Rumors Swirl That Twins Could Trade Delmon Young for Jarrod Washburn
A lot of news is coming out of the AL Central this week. Yesterday, the Seattle Post-Intellegencer reported that the Twins were included in a deal involving Jarrod Washburn and Jeff Clement in exchange for outfielder Delmon Young.
I doubt Carl Pohlad would approve. Washburn’s $10.35MM dollar contract is roughly 5x the payroll of our current starting staff, and he’d be no more than our 4th or 5th starter. The other part of the story that seems fishy is that we would be getting Jeff Clement in return. Clement was the 3rd overall pick in the 2005 draft and certainly has a lot of upside, but are we seriously going to acquire another young catcher? It smells like a Boston fan played a hand in this rumor as the assumption in acquiring Clement would be that Mauer is out the door after his contract expires in two years (most notably to Boston).
Would it be nice to have Jarrod Washburn in the rotation? Yes.
Would it be nice to have a top prospect in the wings? Yes.
Should we really be giving up Delmon Young in a deal that doesn’t fill either of our primary needs? No.
If we are dead-set on dealing Delmon Young, we should focus on the left side of the infield while grabbing a worthwhile setup man. Liriano, Slowey, Blackburn, and Baker will be excellent for years to come and with Humber, Mulvey, Swarzak, and Perkins among others for us to pick from, the Twins will
definitely be able to fill out that 5th spot in the rotation by season start. By the way, Joe Mauer will be a life-long Twin. This may be the only time I ever say this, but the Twins will pay the big bucks to keep him around. Jeff Clement would be great, but the only time we’d ever use him would be to deal him down the road.
I’m not crazy about this deal. I don’t see the Twins picking up Washburn’s salary and I don’t see the Twins taking a high prospect in Jeff Clement when we have Joe Mauer. It just doesn’t make sense even though both would be nice to have around. I’m also not ready to give up on Delmon Young. Anybody else somewhat surprised that Beltre’s name wasn’t thrown into the mix when that story broke?
In other news, the Twins can officially cross Ty Wigginton’s name off their wishlist as the Baltimore Orioles signed him to a 2 year $6MM dollar deal today. Apparently, other offers were on the table (possibly the Twins?), but that second guaranteed year by Baltimore was enough to ink the deal.
The Chicago White Sox are reportedly going after Bobby Abreu. This comes as a shock to some as the White Sox claimed to be finished making moves this offseason, but the rumor is that they’ve already put a one year, $8MM deal on the table. Could they possibly fill their outfield with Dye, Quentin, and Abreu? It would be a defensive nightmare for Chicago, but their lineup would have as much pop as anybody’s. However, it’s practically a foregone conclusion that Jermaine Dye will be dealt if Abreu is a member of the White Sox next season. Regardless, it has to be exciting to have Ken Williams calling the shots, but I have to say, Twins fans have to like seeing Bobby Abreu’s name in that lineup rather than Jermaine Dye’s.
Scott Baker is thinking long term with the Twins. This is great news as Baker has many good years of baseball left. Here’s to hoping we can lock him up long term.
Former Twins pitcher Eddie Guardado just signed with the Texas Rangers today. Guardado was a key component of the Twins’ AL Central titles in the early part of the decade and its good seeing him get more work.
Tags: Chicago White Sox, Delmon Young, hot stove, jermaine dye, minnesota twins, MLB
---------------
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing with your friends:
