Article: Reviewing The Span And Revere Trades

[Cody Christie]

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-quality center fielders, Denard Span and Ben Revere. Minnesota wanted to bolster its pitching depth and shopping their team-controlled outfielders seemed likely to bring back the biggest return. From a drafting and scouting perspective, the Twins were taking a different approach to their pitchers -- less pitch to contact and more strikeouts -- and this deal was supposed to be a step in that direction.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

 

For those that don't remember, here's a timeline of the events that led 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 may 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 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.

Originally posted at http://www.NoDakTwinsFan.com

 

All MLB teams have played over 100 games, which means the schedule is close to 65% complete. Let's look back at the parties involved in these offseason deals and see what the results have been:

 

Download attachment: DenardSpan.jpg Denard Span, CF - Washington Nationals

MLB Stat Summary (99 Games): .266/.319/.370, 2 HR, 21 2B, 7 3B, 10 SB, 0.9 WAR

Span's career in Washington has not gotten off to a great start. He is a career .282 hitter with a .352 OBP but has struggled to reach those marks this season. The Nationals have even moved him out of the leadoff spot 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 on a foul ball. This was terrible news for the Phillies since Revere was in the midst of quite the hot streak. Over the previous 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. The Phillies were getting some of his best baseball 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 supposed 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 hasn't worked out 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 of all 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 ("inflammation") has kept him off the mound 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 rankings, Meyer has consistently been in the top-100 for all baseball. A couple 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 hoping 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 are 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 holds value to the 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.

 

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