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For Haley, Thursday morning was an unimaginable whirlwind. A former sixth-round draft pick of the Red Sox who had spent his entire career up to this point in Boston's system, Haley was the eighth player claimed in the Rule 5 when the Angels grabbed him. They then dealt the righty to the Padres, who immediately turned around and flipped him to the Twins along with cash for Diaz.
The way this situation played out is reminiscent to 1999, when Minnesota also held the top pick. They selected Jared Camp from the Indians, but then traded him to the Marlins in exchange for Johan Santana plus cash.
In that instance, the Twins got their guy along with some additional dollars. We all know how it ended up working out.
The mindset here was likely the same, though obviously we're not expecting the same kind of results. In passing up Diaz (and other ferocious hard-throwers) for Haley, the Twins prioritized utility over upside with this pick.
Santana was of course a special case. Haley looks more like a prototypical target of the Terry Ryan era. In fact, his build and statistical profile are comparable to Terry Doyle, who the Twins plucked from the White Sox system with a high pick in the 2011 Rule 5 draft before returning him a few months later in spring training.
For those who recall, Doyle isn't a comp that's going to generate any kind of enthusiasm. It was an uninspired move that worked out rather predictably for a team that desperately needed to bolster its pitching corps with high-ceiling talent.
Despite some similarities on the surface though, Haley is no Doyle. And as you learn about what the revamped front office likes about him, you start to see some of the aforementioned distinctions arise.
Unlike the many high-velocity specimens that were available, Haley's fastball sits in the high 80s and low 90s. Delivering from a big 6'5" frame, he creates a downward plane that helps him keep the ball in yard; last year between Double-A and Triple-A he gave up only nine homers in 146 innings.
Yet, among the things that general manager Thad Levine alluded to when discussing Haley was not his ability to attack the low part of the zone – a trademark mantra from Ryan and his disciples that was frequently echoed on the team's television broadcasts. Instead, Levine pointed out that the 25-year-old "pitches very effectively in the top of the zone with his fastball and then pairs it up with offspeed pitches that are more at the bottom of the zone."
You can see this dynamic on display in the footage tweeted by Parker, wherein Haley burns high heaters past waving onlookers and then drops a few breaking balls at the knees.
https://twitter.com/ParkerHageman/status/806892326224363520
Despite those whiffs, and Levine referencing "swing and miss percentages," there is no illusion that Haley is going to be a dominant strikeout pitcher. He's a guy with a 7.8 K/9 rate through the minors, and one that Boston's organization – reputed for its evaluation and handling of prospect talent – didn't feel compelled to protect.
Haley is simply a capable, major-league ready player who can serve a valuable role on the Twins staff. La Velle E. Neal III compared the hurler's likely function to former swingman Anthony Swarzak. Of course, Swarzak was never a great pitcher but he was definitely useful, flexibly eating up innings after (sadly plentiful) short outings and always ready to step in for a spot start.
It appears that the Twins have similar designs for the newly acquired Haley, who stands out as an interesting bridge between the old and new versions of the Minnesota front office.
My final takeaway from the move, though, is that it shares this commonality with much of the latter Ryan era: there's no 'sell out for the future' vibe here. The Twins could have gone with a raw power arm and stashed him in the back of the bullpen all summer, if they were of the mind that 2017 is already a lost cause. On the contrary, Haley's polish and readiness to contribute are atop his list of positives. This is how a team operates when it's got an eye on competing in the short term.
Could hold-ups in the Dozier trade be related to that very same directive? On this week's Gleeman and the Geek podcast, we wondered aloud how much of a deal-breaker it would be to receive little in the way of MLB-ready talent from the Dodgers.
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