The Twins drew some criticism for not trading away more of their veteran players, such as Dernard Span, Josh Willingham or Justin Mournou at the August 1 non-waiver trading deadline.
They did trade their most talented starting pitcher, Francisco Liriano, 28, once nicknamed “The Franchise,” to the rival Chicago White Sox, and have since traded former starting third baseman, Danny Valencia, 27, to the Boston Red Sox.
With veteran pitchers, Carl Pavano, 36, and Matt Capps, 28, spending untimely stints on the disabled list, it would seem like the team may be through making swaps. Jared Burton, 31, is sure to get plenty of inquiries, and is a free agent at the end of the year, but the feeling is that the team will want to pursue the reliever for next season, who has been stellar with a 2.25 ERA over 44 innings.
Realistically, Span and Willingham are professional players under bargain contracts, and would be hard to replace at the major league level. Additionally, Ben Revere has proved that he can play right field, and the Twins should be very content with their outfield for next season.
Trading Liriano to the division-leading White Sox may be a tough pill to swallow, but the White Sox are very familiar with Liriano’s talents were willing to overlook his unsightly 3-10 record and 5.31 ERA. He’s also a free-agent at the end of the year, and was unlikely to be re-signed with a hefty salary raise expected.
In fact, the Twins received two decent upper-level prospects in the trade. Eduardo Escobar is only 23, and had spent the entire season as the White Sox utility middle infielder. According to reports, Escobar is a speedy switch-hitter with a good arm and glove, projected as an Orlando Cabrera-type player. He gives the team needed depth at shortstop, a position that has been unstable for the Twins since Jason Bartlett was traded after the 2007 season.
The Twins also acquired left-handed starting pitcher Pedro Hernandez, 23, who has a slightly above-average fastball, along with a decent slider and change-up. Although not a front-line starter, he’s a good control pitcher with potential, and has had a nice season split between AA and AAA, with an 8-3 record and 3.49 ERA in 87.2 innings pitched.
Hernandez gives the Twins a legitimate young prospect to add to the starting pitching mix, as they have been forced to test out older rookie pitchers such as Sam Deduno, 29, and P.J. Walters, 27, and Cole DeVries, 27, for much of the year.
Danny Valencia, meanwhile, had all but fallen off the Twins radar after a poor season in the majors .198 BA, 2 HR, 132 ABs, and mediocre stats in AAA .250, 7 HR, 284 ABs. Although he showed decent production in 2009 and 2010, Trevor Plouffe has emerged as the third-base favorite, with 19 HRs in 259 ABs this season.
In the Valencia trade, the Twins acquired Rookie-ball outfielder Jeremias Pineda, 21, a switch-hitter who was batting .421 in 133 ABs, along with 14 stolen bases, for the Gulf Coast rookie league. This is the type of low-level acquisition Terry Ryan has always had a knack for, and not a bad trade considering Valencia’s current value.
d.anderson 2012
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