How the Twins blockbuster trade affects the Cubs
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by LMedina86
Tuesday night, the Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Rays completed the first blockbuster trade of the off-season by sending pitcher Matt Garza, shortstop Jason Bartlett and minor league pitcher Eduardo Morlan to Tampa Bay for outfielder Delmon Young, infielder Brendan Harris and outfielder Jason Pridie.
I, for one, have never seen a blockbuster like this that involved so many young and talented players so this trade comes to me as a bit of a shocker. And the best thing about this trade is that (on paper) it seems like a fair deal.
The Rays get a young, talented and cheap pitcher in Garza and a defensive minded shortstop in Bartlett and the Twins get a right handed hitting thumper in Young.
In addition, this trade might make trading Johan Santana a little more difficult. Trading Santana right after trading Garza would be depleting 40% of their starting rotation. Not to mention that they are not likely going to re-sign Carlos Silva. That’s 60% of last year’s starting rotation out the door in 2008.
Their saving grace could be Francisco Liriano, who is coming off of a year away from baseball after recovering from arm surgery.
Now you’re probably wondering how this trade affects the Cubs. Follow me closely.
In a recent George King and Peter Sherman article, the Cubs are identified as a dark horse in the Santana derby through an unnamed NL executive. The centerpiece of a Cubs-Twins Santana deal would have been center fielder Felix Pie. That is no longer the case.
Now that Garza is gone, the Twins will now likely ask for a young, Major League-ready center fielder and a young, Major League-ready starting pitcher as a starting point for Santana.
The Cubs don’t have that. They have plenty of fringe pitching prospects, and pitchers who down the road could be front of the rotation starters. But as of right now, they do not have the quality or quantity of player the Twins would want in return.
Nor could they offer Santana the type of long term deal that he would want. But after 99 “next year’s”, one year of Santana, Zambrano, Hill, Lilly and (fill in the back end of the rotation here) could bring the Cubs a National League pennant.
However, a trade of Santana (not to the Cubs) could open up a potential fire sale in Minnesota that could include closer Joe Nathan. Nathan’s contract expires after 2008 and is looking for an extension. If the Twins are rebuilding from scratch, Nathan could help bring in several prospects.
After all, the Cubs are in need of a closer now that the news of Ryan Dempster joining the rotation is official.
But wait, there’s more.
The Garza/Young swap will also likely put an end to any Cubs/Rays trade involving Carl Crawford. Crawford’s name has been attached to the Cubs through trade rumors since the off-season began. But the Garza/Young deal likely kills any potential deal involving Crawford.
The Rays got their off-season shopping done by acquiring young, cheap pitching (Garza and Morlan) while also acquiring a defensive minded shortstop (Bartlett). And by trading young, the Tampa Bay outfield is now a little less crowded.
With the options of Crawford and Santana out of the picture, the Cubs really need to get on the ball and improve their ball club before the best available option is a guy like Geoff Jenkins.
