At the Winter Meetings, there are constant rumors popping up, and I will try my best to keep up with them while still keeping my day job.
The most intriguing rumor I’ve heard today was the Phillies interest in outfielder Delmon Young of the Minnesota Twins. Young, 23, hit .290 with 10 HR and 69 RBI for the Twins last year. Around this time last year, he was jettisoned by the Rays for Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett.
This would be a very interesting move, with valid arguments for and against it.
For:
- Young is a huge talent, and still only 23. In 2006, he was the unanimous #1 prospect in all of baseball, ahead of such players as Prince Fielder, Chad Billingsley, Nick Markakis, Jon Lester, Hanley Ramirez, Jonathan Paplebon, and on and on. If he were to realize his potential with the Phillies, any trade would be a steal.
- Though said to have a bad attitude, it did not seem to affect the Twins last year, who made a surprising playoff push.
Against:
- While many get more mature with age, Young’s attitude and drive have been questioned for several years now. He might mature at age 24, or, he might mature at age 31. It’s a question mark.
- Why mess with the chemistry of a team that just won the title?
- We would likely have to give up one of my favorite prospects, and our only 3B option in our system, Jason Donald. You know he would excel on a team like the Twins.
So it would definitely be a high risk, high reward move. I’ve known about Young for awhile, and know all about his potential, so it would be very tempting for me to make this kind of move. I think that Rollins, Howard and Manuel would help guide the kid and help him keep his head straight. On the other hand, if the Rays and Twins could both only take one year of him, there might be more going on than we know. I say play it conservative and don’t do it, but I really couldn’t blame Ruben if he pulled the trigger.
Other Phillies Winter Meetings Rumors
Like I said, it’s hard to keep up with all this, so I’ll put what I’ve read down here…
- The hold-up with Moyer is money. He feels that he did us a favor by taking a pretty small contract 2 years ago (which is true) and doesn’t want to do it again (looks like we thought that’s what would happen). As Derek Lowe is the one FA I would love to see in a Phillies uni next year, I’m OK with letting him walk. I don’t think Moyer has 2 good years left.
- Juan Rivera has been mentioned as another cheap right-handed outfielder option. He and Dobbs would make a decent, not great, platoon.
- Jon Garland’s name has been thrown around, but it doesn’t appear in direct relation to an actual rumor. I personally think Garland, if signed to a reasonable contract, would be a good addition. He’s no ace, but would be a nice #4 in the NL.
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Soft-tossing Jon Garland? no thanks.
OK, here’s another update:
7:05pm: LEN3 says the Twins would want more than Donald for Young, but it’s a moot point because the Phillies don’t want to trade Donald. The teams haven’t spoken lately and don’t have plans to meet in the near future.
More than Donald makes this deal even riskier for us. Not worth it. With Feliz’s health an unknown, we simply must have a viable back up plan at 3b for this year. Feliz may well come back on time and in good health, but I am not at all confident he will remain that way for the entire season. Granted, Donald will not be the second coming of Michael Jack but he could prove to be invaluable should we find ourselves in need.
Also, factoring in Utley’s uncertain situation, I don’t want Donald going anywhere. I would much rather give him a shot than bring in Loretta or someone of his ilk.
Here’s another update. This time from Ken Rosenthal (you’ll like this one, Pete):
7:29 p.m. — Phillies enter Peavy fray
The World Series champion Phillies are active on at least two fronts. They have shown interest in Twins’ outfielder Delmon Young and also have emerged as a possible third team in the ongoing discussions between the Cubs and Padres regarding right-hander Jake Peavy.
The Padres like some of the Phillies’ young minor-league pitchers, major-league sources say, but the talks are only in the preliminary stages.
bski-
good find on Young/Donald.
more than donald, forget about it.
on the Peavy thing. I was considering writing up a quick post about that, but it gives no indication of who we would be after. We would be the 3rd team, so not after Peavy. It says the Padres like our Minor League pitchers, but who would we get back from the Cubs? Jason Marquis? We’d better not. His 1.44 WHIP wouldn’t play nice at CBP.
The only intruiging name on the Cubs for me is Josh Vitters, their top prospect and a 3B, but I would have to imagine that is who the Padres are centering the deal around.
I hear that Mark DeRosa might be involved
hmmmmm- thats interesting
derosa can play outfield. hit .285 with 21 HR and 87 RBI last year and i heard a lot about some big hits he came up with.
As a die hard Twins fan, I had mixed feelings when they acquired Delmon Young. However, I haver NEVER heard a single bad thing about him since he has been on the Twins. Never arguing with an umpire, coach, teammate, etc. Nothing. So he does seem to have grown up tremendously. However, he has not lived up to his 5-star potential, being that one of those stars is supposed to be power. In Minnesota he is starting to get the reputation as being “a muscle bound singles hitter.” Anyway, I hope that the Twins aren’t so quick to give up on him.
And now that Terry Ryan is no longer the GM, other teams in the league don’t need to worry about getting ripped off.
Great call, Raro. Here is what I found about the Peavy deal (and yes, we would be the 3rd team. We will not be seeing Peavy in red pinstripes):
12:30am: To summarize yesterday: Kevin Towers has facilitated an apparent three-team Jake Peavy trade that he will present to the Cubs. I say three because Roch Kubatko says the Orioles don’t know of any agreement. So the best guess right now (based on reports) is that the Cubs would send Mark DeRosa to the Phillies, and both teams would send young players to the Padres. The Cubs could offload Jason Marquis in the deal, and the savings from Marquis and DeRosa would seem to neatly equal Peavy’s $11MM salary for ‘09.
12:41am: Ken Rosenthal’s source says the Cubs’ attempts to bring in a third team have involved “probably 20 names with four to five clubs.” So it’s not necessarily DeRosa or the Phillies. Rosenthal says an agreement is still not close.
Mark Loretta was signed by the Dodgers, so I guess DeRosa is our next target. Also, the only name I saw as a potential young player we would send to the Padres in this deal is J.A. Happ. Don’t know that I like that so much, but it’s better than Donald.
Also, on Moyer (and Lowe):
11:37pm: Jon Heyman says Ruben Amaro Jr. is being very aggressive in his pursuits of Moyer and Derek Lowe. He says the Phils have offered Moyer two years and $14MM but Moyer wants an additional $4MM on the contract.
12:47pm: According to ESPN’s Jayson Stark, the Phillies and Jamie Moyer “continue to haggle purely over dollars.” Phils GM Ruben Amaro Jr. admitted the negotiations have been “a little disappointing.”
Moyer wants MORE than 2 years, $14 million? seriously? I think that is a terrible deal for the Phillies to start!
if we do DeRosa for Happ, and give Moyer 2 years at high dollars, I won’t be pleased.
I put up a Winter Meetings post