Reviewing the Span and Revere Trades
Twins Video
The non-waiver trade deadline is closing in quickly and it is still tough to know what the Twins will do in the coming hours. Is Justin Morneau's Twins career over? Will Glen Perkins still be the guy at the back end of the bullpen? Can the Twins afford to part with Kevin Correia or Mike Pelfrey? There could be a lot of deals in the next couple days or there could be nothing but the sounds of crickets.
During the offseason, the Twins made a lot of noise by dealing two of their starting centerfielders, Denard Span and Ben Revere. Minnesota wanted to bolster their pitching depth and shopping their team controlled outfielders seemed to bring back the biggest return. From a drafting and scouting perspective, the Twins were taking a different approach to their pitchers and this deal was supposed to be a step in the right direction.
For those that don't remember, here's a timeline of the events that lead to both players being traded. The Nationals had been trying to work out a deal to acquire Span for multiple seasons. His concussion issues in 2011 might have held up a deal. On November 29th, the time was right and he was sent to Washington for former first round pick Alex Meyer. A hard throwing right-handed pitcher, Meyer looked to have the potential of a future top of the rotation starter.
Within the next week, Terry Ryan went into Dave St. Peter's office and said there might be a chance to move Ben Revere. The Phillies had been interested in the newly named starting center fielder for the Twins. It turned out to be a deal the Twins couldn't refuse. Revere headed to Philadelphia and in return Vance Worley and Trevor May headed back to Minnesota. Worley was a young pitcher with some big league experience and May was a hard throwing minor league pitcher with some up side.
All MLB teams have played over 100 games, which means their schedule is close to 65% complete. Let's look back at the parties involved in these offseason deals and see what the outcomes have been.
Denard Span, CF - Washington Nationals
MLB Stat Summary (99 Games): .266/.319/.370, 2 HR, 21 2B, 7 3B, 10 SB, 0.9 WAR
Things haven't gotten off to a great start for Span in Washington DC. He is a career .282 hitter with a .352 OBP but he has struggled to reach those marks this season. The Nationals have even moved him out of the leadoff spot in their batting order because their team needed some kind of spark. Entering this past weekend, Span had yet to hit a home run in a Nationals uniform. He has now hit long balls in back-to-back games and maybe he can get things going on the offensive side of the ball. Overall, the transition to the National League has been a little rough and the Nats had to have been hoping for more from Span.
Ben Revere, CF - Philadelphia Phillies
MLB Stat Summary (88 Games): .305/.338/.352, 9 2B, 3 3B, 22 SB, 0.7 WAR
Revere is currently on the disabled list after he broke his right foot from a foul ball. This was terrible news for the Phillies since Revere was in the midst of quite the hot streak at the plate. Over his last 15 games before the injury, Revere was hitting .431/.438/.538 with six extra-base hits. He was also in the middle of a 10-game hitting streak. It was looking like the Phillies were getting some of the best baseball out of Revere and now he will be on the bench for 6-8 weeks.
Vance Worley, RHP - Minnesota Twins/Rochester Red Wings
MLB Stat Summary (10 Games): 1-5 record, 7.21 ERA, 48.2 IP, 25 SO, 15 BB, 1.99 WHIP
MiLB Stat Summary (9 Games): 6-3 record, 3.88 ERA, 58.0 IP, 34 SO, 17 BB, 1.41 WHIP
Worley was suppose to be able to stick in the Twins rotation for a couple seasons while some of the younger pitching prospects made their way to the big leagues. This didn't work out the greatest as he struggled mightily with the transition from the National League to the American League. Things have gone better for him in Rochester but this should be expected from someone with over 300 MLB innings. There may be a chance in the second half for Worley to get back to the big leagues but he has been the biggest disappointment out of all of the trade pieces.
Alex Meyer, RHP - New Britain Rock Cats
MiLB Stat Summary (11 Games): 3-3 record, 3.69 ERA, 61.0 IP, 73 SO, 27 BB, 1.31 WHIP
Meyer was off to a decent start to the year but a shoulder injury has held him off the field since June 1st. The Twins are being extra careful with Meyer since he could be a valuable part of the team's future. In many of the mid-season prospect ranking that have been released, Meyer has consistently been in the top-100 for all of baseball. A couple of weeks ago, it sounded like Meyer was getting close to being back on the mound. The minor league season ends in early September and the Twins are hopeful that Meyer will be able to get some more innings under his belt before that time.
Trevor May, RHP - New Britain Rock Cats
MiLB Stat Summary (20 Games): 6-7 record, 4.07 ERA, 112.2 IP, 113 SO, 50 BB, 1.40 WHIP
May has been as advertised from his time in the Phillies organization. There are going to be some strikeouts from this power-throwing right-hander but there is also some control problems. He is averaging 2.5 walks per start and this translates to 4.0 BB/9. That total would match a minor league low for May so he is making strides in the right direction. He has also stayed healthy and on the field and this can hold value to an organization. It will be interesting to see how many innings the Twins let May pitch before the end of the year. The last two years he has been around 150 IP.
5 Comments
Recommended Comments