Well that was kind of anti-climactic wasn’t it? For awhile there, it really looked like the Twins order would once again have a former Yankee in it, albeit one slightly better than Ruben Sierra. Jim Bowdon, however, fresh off his fleecing of the Reds, seemed to have had quite a high asking price, namely Matt Garza. Or maybe the Nats just wanted to resign Soriano. Terry Ryan might have his faults, but let’s all thank the baseball gods that Jim Bowdon isn’t in charge of our squad.
Like all good GM’s, it seems that Ryan doesn’t play chicken, and when the Twins decided not to trade away the best pitcher in their system for a two month rental they weren’t going to back down. Whether or not they’ll regret that decision remains to be seen, and depends on two factors—whether or not they make the playoffs, and how Garza turns out. If he keeps pitching like he has been, Garza will get his first chance to prove he’s worth more than two months of Soriano this season.
And while they didn’t get a big bat for the cleanup spot, the Twins did manage to utilize the trade deadline to divest themselves of Kyle Lohse, someone who’s proven his ability to use a bat in slightly less traditional means. The move clears up payroll, both by removing part of Lohse’s salary and by lessening the chance the Twins have to use their precious resources to replace manager’s doors and furniture in the clubhouse once every five days.
They also managed to get one of the Reds’ top ten prospects out of the deal in Zach Ward, who’s been phenomenal in low A ball and will likely be promoted by the Twins. Once again, it looks like the Master has gotten the upper hand in a trade with his student. And if you’re interested, you can see a host of ex-Twins scrimmage each other in September at Wrigley Field.
And now, for some quick links:
- Twinkietown has a lengthy discussion of the Lohse-Ward trade.
- The cast of Baseball Tonight getting you down? Well, it turns out there is a way to get fired from that show. Sadly, it has nothing to do with being a horrible analyst.
- Finally, Peter Gammons’ health continues to improve. If we’re lucky, he’ll be back in time for the waiver deadline.
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2 comments:
Not sure if it's been confirmed or not, but I believe si.com reported today that the Twins agreed to pick up some of Kyle's salary thru the rest of this year, so the dumping of salary thing may not be the case.
I heard that as well after writing this. My guess is that we agreed to replace anything Lohse might break.
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