Twins Trade Deadline Recap

The 2012 non-waiver trade deadline came and went yesterday afternoon with very little activity from the Minnesota Twins. Depending on your perspective, this approach was either stunning or exactly what you expected.

If you’ll recall, I said a week ago that I wouldn’t be surprised if the only Twin to be moved would be Francisco Liriano. Looking at the players the Twins had who were sought after; Denard Span, Josh Willingham, Justin Morneau and Glen Perkins, you can easily see the Twins didn’t HAVE to move any of them.

Last season, the Twins stood pat at the trade deadline despite holding the expiring contracts of Michael Cuddyer, Jim Thome, Joe Nathan, Jose Mijarles and Jason Kubel. The Twins were desperately hoping they could continue playing well and maybe make a run at the AL Central title. That plan was shortsighted and foolhardy and it fully backfired on the Twins as the team went on to finish 2011 with 99 losses.

This season, the Twins stubbornly held onto Span, Willingham, Morneau, Perkins and Jared Burton – putting a high asking price on their players and not backing down. This year, however, I feel this was the savvy decision. Hypocrisy you say? Let me explain.

First, none of the above listed players have expiring deals. They are all under team control for at least one more season.  By not trading them now, it’s not the Twins are not going to get anything from any of these players. They’ll all come back next season and be part of a fairly good offense.

My second point builds on that fact – the offense is fairly good. Yes, this team is losing because the starting pitching has largely been horrid – but trading away a functioning offense to acquire pitching does little to help the team. It simply passes the buck to another area of the club.

With the offense presently constructed, this Twins team can compete in the AL Central in 2013. We’ve seen that Detroit is not the powerhouse that we all assumed they would be. While the White Sox are good they certainly don’t look like they’ll run away with the division over the next few seasons either. The Twins are a decent (league average) pitching rotation away from being contenders in this division. Selling off a competent offense will do little to fix this team.

The Twins front office will have to spend money on free agent pitchers this coming offseason. If they want to continue this push of “contending, not rebuilding” and keep fans coming to their shiny new park, they are going to have to quit cutting payroll and embrace the fact that Morneau, Mauer, Doumit, Willingham and Span dictate that this team needs to compete sooner rather than later.

This trade line will be graded based largely on what happens during the winter months. If a few big fish come the Twins way, not selling at the deadline will be a smart move. If they try a few more retread pitchers (akin to Jason Marquis) this deadline will be a failure.

Bye, Bye Liriano

The one trade the Twins did make came Saturday evening. The Twins moved inconsistent left hander Francisco Liriano to the White Sox for Pedro Hernandez and Eduardo Escobar. 

Hernandez is a 23 year old left hander that was ranked as the 8^th to 20^th best player in the White Sox farm system to begin the season. Escobar, also 23 years old, is a solid defensive infielder with a slightly below average bat. (Similar to Pedro Florimon, currently in Rochester). Escobar was ranked 4^th to not listed in the top prospects for the White Sox prior to 2012. (Obviously there’s some disagreement here).  

Surprisingly, many Twins fans took to Twitter – outraged that the Twins let Liriano go for “so little”.

First and foremost, Hernandez is a young pitcher who looks to have a lot of upside. He’s been solid in AA and AAA this season, but had struggled in his one major league start. He’s not major league ready this season – but his pitch selection, especially his off speed pitches, are supposed to be top tier quality. He reminds me a lot of the Twins’ own Liam Hendriks. He has the talent to be in the big leagues, but just needs another season in the minors. Come 2013, both Hernandez and Hendriks could be key parts of a Twins starting rotation.

Escobar fills a big need for the Twins as well. Their middle infield, while not nearly as weak defensively as it was last season, is still nothing to be admired. Jamey Carroll has performed well in a starting role, but the Twins know he’s only a temporary solution. Alexi Casilla is what he is at this point, he’s not turning into the next super start at second base like the Twins had hoped. The biggest problem the Twins have had is that there’s little in the way of depth. Levi Michaels is still 2 to 3 years from the majors and Tsuyoshi Nishioka is clearly not going to be the player the Twins wanted him to be. Even with Brian Dozier playing well – albeit inconsistently – this season, the Twins needed depth in the middle infield. Escobar gives them that depth.

I feel like the outrage from the Liriano trade is coming from fans forgetting exactly who Francisco Liriano is in the big picture of Major League Baseball. Yes, Liriano was likely the best pitcher on the staff for the Twins from 2006 – 2011, but that doesn’t make him one of the best pitchers in the league. He’s inconsistent, has the tendancy to “blow up” an inning when he gets in his own head and (this is key) his contract was up at the end of the year.

The Twins essentially got 2 promising young players for an aging left hander who was destined to be a free agent in the coming season. All in all, I’d call this trade a “win” for the Twins.