly back to Minnesota. Obviously, this was not just idle chat, but we all can point to multiple deals the Twins have “almost” pulled off over the years at the Winter Meetings.
By mid-morning, there was speculation that the Twins might be targeting high upside pitching prospects, but I personally wondered how that would sell with most Twins fans. I felt they would need to get some kind of immediate help in any further trades of current MLB starting position players, including Revere.
By noon, we had our answer. The Twins not only landed a young, talented Big League pitcher who’s under team control for several more years, but also another AA level starting pitching prospect who immediately would have to be considered one of the team’s top 10 prospects (MLB.com had him ranked as the #2 prospect in the Phillies organization).
I hope Ryan isn’t done getting pitching help for 2013 and beyond, but despite the fears of many people (myself included) he certainly is not returning from Nashville empty handed. Congratulations to the Twins front office certainly appears to be in order today.
– JC
Congrats to Ben Revere, who will get to play meaningful games this season. I agree, JC, the couple times I met Revere (after he was “established” in MN), he came across as incredibly humble, and truly spoke as if he had an absolute passion for the game.
Finally this organization traded from its position of strength. Even though 2 of the 3 players returned for Span and Revere are prospects, it seems to me that the 2013 Twins certainly didn’t get any worse, as Worley should be decent and we freed up payroll from Span.
My other question, as it pertains to several of your previous posts, is do these moves make it increasingly likely that the Twins are officially punting in 2013, and, if so, how do you feel about that, given that, in just 1 week, our top 10 prospect list has 2 new pitchers in it?
for the better part of the whole last season, I have said that I thought Ben Revere was actually more valuable as trade bait than Span just because he’s younger. I think this was a pretty darn good trade and it’s actual balance will only be determinable when we know how Worley will be healthwise – but supposedly he got that problem elbow cleaned out and has been cleared.
IF Worley turns out to be ready to play day 1 and can be a rotation guy, than I think the Twins actually got the better side of that balance for sure. But when it comes to making a value judgement, THIS is the kind of trade I would have expected for Span and it’s why I was disappointed with a single prospect. I think we may come out ok in the balance with the two trades combined if we get lucky on the health front. If not, we’re going to be hurting again for a whole season so it’s a bit of a gamble – which it always is.
The hard part for a lot of Twins fans may be in the fact that they thought the Span trade was ok BECAUSE we still had Revere – now what do they think of that trade when we don’t have him either?
I do think we are going to have to do some SERIOUS exploring and trial and error to find a top of the order hitter or two that will have anywhere NEAR the spark for runs that Span & Revere were able to contribute.
So, folk, is TR doing enough during Winter Meetings for you?
TR was just on MLB Network saying that the Twins and the Phillies starting talking about Revere in the GM meetings about a month ago…
This is a good move. The Twins now got one starter better than Diamond. Give them 2 starters better than Worley and they might compete in 2013…
I’ve obviously been critical of Ryan’s lack of activity, so I thought it was only appropriate to give credit where it was due on the Revere trade. This was a good trade.
If this is ALL he does in order to improve the 2013 product, then the answer is, “no… his work is not finished.” If this is it, then yeah, AW, he’s punted on 2013 and I think he’s being VERY unfair to Gardy to place his head on the chopping block if the team loses a ton of games again.
That said, this is just the end of the Winter Meetings, not the end of the offseason. This trade certainly should not close the door on the possible signing of free agent pitching. Guys like Marcum, Jackson, and McCarthy are still available. I don’t hold it against Ryan that he hasn’t signed any of that kind of pitcher yet since none of them were likely to sign until Greinke and Sanchez establish the market. Once those dominos fall, though, Ryan should kick in to gear and add 2 more SPs, at least one of which should be at that “2nd tier” level. If he signed, for example, Marcum and Brett Myers, I’d say he’s at least made a good faith effort to fix the rotation. He should, imo, do BETTER than that, but I’ve pretty much given up on Sanchez and Jackson. I’d actually consider Worley, if healthy, a better addition than Jackson.
Babs, I think the Twins REALLY wanted Meyer, but Atlanta had some guys they wanted more. When the Braves signed Upton and the Nationals made Meyer available, Ryan had the guy he wanted and acted before the Nationals had time to trade Meyer to someone else. Hindsight is 20-20 and had they known just how hot the market would be in Nashville for CFs, I suspect they would have waited a week to deal Span. I think the CF market surprised a lot of people.
Thrylos, I’m not even convinced adding two pitchers better than Worley will assure the Twins of competing in 2013, but I agree it at least would give them a chance. They do now have a hole in CF and at least one spot at the top of the batting order to fill somehow. Maybe Hicks will be ready, maybe someone else, maybe nobody.
But if they add a couple more legitimate MLB starting pitchers, they should at least put an interesting product on the field in 2013 and that’s really what I’m asking for. I don’t expect miracles.
I’m concerned about OBP at top of lineup. Now might be time to put Mauer in #2 slot. Evn if Hicks makes team, I can’t see Gardy using him in leadoff spot immediately.
Jeff, I’m pretty sure that Mastrioanni will be right there in the mix for leadoff hitting – we’ll see how that goes but at least he did fairly well when he had a few chances in 2012.
I wonder if they’ll give Mastroianni a shot at CF and leading off. I’ve always thought Mauer was a pretty good candidate to bat #2. I’m also concerned about OF defense, in addition to the offense lost via Span and Revere. But those are problems for another day. đŸ™‚
I like the deal, but mostly because I’ve never been all that high on Ben Revere’s potential. Looks like the Twins are getting a pretty good prospect (high K/9 rates), who has had significant control issues and didn’t exactly dominate AA last season, plus a fine young pitcher who will be under club control for at least 4 years but is returning from elbow surgery. So, we’ll see how that goes. Hopefully, there’s nothing wrong with Worley’s elbow besides that bone spur they cleaned out, and he’ll be back in shape by the second half of next season.
“Hindsight is 20-20 and had they known just how hot the market would be in Nashville for CFs, I suspect they would have waited a week to deal Span.”
I’m not sure this trade is really better than the Span deal, though. I think it goes to show that Ryan might have received two pitchers, instead of one, if he had been willing to take two guys with less upside and/or more risk attached than the kid he got from the Nats. But Ryan must have realized that even last week. Like you say, he probably just really liked Alex Meyer (who looks like a better prospect than May, and has the potential to be better than Worley), and took the opportunity to grab the best prospect he could get in return for Span.
I admit that I’m left wishing we could just fast-forward through 2013 and get ready for 2014.
I guess, if nothing else, it could make for a fun season for those of us who enjoy following the Twins minor league teams.