Cabrera for Ladendorf is done
Posted on July 31st, 2009 – 12:19 PMBy La Velle
The Twins and A’s have agreed to a deal sending Orlando Cabrera to Minny in return for infield prospect Tyler Ladendorf. Someone with the Twins just informed me that they are, “wheeling and dealing.”
Oakland will receive infielder Landendorf, who tore it up at E-Town this year before being promoted to Beloit, here he’s batting .233 in 15 games at Class A Beloit. But he’s considered a good offensive shortstop prospect.
More details to come…
137 Responses to "Cabrera for Ladendorf is done"
Wow … well, it’s a start …
excellent hardly gave up anything!!!!
I’m not sold on the guy but hopefully he can be like Stewart in 03…
Good deal. I haven’t heard of Ladendorf, was he a top 10 prospect?
Decent deal..not giving up a upper level prospect. Are the Twins done dealing LaVelle?
That’s a fair deal… but like I said in the last thread, when I see Gardy actually using Cabrera with Harris instead of pairing him with Punto/Casilla, THEN I’ll consider it an upgrade. Until then, it’s just a minor improvement in depth because Cabrera is not enough of an improvement over Harris to make a difference.
Anyway… go get a pitcher or two with all the extra time you have left on the clock, Bill.
something for nothing i guess
Gleeman had him ranked 32 on the Twins prospect list going into this year.
Brian Dozier and Beresford apparently are making MN feel better about giving up Ladendorf. That’s too bad. I’m not thrilled about Cabrera. just don’t think he’ll bring that much.
Only potential positive is getting him fired up about sticking it to the CHISOX
Does “wheeling and dealing” mean more trades? I’d love to get a starter if possible.
La Velle,
You said the deal was not even close earlier in your update and that Oakland wanted Danny Valenica. Who was your source Les Nessman!!! Will Cabrear play with the team tonight??
The value of this trade is totally contingent upon how Gardy uses O-Cab and others. If this puts Punto & Casilla on the bench in backup roles, the trade will be beneficial. I am worried O-Cab will replace Harris, which will make the trade not worth the effort.
Any chance the OC can play 2b?
Wheeling and Dealing??? Does this mean we can expect to see another move before the trade deadline? We need a starter and a reliever to compete for the Central Title.
But does he bust his tail? Then he will fit in with the rest of the guys.
trade delmon young!!!!!!!!!
Awesome deal. Ladendorf was not one of our top caliber prospects and how we got the A’s to lower the price is great. This should be the spark we need.
This is a good pick-up for a push against the Tigers. This Cabrerra guy will be motivated playing for his next contract and now we have the White Sox in a vox. Counter what Dombrowski did for the Tigers with a pitcher and BS will have Dave’s number. I was wrong about the balloon leaking. At least they did something, even if it doesn’t work they went for it and got something and that is good to see.
I still can’t believe Detroit got Jared Washburn for 2 low level prospects. Detroit just won the division with this move. Did the Twins even TRY to go after Washburn?
One thing that everyone seems to be forgetting here is the fact that Harris is been getting the majority of playing time at 3B.
Yes, assuming Crede remains somewhat healthy it is only a minor upgrade, but who really believes Joe will play even 75% of our remaining games. The lineup really looks thin with Harris, Punto AND Casilla playing. At least now we can sprinkle Cabrera into the mix.
Now who gets sent down??? Buscher or Casilla…
@JimCrikket
couldn’t agree more. as long either cabrera or harris is playing 2nd this deal is solid.
MHFESQ,
Gardy never plays Harris at SS he plays Nick Punto 85% of the time. Cabrera is the starting shortstop for the Twins there is no doubt about it. Harris will be in utility role and Punto and Casilla will play 2B. This is a great move trust me.
didnt harris play alot of 2b for the rays?
Jim, you have a point, but with Crede unable to stay on the field the twins can use him at 3rd And not have punto and Cadillac in the lineup together! To me that makes this move make a lot of sense
I’d like an explanation from LEN and Joe C (”double teamed effort”) as to why Thrylos beat them to the punch on the trade.
Get it together boys!
My brother in law saw Ladendorf play this spring and said he thought he looked sharp. Hopefully this doesnt come back to haunt us, because Caberera 5 years ago is who I wanted…not now. He’s hardly an improvment, but maybe harris can go to 2nd for the rest of the year. Another starting pitcher would be nice…but I want to keep our top 4 prospects, we’re going to need them
Eh, not giving up nothing here, the guy WAS a second-round pick just last year. Even still, it’s not like it’s a steep price. I guess I just hope there’s something more to come, and this isn’t just a token move to throw a bone to the vets who were complaining.
Buster Olney: Twins have told Cabrera they want him in the lineup tonight. He’s “running” to get there.
Ladendorf was ranked #32 in Aaron Gleeman’s 2009 Top 40 Twins Prospects.
Cabrera essentially is Brendan Harris except he’s 6 years older and plays poorer defense.
However, Gardentool hates Harris so we’d see alot of Punto-Casilla the rest of the year.
So now it will be Cabrera-Punto the rest of the way out because we all know there’s no way Puntos coming out of the lineup.
Meh……
Cabrera hasn’t played 2B in 10 years so I can’t see the Twins trading for him in order to move him to a new position. Harris struggles at 2B, so I don’t see any way Harris and Cabrera play together.
2B will either be Casilla, Punto, or Grudzielanek.
I like it. Cabrera can add some energy and swagger to this team, and can be plugged in to the 2 or 7 hole. Even if it’s a minor upgrade it’s worth it. And if reports that Morneau and Mauer wanted him on board, then yes, it was worth. Keeping those dudes happy is a priority.
And as long as I don’t have to watch Alexi Casilla play as a Twin any longer, then it was well, well worth it.
What makes me happy about this trade is that we did what Mauer and Morneau wanted… I know that sounds silly but when Mauer negotiations begin, hopefully Mauer will remember that we did go out and get the guy he wanted. I was very afraid that we wouldn’t make any moves and that would piss off Mauer, like we did w/Hunter, Santana, etc.
I don’t think Cabrera can play 2B and we know Harris cannot. So this means you will see one of three options.
2B Punto/Casilla SS Cabrera 3B Crede
2B Punto/Casilla SS Cabrera 3B Harris
I really didn’t think we were looking to upgrade at SS, but it would be nice in 2-3 weeks to see this…
LF Span
SS Cabrera
C Mauer
1B Morneau
DH Kubel
RF Cuddyer
3B Crede
CF Gomez
2B Grudzelinek
Ladendorf will turn out to be the next Jason Bartlett.
I’m so excited! Given the responses here so far, I understand why BS made the move he made.
Nothing to get excited about here, we’re just exchanging Cabrera for Harris. Offense remains the same, fielding might improve slightly.
How about 2nd baseman Kelly Johnson from the Braves ??
LaVelle,
As you’ve been over, Cabrera is probably not an upgrade over Punto/Harris at short; his arrival should at least get Casilla out of the lineup.
I agree that Ladendorf was a good prospect, but he’s far enough away that he can probably be replaced in next year’s draft.
Here’s to hoping that Cabrera’s acquisition provides a psychological boost for the team.
so who gets sent down?
is casilla that bad that we cannot offer him in a trade?
Nora
I never said that he was a great prospect. All I said was that he was probably the best SS prospect the Twins had, which isn’t saying much. The Twins have no Middle Infield depth throughout the whole organization.
Again I don’t think this was a bad trade but it wasn’t a good trade. It seems to me BS basically just made a trade to say that he made a trade.
Jack Steal - Harris hasn’t started at 2b since May 24 (click on my name for the link). He has been playing SS (with a little 3b thrown in) since.
i like the move, depending on how gardy uses him..cabrera at SS everyday means playing time for harris will likely be deminished. punto needs to go back to a platoon player. get harris in there at 2b as much as possible..and some of you bloggers are ridiculous. nothing is ever good enough.
Now who gets sent down? Buscher or Casilla?
So will we be seeing Cabrera at SS and Harris at 2B? I hope that’s the plan.
Who gets dropped off the 25 and 40 man rosters???
what is meant that they are “wheeling and dealing”? are there more trades coming?
Good job, Bill Smith. Hardly a blockbuster, but Cabrera is better than nothing.
He’s a defensive upgrade over Harris, an offensive upgrade over Punto, and an everything upgrade over Casilla.
Too bad they couldn’t get Adam Kennedy, too for a total infield makeover.
Guys,
I think Cabrera is a nice upgrade over Harris. He has more RBI’s, runs, and a better batting average then Harris. Also, look at his success in the extra base department. His 23 2b’s would rank SECOND on the Twins! All of this on an offensively incompetant (well, when they’re not play the Twins) Oakland team. Love it!!!
Not a bad move - not a major prospect and got someone relatively affordable. However, I don’t think things are done. My guess is Smith is putting on a full court press for Scutaro and probably dangling a low prospect again plus Harris. Harris is a decent commodity to other teams even though the Twins don’t see it.
I would love to see this move mean Punto losing AB’s, but I don’t see it, unless the Scutaro move happens.
Why are the Twins fooled by Punto’s supposed ability to do the “little things”? He’s not very good laying down sacrifice bunts (career 59% vs. league avg. of 72%), 4 out of 5 throws end in in the dirt, and while he can get on base at a near average rate it doesn’t nearly make up for a .250 slugging %. Wow, what a bad signing.
Orlando Cabrera is just crappy enough that Gardy will play him every day. If he takes over for Punto/Casilla instead of Harris this is a huge improvement. It doesn’t hurt that Cabrera is on a hot streak and is probably excited about playing for a contender.
So now that that’s done, Bill can smoothly transition the talks with the Jays from Scutaro to Halladay…
Make it simple drop buscher from both the 25 and 40 man
I agree Washburn would have been the BEST pickup for us overall. But not at the price of Swarzak and Slama - which it sounds like would have been the equivalent. That said, the people wanting Washburn have a point as we currently have no lefty starters that are consistent. But by losing a Swarzak it would mean you still would have to keep Liriano and Perkins in the rotation this year, so that wouldn’t do us much good, either. If the price was not as steep, and you could get away with giving up Slama and a mid-rated Class A pitcher, then, yes, that’s about as high as you go there. So, really, Detroit overpaid when you look at the whole deal. He is solid, but isn’t Halladay.
On the Cabrera front, he will be your everyday SS and #2 guy, and have a productive last two months of his contract year Upgrade in both areas (SS offense and #2 production). Look for Casilla to be the everyday 2B for now. They still want him to be the future there, unless he screws it up again. I am a Harris guy, so love to see his bat in the lineup, but at least now, you have done two huge things here for bench depth. One is having Harris’ bat off the bench. And the other is having Punto as an outstanding late-inning defensive replacement. Put him in at 2B if you need to. Harris also is a great option to start at 3B (especially against LHP) when you want to give Crede a rest.
And, this means they have zero risk on the Grudzielanek signing. IF he can play and produce, it’s just a bonus.
Thoughts?
GREAT TRADE!!!
Not so much for value or anything other than Mauer & Morneau WANTED Cabrera. Bill Smith got him.
NOW…NO MORE 3K games and leaving 4 runners on base! 
Regards,
Hopefully Cabrera will bring this team some much needed swagger/attitude that they haven’t had all year.
This trade doesn’t make the Twins better, but should make the players happy.
Casilla demoted?
LAdendorf was a pretty steep price to pay for a 34 year old 60 day rent a player with an average bat and average glove…
Ladendorf tore up the Appy League, good power numbers, good average numbers, pretty decent defense also…. only shortstop in the system that projects to hit for any power….
Not a top 10 prospect but probably the top guy at shortstop in the Twins system….
Tyler Ladendorf was probably our best middle infield prospect even though he is still young and in A ball. I don’t like it but I guess time will tell.
Does anyone know the timetables for Duchscherer or Sheets, are they done for the year?
Jack Steel
“Gardy never plays Harris at SS he plays Nick Punto 85% of the time.”
they literally have both played 54 games there, Harris would probably be higher too but he has 20 games at third with Crede in and out.
Wonderful, this means the Harris won’t play anymore except to fill in Crede once in a while.. Why couldn’t we give up Punto for him?
Anyone know Cabrera’s contract situation? Will he be a Twin after this year?
What’s key is he is a Type A Free Agent after this year. AND he has a clause in his contact that makes it so he can’t be offered Arbitration so he has to become a free agent. Twins aren’t signing him so they get picks. Pretty good deal.
Swarzak is a far superior to Luke French and the Mariners would have jumped at that opportunity if he was offered by himself. I’m suprised that Mulvey and a low level pitcher couldn’t get t done
Harris has better fielding numbers and OPS while playing SS than Cabrera does.
As others have said, barring any further trades, this deal needs to give us a middle infield of Cabrera and Harris. If LNP sees the field as an everyday player after this deal, we’ll know the manager should be next.
Any idea on the statuses of Duchscherer or Ben Sheets, are they done for the year? Also, what about Arizona guys like Doug Davis or Garland?
Like Crede, he’ll be extra-motivated to stick it to the White Sox. Pretty sure he was in Ozzie Guillen’s doghouse for most of his brief stint in Chicago.
I think Brian Buscher will and should be demoted.
who leaves thed 25 man roster than to make room ooooooocab
Big deal. With the Tigers acquiring Washburn we have actually lost ground in the division.
The Jays were indicating that if Halladay stays then so will the other guys like Scutaro and Rolen.
I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for Scutaro.
For those constantly negative: Now getting Cabrera isn’t a good move? He is by my unscientific observations an upgrade defensively over Harris at short, and no comparison offensively with Punto. He has a good eye at the plate, and seems to be a good clutch hitter. And while his BA is similar to Harris, I have not been impressed with Harris at all this year, as a run producer. Harris must get all of his hits with 2 on and nobody out in an inning, because he doesn’t score much, or drive in many. And he was terrible in the number 2 spot; he seemed to end all of his at-bats with a called third strike.
Can we still put something together for a starting pitcher?
Big deal, just another infielder for Gardy to play musical chairs with. Punto will still be playing at 2B and Harris will get benched. I thought Casilla has been playing well since he came back up, if Gardy would just stick with Harris at SS and Casilla at 2B we would be fine. Hopefully he goes with Harris at 2B and Cabrera at SS, that would be acceptable I guess.
Ben says:
July 31st, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Jack Steel
“Gardy never plays Harris at SS he plays Nick Punto 85% of the time.”
they literally have both played 54 games there, Harris would probably be higher too but he has 20 games at third with Crede in and out.
———
Thanks for the correction. I love this blog when people throw out false numbers. UGH.
Sean says:
July 31st, 2009 at 12:53 pm
What’s key is he is a Type A Free Agent after this year. AND he has a clause in his contact that makes it so he can’t be offered Arbitration so he has to become a free agent. Twins aren’t signing him so they get picks. Pretty good deal.
Wrong. If you don’t offer arbritation, you don’t get the picks. The Twins will get nothing out of this deal after the season.
Let’s get in on the Victor Martinez to Boston, Clay Buchholz to Cleveland deal and get Adam LaRoche! Then we send Busher back to Rochester where he belongs!
Sean,
The Twins won’t get picks, because you can only get picks if you offer arbitration and it’s declined. Since the Twins can’t offer it, they won’t get anything.
Mark - you’re crazy. Casilla is not going to be the everyday 2B. He will be sent down. Harris needs to be in this lineup with Punto as an extrmely expensive utility player.
Excuse me - meant to say Harris must get his hits with 2 out and nobody on.
Swagger? This does nothing to make our team better. I don’t like it at all, I just hope Baby Jesus and Morneau do.
Good trade. Twin needed more power in the line up, they went from .200 to .280 big difference. Cabrera does average 16 errors a game, but a few extra errors for .080 in average is good. Be happy that they did something.
Great, we basically just added another Harris… look out Yankees/Red Sox/White Sox/Tigers/Angels!! I suppose this just means Punto will be our everyday 2B now, this move basically accomplishes nothing; if Punto starts at 2B now, this was subtraction by addition.
Do the Twins need to honor the the arbitration clause in O-Cab’s contract, or does that only apply to the A’s?
Sanchez would have been a much better fit.
I’m not constantly negative, but O-Cabrera is simply not an appreciable upgrade over Harris. And he DOES NOT have a good eye at the plate - hardly ever walks, bad OBP. Won’t be a good 2nd hitter. Does not hit many extra base hits. Probably a little better in the field than Harris.
I think I’d be happier with the guy who hit .410/.500/.710 or whatever in A ball.
Now give the Jays nearly what they want and a player to be named for Halliday.
I have mixed feelings on this. Ladenddorf was a 2nd round draft choice last year that got $700,000 to sign. Plus when Cabrera doesn’t resign with us, we get NOTHING because he got that in his contract with Oakland. We do get some cash back but we don’t know how much. Cabrera is not any better than Harris. They should have just let Harris play. We need relief pitching. Delaney and Slama look pretty good while rotting away at age 25 in the Minors. Nobody thought a guy named Neshek would do much when he came up a few years ago either.
Meanwhile at the big boys camp ….
Boston is going to get Victor Martinez. *sigh*
“Someday, we too will play with the big boys,” Danimals said to himself.
Again, another inept trade by Billy Smith. The infield need was not at short, imo. There was a glaring hole at second with either Alexi or Nick. Ideally, a guy that was in the rumor mill a month ago before he and his team picked it up was Florida’s Uggla. Trading for a guy with arbitration years remaining (making 5-plus this year) would have been smart, and his 30+ bombs would have been nice as well.
Eckstein was the logical choice if you couldn’t pull an Uggla-type player. Eck has 1 error in 75 starts a this year for a .997 fielding percentage. Also a .334 OBP and a .263 AVG. Orlando and Harris have very similar offensive numbers with Orlando the edge .318 to .305 in OBP and .280 to .264 in AVG.
No real upgrade here. In fact, a defensive downgrade according to the fielding stats. Orlando has 16 errors at SS for a .968 fielding percentage.
An 86 OPS+ and an 0.86 ISOp? Be still my heart.
Hes HOT - hitting .381 since the break!
Buster Olney says he should be in tonights lineup assuming his plane lands on time
Yeah that sucks on the picks. I guess they are paying money in the deal to the Twins instead…
good news they didn’t give up much but I am not a fan of Cabrera but if means Mauer and Mroneau are happy thats a good thing. You knew this would be the guy if they made a move he doesn’t cost them much and will probably move on. I liked Scutaro better. Now Billy Boy can go back to doing nothing. Does it concern Twin Fans that they don’t seem to have much in their farm system that other teams want. I see the same teams giving away prospects every year and they seem to replenish their system
SEND PUNTO DOWN!!! Lets just admit is was ridiculous to sign him to two years at $9mil and take our medicine. He can’t help this team…
From ESPN.com:
The A’s also are sending an undisclosed amount of cash to the Twins to pay Cabrera’s salary, a source tells ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark. Cabrera is in the final months of making $4 million this season.
I wonder how much of it they are paying. Looks like even less risk on this move than it initially looked like.
Would much rather have seen Sanchez at 2nd.But its something. Harris will get some ab’s at 3rd since Crede needs time off. Harris should get some starts at 2nd also. Punto had better be nothing more than 9th inning replacement and pinch runner from here on out. Casilla has about 2 weeks to keep his spot or Grudzelinek gets a shot. This also had better signal the end of Buscher on a MLB roster !!!
yay for cabrera, but the chisox have landed victor martinez!?!?! http://dctwins.wordpress.com
yay, maybe this move will spark the twins
http://dctwins.wordpress.com
yay, maybe this move will spark the twins
http://dctwins.wordpress.com
yay, maybe this move will spark the twins
http://dctwins.wordpress.com
I say they go after Garland or Doug Davis. Pretty decent ERA’s, Garland 15 of 21 starts have been quality starts, sinker baller with good D behind him…
A man dying of thirst in the desert will ingest sand if he thinks it’s water.
OK, that’s a bit harsh, I admit.
I guess if you think of it in terms of Cabrera replacing Buscher (which I would hope would be the case, but I suppose it could be Casilla), it’s a measurable improvement in the roster.
And as beetle said, if M&M think it represents a legit upgrade and makes them happy, there’s value in that, too.
Based upon how the Twins do things, Punto is being paid $4 million a year this year and next - my sense is that he is going to play 2nd base and Harris will be utility.
Thus, would Casilla be available? He’s been nothing less than awful (even after Wednesday night), but I’d offer him, Perkins, Hicks, and Revere for Halladay (who is signed for next year). Our two best prospects, a young major league pitcher, and potentially a solid 2nd baseman (who is potentially a total bust, which is why I’d be willing to deal him).
If Smith and the scouting department are confident in their abilities to find additional prospects (this year’s draft), then parting with two top guys shouldn’t be an issue, especially Revere. Doesn’t he play Centerfield? As does Gomez? AT LEAST one of your outfielders has to be a bopper, which for us is Cuddyer (as close as we can get). Then we have Span and Gomez. There isn’t room for another singles hitting outfielder (Revere).
Coyote:
Arbitration has nothing to do with Type A/Type B. And you can’t “decline” arbitration (team offers, player demands, arbitrator decides). You can decline a qualifying (FA contract) offer when you are about to be a FA and that’s what nets you draft picks.
Yes Sanchez and Scutaro would have both been better but at least we got away with giving up Landendorf…
How they went from Valencia to Landendorf would be a great question…
Just what the ‘ol ball squad needed. Another “hitter” with an OBP slightly above .300.
Meanwhile at the big boys camp, Red Sox getting V-Mart
*sighs*
“Someday, we can play with the big boys”, Danimals thinks.
Remember when we made deals for people like Reardon?
Phil all reports are Martinez going to the Red Soxs
This move alone isn’t going to change the team’s fate. They still have an utter sinkhole at second base and at least a couple holes in the pitching staff.
Getting Cabrera is fine if it is just the first of a couple more moves. Otherwise it was a waste of a prospect.
He’s a rent-a-player during a year where the team isn’t going anywhere without a lot more help and I’m doubtful that the front office has the guts or the financial desire to make those necessary moves. I hope I’m wrong.
oops got my rules wrong… nevermind carry-on nothing to see here
It’s in Cabrera’s contract that teams cannot offer him arbitration if he becomes a Type A free agent. From Cot’s contracts: “club will not offer arbitration after 2009 season if Cabrera ranks as a Type A free agent”. It’s interesting that they’ve already updated the Twins page to include Cabrera.
It’s a small improvement this year. Cabrera is an offensive upgrade over Punto or Casilla. I would imagine Cabrera will start at SS from today through the end of the season at least, batting second.
Would Delmon Young, Casilla, Perkins and Revere for Hallday get it done? Maybe one more AA player?
“However, it is important to note that teams only receive compensatory draft picks if: (1) the original team offers the free agent player salary arbitration, but the free agent rejects arbitration and instead signs with another club; or (2) the player signs with another club before December 1 - the deadline for the former team to offer arbitration to the player (in this event, the former team is considered to have offered arbitration by default, unless arbitration is prohibited by that player’s contract). The rules for the MLB compensatory draft system are outlined in Article XX(B)(4) of the 2007-2011 MLB Basic Agreement.”
Harris production dipped bad after he played everyday for a while guys…he just hasn’t been able to produce as an everyday player. I can understand why Gardy feels that way.
Get Zach Duke and can clinch division
Offense remains the same, fielding might improve slightly.
Isn’t Cabrera leading the AL in errors @ SS?
I like the idea of getting “O-Cab’s” bat in the lineup but not at the expense of losing Harris over Punto and Casilla.
phil says:July 31st, 2009 at 1:12 pm
“yay for cabrera, but the chisox have landed victor martinez!?!?! http://dctwins.wordpress.com”
Was that just a slip? Based on this you have the wrong Sox.
“Red Sox To Acquire Victor Martinez
By Tim Dierkes [July 31 at 12:55pm CST]”
Regards,
I believe this is a bad trade. I don’t see Cabrera helping the Twins much more than whoever he replaces, and Ladendorf was our only real prospect at shortstop. At least Smith held onto the Valencia, Hicks, and the rest. Still, I don’t see this trade putting us into the World Series over the Red Sox, Yankees, Angels, Rangers, or Rays.
I hope next year Tolleson and the other guys will be ready. We’re going to have room for young talent that is ready to play in the big leagues.
Doesn’t help the bullpen.
Doesn’t help the starting rotation.
Doesn’t solve 2nd base.
Nominally higher OBP than Harris.
Can’t get draft picks when they lose him at the end of the season.
Unless there are at least a couple moves to follow this move was a waste of a prospect.
Mlemke, I don’t think we could pay teams to take Young at this point. if so, great, but I would imagine it would take another prospect (Valencia, which I would do in a heartbeat). Again, Halladay is signed for 16 million next year - a bargain! Halladay, Baker, Blackburn, Swarzak, Liriano (Slowey next year) would be nice.
You people are unbelievable. We get a guy that’s hitting .280, as opposed to getting nothing in the past how many years, and more people are complaining than ever before. And, despite the fact that Casilla is hitting .171, people here are complaining about Punto during this trade. Would you rather have Harris playing SS, with Casilla at 2B, or have Cabrera at SS and anybody else at 2B? And all this for a guy in the low minors. What would you have Bill Smith do? Oh ya, people want to trade Punto, Casilla, Buscher, and a low level minor leaguer for a Major League starter. Unless your brother is the other General Manager of the team you’re trading with, it simply isn’t happening.
IN fact, I would give the Blue Jays their choice of Baker, Blackburn, Perkins, or Swarzak. They’re all the same type of pitcher with average stuff, only Perkins is left-handed. If the Jays think like the Twins, Baker would be appealling since he is signed relatively cheap for even an average major league pitcher.
can anyone make a case for harris sticking around on this team?
i think he’s the guy to go down. or casilla…. again.
A long A long time Punto forgotten are Punto dreams that just fell by the Punto way
The good Punto life he Punto promised ain’t what she’s Punto living today
But she never Punto complains of the Punto bad times or Punto bad things he’s Punto done, Lord
She just talks about the Punto good times they’ve had and all the Punto good times to
come
CHORUS:
She’s a Punto good-hearted woman in love with a Punto good-timin’ man
She Punto loves him in spite of his Punto ways that she don’t understand
Through Punto teardrops and Punto laughter, they’ll pass through this Punto world hand-in-hand,
A Punto good-hearted woman Punto loving her good timing man
Punto likes the bright lights , the Punto night life, and Punto good-timin’ friends
When the Punto party’s all over she’ll welcome Punto back home again
Lord Punto knows she don’t understand him, but she Punto does the best that she can
‘Cause she’s a Punto good-hearted woman; she Punto loves her good timin’ Punto and mantime forgotten are Punto dreams that just fell by the Punto way
The Punto good life he promised ain’t what she’s Punto living today
But she never Punto complains of the Punto bad times or Punto bad things he’s done, Lord
She just Punto talks about the Punto good times they’ve had and all the good Punto times to
come
CHORUS:
She’s a good-hearted Punto woman in Punto love with a Punto good-timin’ man
She loves Punto in spite of his Punto ways that she don’t understand
Through Punto teardrops and Punto Headslides, they’ll pass through this Punto world hand-in-hand,
A good-hearted Punto woman loving her Punto good timing man
Punto likes the Punto bright lights , the Punto night life, and good-timin’ friends
When the Punto party’s all over she’ll welcome Punto back home again
Lord Punto knows she don’t understand him, but she does the Punto best that she can
‘Cause she’s a good-hearted Punto woman; she loves her Punto good timin’ man
I’m happy they did something, because the players wanted to see them do something. But I agree with all those who say that unless Harris remains in the line-up, this does not improve the team measurably. Hopefully, Cabrera is the intangible “spark” that is needed.
This trade validates my oft-stated belief that the Punto contract this past winter was the worst FA signing in all of baseball. If we had signed Cabrera over the Winter instead of Punto, we perhaps could have traded Landendorf for a 2B or RP, if all else were equal. But I’m pleased that the FO acknowledges the gap in the MI. Hopefully, they understand that the problem was the Punto signing, not Harris’ play.
scottz
NOT CASILLA!! I read somewhere where he recently had two base hits in the same game. Gotta ride that hot streak for all it’s worth.
Being an avid Wild fan, I was consistently lulled into complacency by Dougie Ballgame. But avid/rabid Tins fans must be ready to fire-bomb office buildings having to watch Bill Smith run the team. He makes Risebrough look like Walt Jockety (in baseball terms).
Stop the Halladay talk, it’s not happening, we simply don’t have the prospects to get it done. And anyone we do have, we need for our rotation.
I still don’t understand why people are against Harris. He hits .270, a little power and solid (not spectacular) defense. How is he not a better option than Casilla or Punto?
Even if the argument is that he dropped off when he was an everyday player, it’s still 70-100 points better than the alternative. I don’t get it.
Mighty Casey– I think they would have to dfa Harris. I don’t think he has options left. Of three– Casilla, Buscher, and Harris– I believe only Casilla has options
Macleod, you’re right about a lot of people suggesting trying to get great players for the Twins’s castoffs…
But at the end of the day do you really think this Cabrera makes the Twins better to the point where they could compete to make the playoffs?
I just don’t see it. To me it’s a second-rate move made so they can say “we’re a ’small-market team’ so we can’t compete for the big names but we still went out and tried to do something to get better.”
The Twins are somewhere approaching $15M-$20M below where they were in payroll before they let Hunter go and traded Santana AND they are moving into the new ballpark next year. That should mean they had enough payroll room and flexibility to go make a couple signature moves that would really have helped them compete.
And to this point they haven’t and my guess is they won’t.
Harris has a heck of an arm, Punto on the other hand has to have Justin save him on lot of throws he makes.
Time for a reality check…
1. Cabrera is only an upgrade at SS, because Gardy will probably play him there everyday instead of alternating LNP and Harris. He is NOT an upgrade offensively or defensively over Harris, but we still may net positive because We won’t be dealing with a Punto-Casilla combination 2 out of 3 days.
2. Landendorf is not a “throw away”. He was a recent 2nd round pick and has shown potential in the minors. So we gave a 2nd round pick for 2 months of Brendan Harris, who we already had, but see #1…
3. Those of you comparing Luke French to Anthony Swarzak are kidding yourselves. French has basically 2 months of decent AA ball and has been extremely lucky since getting called up.Prior to this year he was a non-prospect. The Twins would NOT have had to give up Swarzak and Slama to offer a comparable deal.
4. Bill Smith once again proves he is quite clueless when it comes to trades and building a roster. When you have 4 reasonably young OFs on you roster, you can afford to deal a Revere, Morales, Hicks, Benson or whoever to add the pieces you need to win. The fact that he continues to hold them the way a toddler holds his blanket is all most of us need to know about our chances of ever “going for it”
5. I really miss the days of Andy McPhail. Whenever we had a chance to win, he would make deals to bring in players to attempt to put us over the top. Sometimes they worked– Gladden, Reardon, etc. Sometimes they didn’t, but as a fan I loved that we tried. Today, we are on the THIRD generation of players that have been close, but management has simply watched them come and go without even making an effort to win it all. First it was Koskie, etc., then Hunter & Santana, now Mauer and Morneau. In 3-4 years it will probably be Hicks and Ramos.
6. If you are always saving for the future, you live poor and die rich. Seems to be the way the Twins do things, which is sad for us fans.
Coyote,
While I agree that we don’t have the horses (or the seeds) required for Halladay, that’s a pipedream I’m content to wish for. I’d fall right off my chair, but the idea of acquiring Halladay makes me giddy, at almost any price. I wouldn’t throw around names like many do, because until about two hours ago, I didn’t know who Tyler Landendorf was, so me throwing names around is pretty silly.
But I absolutely defend any baseball fan’s desire to dream about big time trades, even though the likelihood of a big time trade occurring is almost 0. And this is as good of a place to voice those desires as any.
Respectfully,
scottz
Say what you want about Punto but you can’t knock his defense. He’s by far the best fielder on the team. He has much better range than Harris. That being said he’s still a utility player and defensive replacement at best.
we have an awful lot of gloves, we NEED a big arm. with slowey done and liriano iffy, we should not be able to compete with the big boys. so, get an ace, or flounder. if the price is too high, that’s it. we can’t expect the twins to always contend if chicago and detroit are able to outspend us every year. it’s a sad fact of life in MLB.
Ok this is a wimp trade but if helps the Twins for the next two months then Im for it. This does not mean my attitude is any better about BS being a GM for this team. I have never seen a GM who said he is working so hard just to get the deal he got.Well your best is not good enough for this fan. You need to be canned and throw Gardenhire out as well….
Who did the Twins send down after the game last night, not seeing anything online today?
