The first deal sent Tadahto Iguchi to the Philadelphia Phillies for Michael Dubee. The Phillies were one of three teams looking for second basemen at the deadline, with the Mets and the Padres being the other two. Unfortunately for the Twins, there are also plenty of players available:
Castillo is listed there in the middle of the bunch. In actuality, I think he's considered more valuable than Iguchi, and at about the same level as Grudzielanek and Loretta. But he certainly isn't head and shoulders above that crowd.
So what did the White Sox get in return? Dubee is a 21-year-old anA ball minor league reliever. His stats look fine, but that still makes him just an A ball minor league reliever. Kinda like Eduardo Morlan in Fort Myers. Oh, you don't know Morlan? My point exactly. (Actually, it looks like Morlan is significantly better than Dubee.)
The other trade was Kenny Lofton to the Indians from the Texas Rangers. Lofton is definitely having a better year (.303/.380/.438) than any of the guys up there, and he plays center field, a tougher position. The Indians gave up Max Ramirez, a 22-year-old catcher who is slugging the heck out of the ball - wait for it - in A ball. I don't mean to knock Ramirez, who looks like he could be pretty good - wait for it, wait for it again - in 2010.
For Twins fans who think that dumping some of the smaller name players like Silva or Castillo are going to lead to immediate returns next year, this isn't good news. The Twins might - might - be able to turn these guys into some players who can be organizational assets, but immediate help doesn't seem to be the going rate.
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2 comments:
I don't think the Twins make any trades looking for "immediate help" - that would take a commodity like Joe Nathan, and I don't see that happening. Nor - looking at things today - should it.
If the story told about Johan during the Indians broadcast - he's not going to negotiate with the Twins until after next year, when he's a free agent - then the goals this off season ought to be sign Morneau, replace Hunter (maybe with Hunter) and add one "REAL" bat.
In short, if this team is going to really content, Carl's going to have to open up the vault - payroll needs to go up about 15 million a year the next couple years, more if necesary.
This coming off season, keep what we need from the current roster & add one; the following off season, keep what we need (Johan above all) and add another.
JB,
There is a minor tweak to the Iguchi "trade". When the White Sox signed him, the contract states that they CANNOT offer him arbitration, which makes him a FA.
It could be as simple as no draft pick compensation for Iguchi made other GM's back off.
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