If you’re a Tampa Bay Rays fan — fresh off a trip to the World Series, thanks largely to two of the best young players in baseball — the trade makes you indescribably giddy.
If you’re a Twins fan — aghast at watching Delmon strike out and stumble around in left field — you’re shaking your head (or something).
This sort of thing just doesn’t happen to your team. Didn’t used to, anyway.
The concept of being involved in a lopsided blockbuster deal is relatively new to the Twins, who didn’t have a whole lot of blockbusters during their first four-plus decades. Most of the ones they did have –Bert Blyleven to the Rangers in 1976, Rod Carew to the Angels in 1979, Frank Viola to the Mets in 1989 — end up generally being a wash.
Until the last decade, that is. One can easily make a case that theTwins’ two biggest trading heists and two biggest blunders in franchise history all happened since 1999 — and the results of those deals are splayed all over their current roster.
Those deals still have a ways to go to match the impact of Brock forBroglio – a trade that, on the day it was made, was widely perceived as a steal for the Chicago Cubs, and a blunder by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Broglio was a 21-game winner for the Cards in 1960, and won 18 in 1963. Brock – just 21/2 years removed from the St. Cloud Rox – had ordinary seasons with the Cubs in 1962 and 1963, and was batting .251 52 games into the 1964 season when the trade was made.
What happened subsequently, of course, was the baseball equivalent of Manhattan Island for $24 worth of beads and mirrors.
Brock hit .348 over the rest of the ’64 season and led the Cards to a World Series championship. He went on to surpass 3,000 career hits, set the all-time single-season and career stolen base records and enter the Hall of Fame as a first-ballot selection in 1985.
And Broglio? He spent 21/2 seasons with the Cubs, went 7-19 with a 5.40 ERA and was out of baseball by the end of 1966.
It was a ridiculously lopsided deal, one that stands virtually alone in baseball annals in terms of its inequality. But the Twins’ 2007 deal withTampa Bay is edging toward that level.
Bartlett – voted MVP of the AL Champion 2008 Rays – is leading the majors with a .373 batting average, and is on pace for 20 homers, 87 RBI and 41 stolen bases. (The Twins’ regular shortstop, Nick Punto, is batting .187 with no homers, and his fielding percentage is significantly worse than Bartlett’s).
Garza – who pitched the Rays into the World Series with a masterpiece in Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS — is 4-4 with a 3.67 ERA and ranks seventh in the league in strikeouts. (The Twins have three starters in their rotation with ERAs in excess of 5.36).
In return, the Twins got Harris, a passable hitter with no speed, little defensive prowess and no real position; Pridie, a minor-league outfielder with no future; and Young, the supposed centerpiece slugger in the deal.
Young is batting .231 with one homer, two extra-base hits (two!?!), five walks and 41 strikeouts in 117 at-bats. His slugging percentage (.265) and on-base percentage (.272) are comically low, and his fielding percentage is the second-worst in the league among regular outfielders (only Cleveland’s Shin-Soo Choo is worse).
Add up Young’s numbers, and you have absolutely the worst player in the majors.
Add up Bartlett’s, and you have one of the best. Throw in Garza, who’s only 25 years old, and the deal gets worse.
So, how does this trade rate in Twins‘ annals? Well, these are the best:
Twins’ Top 3:
No. 3 – Feb. 3, 1987: Pitchers Al Cardwood, Neal Heaton, Yorkis Perez and catcher Jeff Reed to the Montreal Expos for pitcher Jeff Reardon and catcher Tom Nieto. The acquisition of stopper Reardonwas the missing puzzle piece that carried the Twins to their first World Championship.
No. 2 – Nov. 14, 2003: Catcher A.J. Pierzynski and cash to the San Francisco Giants for pitchers Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano andBoof Bonser. This looked even better before Liriano hurt his arm, butNathan alone makes this one a steal.
No. 1 – Dec. 13, 1999: Pitcher Jared Camp to the Florida Marlins for pitcher Johan Santana and $500,000 cash. Camp never made it to the majors, and was out of baseball in 2002 after 34 minor-league wins.Santana was 93-44 for the Twins, won two Cy Young Awards and has been the best pitcher in baseball since 2004.
And these are the worst:
Twins’ Bottom 3
No. 3 – Dec. 12, 1969: Third baseman Graig Nettles, outfielder Ted Uhlaender and pitcher Bob Miller to the Cleveland Indians for pitchersLuis Tiant and Stan Williams. Nettles went on to a near-Hall of Fame career; Tiant did the same, but not for the Twins (they released him in 1970).
No. 2 – Feb. 2, 2008: Pitcher Johan Santana to the New York Mets for outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Philip Humber, Kevin Mulveyand Deolis Guerra. There’s time for this one to get better, but Santanais still the best pitcher in baseball. Humber, Mulvey and Guerra are all in the minors, and Gomez probably should be.
No. 1 – Nov. 28, 2007: Shortstop Jason Bartlett and pitcher Matt Garza to the Tampa Bay Rays for outfielders Delmon Young andJason Pridie and infielder Brendan Harris. This trade just looks worse every day.
It has been frequently noted that the Twins‘ two worst deals were both engineered by general manager Billy Smith, who has had the job for all of 20 months. It hasn’t been an auspicious start, to say the least.
But hopefully, two stinkers won’t make Smith gun-shy and prevent him from trying to bolster the Twins‘ raggedy bullpen.
Because that’s the thing about trades: Sometimes they make you look smart, and sometimes they don’t. But you have to keep trying — they’re not all going to turn out to be Lou Brock forErnie Broglio.
This is the opinion of Times sports editor Dave DeLand. Contact him at 255-8771 or by e-mail at ddeland@stcloudtimes.com
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