[rwperu34]

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As a Twins fan I'm pretty unsure of this. I think whether this goes down as a good deal for them or not depends a lot on Pridie. He never really did much in the minors until he made AAA this year where he raked for 250ab. Maybe the Twins saw something they liked back in '06 when he was in spring training with them.

If Pridie can be a starting CF for them this year I guess it is a great deal. If he doesn't amount to much, it probably isn't.

Also, I hope they don't think they are getting any kind of slugger in Delmon Young. Hes got potential, but he also has a ways to go before he is even a league average hitter.

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Here's the thing with the Twins. Their starting pitching, non Johan division, is Garza, Bonser, Baker, Liriano, and Slowey. If you replace Garza with Perkins, you've still got a damn good unit and Swarzak is knocking on the door (ie. ready, but with no room on the roster). Rincon was fungible for the Twins, in fact even though he's underpaid at $2.8MM was a drag on the payroll. Bartlett is their starting SS, but a mix of Casilla, Punto, and Harris can handle the middle until Trevor Plouffe is ready, which should be opening day 2009 at the latest. The Twins gave up very little here for one of the highest celings in the game.

Pridie is another 4th OF type, although at least he's got the potential to be better. That's not something you could say about the OF on the Twins roster right now.

Since Bartlett is destined to be a 4th IF and Rincon a 4th reliever, basically, for the Rays this deal comes down to Matt Garza for Delmon Young. There is no doubt that Delmon is the better bet going forward (higher ceiling, less injury risk, higher floor), and this is why the Twins win big, and the Rays lose.