According to ESPN.com, Kyle Lohse has been traded this morning to the Cincinnati Reds. No surprise in this move. With Torii Hunter coming off the DL today and Ron Gardenhire wanting to go down to 11 pitchers, Lohse was the odd man out (Willie Eyre will probably get sent down when Matt Guerrier comes off the DL). And moving him to the Reds makes plenty of sense, with former Twins Assistent GM Wayne Krisky running the show, and helps perhaps explain why Lohse has been around so long in the first place.
The only confusion here is why Lohse was traded for a minor league pitcher and not a hitter. In exchange for Lohse, the Twins got what Jim Callis calls "one of the most pure arms in the Reds system" in Zach Ward. Ward throws a good 93-94 mph fastball and a mid-80s slider. In 20 games and 18 starts a Single-A Dayton, he had a 7-0 record, a 2.29 ERA, a 95-37 K/BB ratio, a .188 BAA, and only two homers allowed in 114 innings. He sounds like a good arm, and its great that the Twins acquired a good pitching prospect, but it still makes little sense to me. The Reds have hitting and need pitching. The Twins have lots of pitching and need hitting now and in the future. Why not get a bat of some sorts?
Of course, we are talking about Kyle Lohse here. Its hard to be selective. The fact is we got rid of a huge headache, got a good college arm and prospect for him, and who knows, we may be able to use Ward as trade bait at a later time if he develops. Once again, thank the Reds for solving another one of our problems.
Keep in tune for anymore potential trades on the horizon.
Monday, July 31, 2006
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5 comments:
I would assume the reason it's a pitcher rather than a position player is that Mr. Ryan decided to simply take the best prospect available ("available" meaning "considering that what we're giving up is Kyle Lohse"), regardless of position. Granted we don't necessarily need more pitchers, but when we're talking about a Class A player, that does make some sense.
This trade shows that the Twins always look forward to the future OR that it was a way to get rid of Lohse AND get some trade value by even dumping a million and a half. Still: as a small market team you have to know when it is time to take the momentum. TR might trade away Ward befor August!
I love and prefer Mauer but sometimes I happen to think about what could have been if the Twins would have picked Prior and payed 'm. Sure this year would not have been like it is but 2003 could have been very interesting! It's the If's and neither nor's..
Your right on about that Jeff. That seems to be Ryan's philosophy, especially if you look at the Twins' most recent drafts. In 2004, he took a lot of pitchers, but mainly because the college crop was so good that year it was hard not to.
Plus, we got rid of Lohse for talent. That just feels good.
I love and prefer Mauer but sometimes I happen to think about what could have been if the Twins would have picked Prior and payed 'm.
Then they would have ended up with a top-5 starting pitcher in the league who can't stay healthy instead of a player who could realistically become the best offensive catcher in baseball history. I'm not exactly full of regret. This team's future would not look nearly as bright if it weren't for Joe Mauer... I'm not all that worried about the future of the pitching staff.
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