My first thought as I'm sure many others is "that's it?"
Don't get me wrong, Phil Hughes is a great young pitcher who could one day be a #1 starter on the Twins. But he's had some injury problems in his career that has given him the nickname "Prior-lite." In reference to the oft-injured Mark Prior.
I think that Melky Cabrera is a fine young outfielder, but he's not going to make a big difference for the Twins as I think that Denard Span has about as much upside as he does (although some may not feel that way).
Austin Jackson is a fairly good outfield prospect, but his "top prospect" status is inflated by having a very good half-season in Advanced-A ball this season. He probably won't be ready to make an impact until the Twins open the new stadium in 2010.
So that gives the Twins one great young pitcher, a serviceable outfielder and a "B" prospect.
I personally don't think that's such a bad thing when you look at it that way, but I really wish the Twins could find a better offensive bat in the deal other than Melky Cabrera.
If the deal were Phil Hughes and say Robinson Cano, then I'd accept it. But I'm not sold on Melky Cabrera and quite frankly I'd rather try to get Reggie Willits from the Angels in exchange for a young pitching prospect instead.
But if this deal does come true, it would only fill one void that the Twins would have, centerfield. The reason why I don't think that Hughes would fill a void is because I think that even without Santana, I think we're fine with pitching. Sure Hughes would make it better, but I think we could get by without him.
Obviously, he'd give us a very promising rotation, but if you substituted Hughes with Kevin Slowey or Glen Perkins, I think it'd also be very promising as well.
I think the Twins need to demand Cano in a deal with the Yankees. He's a proven .300 hitter and looks like he could develop with 25-30 home run potential.
Cano would help strengthen our weak lineup, and although he's expressed no interest in doing so, he could some day be a candidate to move back to third base.
He doesn't exactly fill a dire need, but he immensely improves a position that we don't really have a great player at.
I don't really like either deal compared to the deals I think we could get from other teams, but I also think that it is a very low-ball type of offer and I really want to see the Twins get something more.
Later this week, I'll give some "realistic" trade options for the Twins, as I've been pretty much doing all off-season long.
2 comments:
I think that Melky Cabrera is a fine young outfielder, but he's not going to make a big difference for the Twins as I think that Denard Span has about as much upside as he does
Uh... Cabrera was putting up considerably better numbers in the major leagues as a 21-year-old than Span put up in Triple-A as a 23-year-old. Cabrera has great plate discipline, some power and excellent defensive ability. By all accounts, Span has none of those things. Cabrera is a much better player.
The above comment is wrong. Nick, Cabrera isn't much better than Denard Span. Cabrera is much much much better than Denard Span.
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