Ever notice how many baseball trades are made for bad, cynical, ugly reasons?
Many teams are trying to dump salaries. Others are trying to get rid of headache players. Many times the player himself forces the trade out of self-interest, or the team overreacts when a player clashes with coaches or management. Often, teams are trying to get something back for a premium player before he's lost to free agency in a year.
Few trades are the kind of pure "talent swaps," made because the teams involved are loaded at one position but thin at another, that were more commonplace 30 years ago. Today, it's all about business decisions — hedging against free agency, or arbitration eligibility, or a team's unwillingness or inability to deal with a particular agent. As a result, few premium players are dealt while they're still on their way to a peak performance level.
Well, on Wednesday,
one of those pure talent swaps took place — and it's a beauty.
Tampa Bay dealt rising-star outfielder Delmon Young, along with shortstop Brendan Harris and mid-level prospect Jason Pridie to Minnesota for starting pitcher Matt Garza, shortstop Jason Bartlett and minor-league pitcher Eduardo Morlan.
Young, just 22, is the name you probably know best. As a 21-year-old rookie, he hit .288 with 13 HRs and 93 RBI. It's believed his power will grow — and playing in the BaggieDome can only help.
Garza is a hot prospect, too. At 24, he pitched half a season in the Twins rotation last year, posting a 3.69 ERA. His fastball hits the mid-90s.
Harris and Bartlett are about the same age; Harris is a slightly better hitter; Bartlett a much better defender with more offensive upside.
Pridie could be a fourth outfielder; Morlan is a live bullpen arm.
It's very rare that teams exchange their top prospects before a) they've failed in the majors; and b) years before they're arbitration-eligible.
Again, this was a pure baseball trade — no business, no bullshit. Tampa made a deal at a position where they have a surplus of hot young talent (B.J. Upton will move to the outfield next year), and Minnesota has enough arms (regardless of what happens with Johan Santana) that they could afford to move Garza. Minnesota needed a new power-hitting, strong-defense outfielder with the loss of Torii Hunter; Tampa (a team to seriously watch in 2008) now has a credible Big Three starting rotation in Scott Kazmir (last year's top strikeout pitcher in the majors), James Shields and Garza. Bartlett will only make those pitchers look better with his slick glove.
Everybody wins in this deal. Nobody got robbed, nobody was forced to do anything from a position of weakness. Everybody made themselves better.
If you're a fan of baseball, you're a fan of deals like this.