Comments on: Tampa Bay Trade http://www.twincitynotes.com/2007/11/29/tampa-bay-trade/ Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:33:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Steve B http://www.twincitynotes.com/2007/11/29/tampa-bay-trade/#comment-3 Steve B Sat, 01 Dec 2007 00:33:49 +0000 http://www.twincitynotes.com/2007/11/29/tampa-bay-trade/#comment-3 I am so happy about this trade. We get one of the premier young hitters in baseball at a fraction of the cost of Torii Hunter. I mean, this guy put up 90+ rbi's last year for Tampa Bay, imagine what he could do with some actual protection in the lineup. I would not be surprised at all if he puts up better numbers than Hunter across the board next year, and we basically control his rights until 2012 or something like that. By the time he begins to command a higher salary, we'll be in the new ballpark with the greater revenue streams. I'm not saying we'll hold onto him then, but we'll have a decent chance of it. So we lose Garza and Bartlett. Bartlett's a 28 year old, light-hitting shortstop who's prone to errors. Yeah, he'll make a Web Gem or two, but how many times has he not made the easy play? I think the Twins have been planning on moving Garza for some time now. Remember when he was sent down to the minors this summer to work specifically on using his off-speed pitches? He started getting hammered in Triple A and basically said, "screw it, I'm gonna keep throwing fastballs." I think it might have bugged a lot of people in the organization that he didn't heed their advice. They may have figured that Garza wasn't going to be the future #1 starter that he was projected to be and decided to go after a great young hitter. I really like this trade. When I initially emailed you about it on Monday I was kind of hesitant about losing both Johan and Garza in the same year. It's too hard to project pitching talent. It's easy to project hitting talent when you have a full year of play to evaluate a hitter. That's why you make this trade, especially when the pitcher isn't eager to learn and you have guys like Slowey, Perkins, Mr. Near no Hitter Scott Baker and some feller named Francisco something or other still on the team. As a final note, if we have learned nothing else from the Minnesota Twins' front office we have learned this: they are some of the best in the league when it comes to evaluating young pitching. I'm gonna trust them on Garza. I am so happy about this trade. We get one of the premier young hitters in baseball at a fraction of the cost of Torii Hunter. I mean, this guy put up 90+ rbi’s last year for Tampa Bay, imagine what he could do with some actual protection in the lineup. I would not be surprised at all if he puts up better numbers than Hunter across the board next year, and we basically control his rights until 2012 or something like that. By the time he begins to command a higher salary, we’ll be in the new ballpark with the greater revenue streams. I’m not saying we’ll hold onto him then, but we’ll have a decent chance of it.

So we lose Garza and Bartlett. Bartlett’s a 28 year old, light-hitting shortstop who’s prone to errors. Yeah, he’ll make a Web Gem or two, but how many times has he not made the easy play? I think the Twins have been planning on moving Garza for some time now. Remember when he was sent down to the minors this summer to work specifically on using his off-speed pitches? He started getting hammered in Triple A and basically said, “screw it, I’m gonna keep throwing fastballs.” I think it might have bugged a lot of people in the organization that he didn’t heed their advice. They may have figured that Garza wasn’t going to be the future #1 starter that he was projected to be and decided to go after a great young hitter.

I really like this trade. When I initially emailed you about it on Monday I was kind of hesitant about losing both Johan and Garza in the same year. It’s too hard to project pitching talent. It’s easy to project hitting talent when you have a full year of play to evaluate a hitter. That’s why you make this trade, especially when the pitcher isn’t eager to learn and you have guys like Slowey, Perkins, Mr. Near no Hitter Scott Baker and some feller named Francisco something or other still on the team.

As a final note, if we have learned nothing else from the Minnesota Twins’ front office we have learned this: they are some of the best in the league when it comes to evaluating young pitching. I’m gonna trust them on Garza.

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