[rwperu34]

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Uhh, that trade is really good for the Rays AND the Twins.

Rays: Acquire a good SP and RP and a great defensive shortstop. Their holes in their game were...pitching and defense.

Twins: Acquire a power bat (but alarmingly bad walk rate) in the outfield and move a redundant piece in Bartlett so they can start Casilla at shortstop where his value is maximized.



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The Rays need for pitching is the same as everybody's need, in that you can't have enough. They quietly have some of the best young pitching in baseball. Already Kazmir and Shields are front of the rotation starters. They've got Sonnastine and J.P. Howell as back end types with experience already. Then the Rays have 3 of the top 15 or so pitching prospects in baseball in Jake McGee, Wade Davis, and David Price. All three of those guys should make their debut by opening day 2009, unless held back for service time.

As for the shortstop and relief pitcher; relief depth is nice, but I have a hard time giving added value in the deal when they are going to be paying $2.8MM for a guy who is no better than the three guys they've got already (Wheeler, Reyes, Percival). Incidentally, Percival will be the only one under contract for 2009!

The defensive shortstop is nice, especially if it helps with the young pitching. This is a move for 2008 though, not 2009-2011. That's the biggest problem I have with this deal from the Rays perspective. They are giving up future value for now value. Normally I don't mind that, but in this case, the Rays are paying a price to get to .500 in 2008, not make the playoffs. Unlike the D'backs, they are not keeping their eyes on the prize.

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And for all you Delmon Young lovers, he isn't Justin Upton. Sorry.

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Finally, somebody says something that makes sense to me. Thing is, he doesn't need to be anywhere near Justin Upton to be a lot more valuable than Garza.