Tuesday, August 16, 2011

End of the Delmon Era

Prior to the 2008 season, the Twins traded their top young starting pitcher and their starting shortstop to the Rays for Delmon Young, hoping he'd prove to be a long-term fix for their perpetual right-handed power shortage.

In 497 games over the next four years, he'd hit .287/.324/.429 with 47 home runs. That disappointingly mediocre offensive production, in conjunction with his abysmal defense in left field, made him a liability overall during his time in Minnesota.

While he's shown flashes of transforming into the premier power hitter that his minor-league track record and pedigree suggested possible, Young's horrendous plate discipline, lack of athleticism and inability (or unwillingness) to make adjustments prevented him from permanently turning the corner.

He was amidst his worst season yet when the Twins finally made the decision yesterday to cut the cord, dealing the troubled outfielder to Detroit in exchange for Single-A pitcher Cole Nelson and a player to be named later.

The return might not be terribly exciting, but the fact that the Twins were willing to deal him within the division tells you something about what they thought of him, and the fact that Young went unclaimed on waivers all the way up until the first-place Tigers tells you something about what the league thought of him.

I'd guess that when the Twins hung onto Young at the non-waiver deadline they were hoping his bat would come alive and aid their comeback effort, but with the team promptly dropping out of contention here in August, dumping the fledgling outfielder was essentially a no-brainer. There would be no way to justify tendering him a contract during the offseason and paying him around $6 million in arbitration after the year he's had. The Twins are better off putting that money toward free agency or re-signing Michael Cuddyer/Jason Kubel.

The door is now open for Ben Revere to play regularly for the rest of the season, which should give the Twins a better idea of how he'll factor into their 2012 plans. Meanwhile, Young's salary is off the books and the Twins have added a somewhat intriguing arm in Nelson, who could develop into a quality hard-throwing lefty reliever.

At 25, Young still has the potential to be more than he currently is, but it's been clear to me for some time that he was never going to reach that potential here. I wish him the best, but I'm not sorry to go see him go and I'm not particularly worried that dealing him will come back to haunt the Twins in the long run.

Certainly not as much as dealing for him in the first place did.

16 comments:

USAFChief said...

Johann Santana, Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett, Wilson Ramos, JJ Hardy, and Delmon Young

for

Matt Capps, 3 minor league pitchers (none of whom have been successful) and a PTBNL.


Well played Smith.

CA said...

Here's a phrase I haven't used very often lately: I like this move by the front office. Helps resolve the outfield logjam, improves team defense, and should shut the door on any more ridiculous "Let's trade Span" rumors. I also suspect that, for better or worse, it means that the odds of resigning Cuddyer just went up even further. The Twins are going to need their remaining RH bats to stick around even more now.

MN said...

If Young starts become a major power hitter, can we all finally admit that something in the Twins hitting organization is broken?

cy1time said...

It says a lot about the AL Central when the fourth place team throws away their seventh place hitter to the first place team and they immediately insert him into the three spot of their lineup. I thought the Astros were the only team bad enough to have Delmon in the three spot.

Anonymous said...

Cole into a hard throwing lefty. Clearly Mr Nelson didn't even bother finding a crappy scouting report on the guy.

He's pretty much a taller version of Duening, low 90's with no pitch to get righties out.

Best case is he turns into a LOOGY.

Anonymous said...

I usually agree with Nick's perspective but not today. Delmon gone, Cuddy gone, Kubel gone, Thome gone, Capps gone, Span and Morneau may never be the same, Baker Tommy John, not much talent in minors, we could be looking in the mirror and seeing to 90's.

Nick N. said...

He's pretty much a taller version of Duening, low 90's with no pitch to get righties out.

Couldn't the same thing have been said about Glen Perkins at one point? Nelson is 6'7" and has topped out at 96. Your "crappy scouting report" seems lazy and uninformed.

Anonymous said...

The cupboard is bare

James said...

Couldn't the same thing have been said about Glen Perkins at one point? Nelson is 6'7" and has topped out at 96. Your "crappy scouting report" seems lazy and uninformed.

Being argumentative and defensive as the blogger is generally ill advised.

It isn't often that I disagree with you (as a majority of your columns are either obvious analysis or "I told you so"s), but this was not a productive move.

Glen Perkins had a long road to become the solid reliever he is now. How many class a pitchers will pan out to that? It really is alarming how little good Smith has done.

Nick N. said...

Being argumentative and defensive as the blogger is generally ill advised.

A person posting anonymously falsely accuses me of not doing any research and I'm supposed to feel bad for telling them to shut up? Nah.

Glen Perkins had a long road to become the solid reliever he is now. How many class a pitchers will pan out to that? It really is alarming how little good Smith has done.

Obviously Nelson is nothing too special. I didn't think saying he "could turn into a quality hard-throwing left-hander" was a level of praise that would induce scrutiny. He ain't much but he's what Delmon was worth, like it or not.

No one's giving up anything great for a plodding, expensive left fielder who isn't hitting, and the Twins shouldn't be chastised for not wanting such a player in their future plans.

Steve L. said...

"If Young starts become a major power hitter, can we all finally admit that something in the Twins hitting organization is broken?"

I'd make the argument that something in the Twins hitting organization has been broken for 41 years. That's how long it's been since a Minnesota Twin has hit 35 or more Home Runs in a single season (in case you're wondering, it was Harmon Killebrew). They seem to sap the power from anybody with that potential as they develop them. See David Ortiz and his complaints about Twins coaching.

Anonymous said...

Perkins, really? Hell lets compare him to Matt Thornton if you wanna really wanna take it to an even dumber level. He's tall and lefthaned...what else do you need.

Atleast with Gleeman's stuff he actually backs up his stuff with some valid numbers and analysis. But your arguement is Glen Perkins did it.

Can't argue with that.

Nick N. said...

But your arguement is Glen Perkins did it.

No, my argument is that it's ridiculous to pass judgment on a player who is 23 and has one whole year of pro experience. Labeling him a Brian Duensing clone is, as I said, lazy and uninformed.

USAFChief said...

Regardless your opinion of Delmon, a GM can't be successful by continually bleeding talent out of the organization.

This is yet another example of Buy-Hith-Sell-Low-Bill Smith's incompetance.

MN said...

"I'd make the argument that something in the Twins hitting organization has been broken for 41 years. That's how long it's been since a Minnesota Twin has hit 35 or more Home Runs in a single season (in case you're wondering, it was Harmon Killebrew). They seem to sap the power from anybody with that potential as they develop them. See David Ortiz and his complaints about Twins coaching."

Good point. One of the most frustrating things about the Twins is that they always promote from within. What I wouldn't give to have some young hot-blooded Epstein like guy just to shake things up.

Matt said...

They took a shot with Delmon and it failed. There was a lot of upside and the Rays were desparate for pitching. Plus, there was a chance Brendan Harris could contribute for several years, which didn't work out, either. I didn't hate the trade then and I'm not going back on it saying we were utter fools to have made it.

Still, having Garza around would be nice, but I don't miss Bartlett, that's for sure.