The Delmon Young Trade is Still Haunting the Twins 17 Years Later

[Greggory Masterson]

Do you ever hear those stories about the kid who started with a paper clip and, after a few dozen swaps, managed to end up trading for a used car? Have you ever wondered about the poor dunderhead who started the string of trades by trading their pencil for that paper clip?

Image courtesy of © Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

The Twins were that dunderhead. Had they only been able to see into the future, they could have kept their pencil and traded up to being the proud owners of a used car. That paper clip? Delmon Young. The pencil? Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett. The used car at the end? 63.5 Wins Above Replacement (and counting), according to Baseball Reference, for the Tampa Bay Rays.

If you don’t know this story, you're in for a treat. Let’s go back to 2007, when Young was a rising star for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. This tale started before they even changed their name. The former first-round pick, famously suspended for 50 games in the minors for hitting an umpire with a bat, had just finished second in American League Rookie of the Year voting.

Minnesota, looking for a long-term answer in left field, traded MLB regular shortstop Jason Bartlett, starting pitcher Matt Garza, and minor-league pitcher Eddie Morlan for the promising star. Along with Young came journeyman infielder Brendan Harris and outfielder Jason Pridie.

I will use bWAR as a shorthand for performance here, because we have much to cover in this trade's fallout. Young had a rocky career for the Twins, with only one season in which he was an above-average hitter—and his defense didn’t make up for any of that offensive inconsistency. Over four years with the Twins, he accumulated 1 WAR and was traded for Cole Nelson (who never made MLB) and Lester Oliveros, who threw 21.1 innings for the Twins (0.0 WAR) before his release.

Harris had a three-year career with the Twins as a utility player, which went poorly after the first year (-0.6 WAR total). He was included in the trade sending J.J. Hardy to the Orioles for Brett Jacobsen (never made MLB) and reliever Jim Hoey (-0.6 WAR). Out of mercy and because Hardy was also part of the trade, I’ll leave Hoey out. After 10 games and six plate appearances, Pridie (-0.2 WAR) was waived.

So, in total, the Twins received 0.4 WAR between Young, Harris, Oliveros, and Pridie. How did the Rays come out on the deal?

Well. They came out real well.

Bartlett played three years in Tampa as the everyday shortstop, and he even got an All-Star selection (10.4 WAR). Garza started 94 games over three very good years (8.5 WAR). If this were the end of the story, it would be rough for the Twins, as their 0.4 WAR pales compared to Tampa’s 18.9. Instead, we’re just getting started.

Bartlett was traded in 2010 to San Diego for Cole Figueroa (-0.1 WAR), Brandon Gomes (-0.1 WAR), Cesár Ramos (1.4 WAR), and Adam Russell (0.2). It’s really not much to write home about, but extracting trade value from declining or departing players is part of what’s helped the Rays remain competitive despite a bottom-tier payroll. Sometimes, it leads to dead ends (1.4 WAR between them), but sometimes, it works out better.

Speaking of which, Garza was also traded before 2011, along with minor-league lefty Zac Rosscup and quadruple-A outfielder Fernando Pérez, to the Cubs, for Hak-Ju Lee (never reached MLB), catcher Robinson Chirinos (0.2 WAR), outfielder Sam Fuld (2.3 WAR), and outfielder Brandon Guyer (5.8 WAR). Oh, they also got Chris Archer in that trade--not the Twins version, but the two-time All-Star (12.5 WAR). That’s a total of 20.8 WAR gained from trading Bartlett and Garza themselves.

But the Rays also traded Archer to Pittsburgh amid his worst full season. Archer brought back pitchers Tyler Glasnow (8.6 WAR) and Shane Baz (0.5 WAR), who are both still with the club and continuing to accrue value for the team. They could also be traded to continue the chain further, as happened with the third piece of the Archer trade, Austin Meadows (6.6 WAR; 15.7 WAR from the Archer tree).

Meadows was shipped to Detroit in 2022 for Isaac Paredes (6.7 WAR), who still has four years of team control and is now a subject of trade rumors. The Rays also received the Tigers’ second-round compensatory pick in 2022, which they used to select outfielder Ryan Cermak, a 22-year-old in A ball. If he reaches the Rays, they can stretch this tree into the 2030s.

As of December 14th, it appears Glasnow (pending an extension) has also been flipped, along with Manuel Margot, to the Dodgers for Ryan Pepiot and Johnny Deluca. To date, the Garza half of this tree has amounted to 51.7 WAR for the Rays. Margot's inclusion in the deal muddies the math for Pepiot and Deluca in this trade, but it will nonetheless continue to grow.

Altogether, however, the Rays have netted 63.5 WAR in players acquired in the Delmon Young trade (and players acquired through players acquired in the Delmon Young trade). In comparison to what Minnesota got (0.4 WAR), that’s alarming. And it will continue to grow as the club derives value from Paredes, Baz, Cermak, Pepiot, and Deluca—along with whomever they’re eventually traded for.

Even on the field, the trade continues to bite the Twins. On June 7, Paredes homered to give the Rays an early lead, then started an inning-ending double play in the field in the top of the ninth, killing a Twins bases-loaded rally, before Randy Arozarena walked off Jhoan Durán in the bottom of the inning.

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, “Gregg, you great lout! Every team has this type of trade! Players are traded all the time, so they’re bound to catch a few good ones in a row!”

I may be a great lout, but let’s look at the Twins' own history for context. Many cite the 2003 trade that sent A.J. Pierzynski to San Francisco as the greatest heist in Twins history. Pierzynski played for the Giants for one year (0.3 WAR) and was released.

In return, the Twins gained Boof Bonser (-0.2 WAR), fireballer Francisco Liriano (9.3 WAR), and the greatest closer in team history, Joe Nathan (18.4 WAR). It was undeniably a franchise-altering move that also paved the way for Joe Mauer’s ascent.

It gets better, though. Nathan walked in free agency after nine seasons, and Bonser was traded for Chris Province, who never made the big leagues, but Liriano was traded in 2012. In return, the White Sox sent pitcher Pedro Hernández (-0.7 WAR) and utility infielder Eduardo Escobar.

Escobar had a productive seven-season career in Minnesota (5.7 WAR) and was traded in 2018 to Arizona during a deadline fire sale. The Diamondbacks returned a package that included Gabriel Maciel and Ernie De La Trinidad, who left the organization before reaching the majors. It also brought back hard-throwing pitching prospect Jhoan Durán (4.7 WAR).

Durán will continue accumulating value for Minnesota, and the returns for Pierzynski currently add up to 37.2 WAR, which is substantial. Compared to the 0.3 WAR Pierzynski put up in San Francisco, there’s no way to take the trades as anything other than a win. However, it’s just over half of the value of the Young trade, and there’s only one piece in Minnesota still chugging along, compared to four in Tampa. The Pierzynski also took place four seasons earlier than the Young trade.

Is this reason to harbor resentment toward the Twins or Terry Ryan? No. It’s just a comically absurd series of events that span nearly two decades and continue to get funnier. These things happen, but it’s usually not to this extent. Could the Twins have kept Garza and Bartlett, starting the same chain reaction for themselves? Maybe, but so many things had to go right for the Rays to get to this place that I wouldn't count on any GM to pull it off. Heck, it's taken four Rays GMs to do it.

View full article

[Cory Engelhardt]

I hadn’t thought about Delmon for quite a while. Is he still getting in trouble? I’m nervous to Google it :)

Also, I appreciate your writing. Thanks!

[arby58]

Thanks for the research on that - knew the trade was bad, just didn't know how bad. 

Another interesting trade (although far longer ago) was the Twins sending Chuck Knoblauch to the Yankees for Brian Buchanan, Christian Guzman, Eric Milton, and Danny Mota. I assume, based on Guzman's and Milton's performance, that  one turned out pretty well. 

[jdgoin]

Originally this deal was supposed to include BJ Upton at The Deadline instead of Delmon Young. Tampa said they needed more time to think about it and the deadline passed. Then a lot of other things happened.

[Trov]

I would point out that Terry Ryan was not the GM when most of the trades on the Twins side of Young and follow up were made.  It was Bill Smith.  Then Ryan came back. So I do not blame Ryan for the Young trade but Bill Smith.  What is interesting is the Young trade traces back to the Chuck Knoblauch trade tree as well, as Bartlett was obtained as part of that tree. 

I was most upset by the inclusion of Bartlett in the deal.  The Garza for Young, at the time seemed like a decent thought.  Young was considered a top hitter up and coming, and Garza, although a good pitcher, was not a fan of the Twins coaching him and we have no clue if he would have been nearly as good with us.  Also, no way would we have been as good of trading him and got back as good of a deal like the Rays did. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Fun article.  Reminds me of a childhood proverb which began: "For want of a nail, the shoe was lost." 

[roger]

So what's your point, Greg?

Should the Twins stop trading because some can be bad, real bad?  Or should they go on a trading spree, trading most of their top players once they have been around 5 or 6 years?  

Didn't like the Young trade when they made it.  But then I believe that defense is a huge part of the game.

[arby58]

1 hour ago, Trov said:

I would point out that Terry Ryan was not the GM when most of the trades on the Twins side of Young and follow up were made.  It was Bill Smith.  Then Ryan came back. So I do not blame Ryan for the Young trade but Bill Smith.  What is interesting is the Young trade traces back to the Chuck Knoblauch trade tree as well, as Bartlett was obtained as part of that tree. 

That's not my recollection on the Knoblauch trade. Baseball Almanac says 'Traded by Minnesota Twins to New York Yankees in exchange for Brian Buchanan, Cristian Guzman, Eric Milton, Danny Mota and cash (February 6, 1998).'

[Riverbrian]

2 hours ago, Greggory Masterson said:

Is this reason to harbor resentment toward the Twins or Terry Ryan?

Trades are won by the team that better develops or increases the value of the players acquired.

There was nothing wrong with the original deal when it was made. The trade ended up being really wrong afterwards because Delmon's value plummeted to the point where he was given to the Tigers. Delmon Young the center piece of the deal was just 22 years old at the time with tons of career that was supposed to come.

It's probably more on Delmon according to reports that I've read about Delmon... However... Delmon did not increase in value during his time with the Twins... His value plummeted to the point where he was given away to the Tigers just to get him off the roster. Development during this time was certainly not a strong suit for the Twins.    

Not only did Delmon not develop... every single player that we acquired in the aftermath did not develop either. No Rookies broke down the door either for over a decade.  

J.J. Hardy was mentioned in the article. J.J. Hardy was probably a worse trade tree. We failed to develop Carlos Gomez, we rushed him to the big leagues as a 22 year old and cut him loose two years later. During his time with the Brewers Carlos Gomez increased his trade value so much that the Brewers got Josh Hader, Domingo Santana Adrian Houser and Brett Phillips in return. Hader has since netted them Estuary Ruiz who was traded for William Contreras and Joel Payamps today. So the Hardy trade is still giving to the Brewers.    

J.J. Hardy did not develop as a Twin in his only year with the Twins. He was injured during the season hitting 6 homers as a Twin and that was the ONLY year he didn't at least reach double digits in dingers over the course of 7 SEASONS. The Orioles got him back on track with 30 dingers the immediate year after acquiring him from us for nothing as we handed the reigns to a SS from Japan that was the worst thing we have ever seen. Another development failure I guess. Because we couldn't convert whatever the scouts saw in Japan to a functional major league baseball player. 

It's easy to see who wins and losses trades afterwards... The teams who lose trades are the ones who don't make the players acquired better but most of us tend to think the win/loss thing is decided at the time of the trade. 

From 2006 to 2016... Under Terry Ryan. We went through a long stretch of very few players increasing their value with a few big ones crashing and burning.

Name a rookie who rose from the Farm during this stretch that developed any kind of decent value either on the field value or trade value.

This is what did Terry Ryan in... In my opinion... the failure to develop anybody as we plugged the holes with average veterans.  

As I'm building a statue outside of Target Field to honor Terry Ryan and I do honor him because he was one of us... development was his downfall and ultimately I will judge our front office on development as well. We seem to be doing much better at it today. 

The Twins can't survive without development. We have to make our players better. 

 

[arby58]

1 hour ago, jdgoin said:

Originally this deal was supposed to include BJ Upton at The Deadline instead of Delmon Young. Tampa said they needed more time to think about it and the deadline passed. Then a lot of other things happened.

That would have been a bit more balanced, given his career WAR of 16.8 (ceteris paribus, of course). 

[Linus]

This is from memory but I believe Ryan obtained Bartlett in a trade with the Padres. Twins gave up Buck Buchanan?  Who never did much. 

[arby58]

2 minutes ago, Linus said:

This is from memory but I believe Ryan obtained Bartlett in a trade with the Padres. Twins gave up Buck Buchanan?  Who never did much. 

You are right - they did get Bartlett for Buchanan. Funny how these things got intertwined.

[Doctor Gast]

Yeah, Greg, that Young trade was head scatcher even at the time. Before that trade the Devil rays were a so so team. After that trade of Barlett & Garza, The Rays had taken off & never looked back. Just think of that ripple effect that the Rays made from that trade if the Twins could have made those same trades? It's mind boggling.

[LastOnePicked]

It's always amazing what top front offices can do in this game. Sure, there's some luck peppered in, but it usually follows on the heels of good decisions. 

That's why, more than any single player, I've wanted the Twins to acquire a top-tier front office. What they have now is good, but not outstanding. And they've had enough history here now to make that call.

[jdgoin]

27 minutes ago, Linus said:

This is from memory but I believe Ryan obtained Bartlett in a trade with the Padres. Twins gave up Buck Buchanan?  Who never did much. 

That is correct. Buchanan for Bartlett in 2002.

[nicksaviking]

2 hours ago, arby58 said:

Thanks for the research on that - knew the trade was bad, just didn't know how bad. 

Another interesting trade (although far longer ago) was the Twins sending Chuck Knoblauch to the Yankees for Brian Buchanan, Christian Guzman, Eric Milton, and Danny Mota. I assume, based on Guzman's and Milton's performance, that  one turned out pretty well. 

Milton was then traded for Nick Punto, Carlos Silva and Bobby Korecky. When Guzman left the Twins got a compensation pick which they used to draft Brian Duensing. They also traded Buchanan to get Jason Bartlett who instigated this trade.

Turned out better for the Rays, but the Twins didn't do so bad themselves. 

[Brandon]

38 minutes ago, Linus said:

This is from memory but I believe Ryan obtained Bartlett in a trade with the Padres. Twins gave up Buck Buchanan?  Who never did much. 

So the Delmon Young trade is just a branch of the Chuck Knoblauch trade.  Buchanan was acquired in the Knoblauch trade. The Author didn’t go back far enough for accuracy.

 

[Greggory Masterson]

1 hour ago, roger said:

So what's your point, Greg?

Should the Twins stop trading because some can be bad, real bad?  Or should they go on a trading spree, trading most of their top players once they have been around 5 or 6 years?  

Didn't like the Young trade when they made it.  But then I believe that defense is a huge part of the game.

The point is “wow, this is a pretty fun story.” This isn’ta Very Special Episode or anything. It’s just interesting

[Greggory Masterson]

53 minutes ago, Brandon said:

So the Delmon Young trade is just a branch of the Chuck Knoblauch trade.  Buchanan was acquired in the Knoblauch trade. The Author didn’t go back far enough for accuracy.

 

This is correct; they’re all intertwined, but I try to hold myself to 1,100 word writeups, max

[CRF]

Watching Delmon play LF was haunting enough for me. 

[Jocko87]

Quote

Have you ever wondered about the poor dunderhead who started the string of trades by trading their pencil for that paper clip?

That poor dunderhead doesn't even remember trading away the pencil.  Unless he was raised in the broken household of Minnesota Twins Fandom that never got any other nice pieces to trade with.  Like a Nintendo or a Mauer or cabbage patch kids.

The Terry Ryan scout and develop, hoard a prospect regime has left the fanbase with a severe case of the one who got away syndrome.  We better start getting over it if we expect the current regime to be around for a while, and we should.  Modern, successful baseball organizations don't remember the pencil.  Meanwhile, Twins fans still pine for the likes of Lamont Wade and Akil Baddoo.  Stop it.  There will be many more trades.

Trade trees are not a thing, even though I appreciate the lighter hearted look at it.  Anything past evaluating the deal made, with the facts at that time, and the success of the players involved isn't a metric we should be measuring. 

That the Reds just signed a free agent on top of CES and are rumored to be willing to move on from him should affect how we feel about the Mahle deal, but it likely won't.  If they somehow flip CES for Mike Trout Jr it doesn't factor in the Twins part of that trade.  Only the CES value is part of the equation.

[Muppet]

End the end, it was worth a loss of 100 WAR just to no longer have Delmon Young on the team. 

[Muppet]

Just now, Muppet said:

End the end, it was worth a loss of 100 WAR just to no longer have Delmon Young on the team. 

(Even if we gave up that WAR to get him in the first place)

[lukeduke1980]

Every ball hit to him was an adventure, but his one good year he had every big RBI

[Guest]

Very well done article, thank you.

[Trov]

3 hours ago, arby58 said:

That's not my recollection on the Knoblauch trade. Baseball Almanac says 'Traded by Minnesota Twins to New York Yankees in exchange for Brian Buchanan, Cristian Guzman, Eric Milton, Danny Mota and cash (February 6, 1998).'

Brian Buchanan was traded to Padres for Jason Bartlett. Who was included in the trade as mentioned. 

[Trov]

3 hours ago, Linus said:

This is from memory but I believe Ryan obtained Bartlett in a trade with the Padres. Twins gave up Buck Buchanan?  Who never did much. 

I believe Buchanan has the St. Paul Saints record for RBI's in a game.  At least he did at one point. I was at that game.  It was after the Padres released him of course. 

[Blyleven2011]

Hey Greg and Twins fans ...

This is the best article written since the end of the world series  , I enjoyed the read and comments  ...

I'm getting tired of responding to all the speculations  of who the twins should acquire in trades or free agency  , it's out  of our hands  and all we should do is sit back and see If FO makes us a winner  or they just tank ...

Then we can either praise or shredd them .....

I liked this article  ...

[Road trip]

5 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

 

From 2006 to 2016... Under Terry Ryan. We went through a long stretch of very few players increasing their value with a few big ones crashing and burning.

Name a rookie who rose from the Farm during this stretch that developed any kind of decent value either on the field value or trade value.

This is what did Terry Ryan in... In my opinion... the failure to develop anybody as we plugged the holes with average veterans.  

 

 

Well, I don't really disagree with your point regarding player development in the Ryan years.  It wasn't great, but it wasn't ZERO.

Wilson Ramos was traded away for Capps, which was unfortunate, but Ramos was developed and had great value.  The Twins just made a bad trade with that value.  (and Ramos had the misfortune to get continually hurt after a great rookie season in Washington)

Denard Span and Ben Revere both had decent, but not great careers.  Span unfortunately didn't bring much value back when traded.  Revere got us several good years of Trevor May.

Brian Dozier is arguably one of the great development stories in Twin history, as he was never considered more than a middling prospect, but had a few great years.

You could add Trevor Plouffe to the position player list as well, and possibly Danny Valencia and the legendary Drew Butera, although we are kind of stretching the boundaries of "successful" at this point.

Glen Perkins is probably the lone pitcher from that era that would be remembered as a development success.  That may be the real problem.  No quality starter was developed in that entire decade (Liriano came up just a hair earlier).

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, Road trip said:

Well, I don't really disagree with your point regarding player development in the Ryan years.  It wasn't great, but it wasn't ZERO.

Wilson Ramos was traded away for Capps, which was unfortunate, but Ramos was developed and had great value.  The Twins just made a bad trade with that value.  (and Ramos had the misfortune to get continually hurt after a great rookie season in Washington)

Denard Span and Ben Revere both had decent, but not great careers.  Span unfortunately didn't bring much value back when traded.  Revere got us several good years of Trevor May.

Brian Dozier is arguably one of the great development stories in Twin history, as he was never considered more than a middling prospect, but had a few great years.

You could add Trevor Plouffe to the position player list as well, and possibly Danny Valencia and the legendary Drew Butera, although we are kind of stretching the boundaries of "successful" at this point.

Glen Perkins is probably the lone pitcher from that era that would be remembered as a development success.  That may be the real problem.  No quality starter was developed in that entire decade (Liriano came up just a hair earlier).

Great Post... You have a fantastic list of players from that time period and your assessments are solid but I do see things a little differently when I think of those guys. 

Perkins - No doubt... He is a development success story. A Twin from beginning to end and he was top notch. 

Dozier - I'll give you Dozer... Kind of... We had 4 big years of Dozier. Although, when it was time to cash out... only pennies remained. The Dodgers sure didn't give up much for him. Certainly wasn't a player that could speed up the needed build.  

Ramos - I won't give the Twins any credit for Ramos development. I give the Twins the opposite of credit. He goes into the same pile as Carlos Gomez. Traded at age 22... Just another young player that was given away. What a shame because the following year Joe Mauer shifted over to 1B. No worries we had that ole' average vet standby that we stuffed our rosters with during that decade in Drew Butera. You list Drew Butera and admit to stretching the boundaries. I can't stretch things that far. 😄    

Span - What the Twins got back in return is another example of that development problem. Span was like you said... decent but not great but I think Alex Meyer in return was a pretty good get at the time... Hard throwing 6-9 Dude out of Kentucky. But Alas, Alex Meyer did not develop under Twins care. So when I think of Span... I think of Meyer... Failed development.  

Revere - I have always been a huge Revere fan. That speed, that defensive ability, that ability to put the ball in play. I was a big fan. But, Revere and Span traded in the same off-season just reminds me of another development failure. We trade Revere at age 24 along with Span and hand the job to... Yep... that 23 year old 1st round pick named Aaron Hicks who the Twins developed to the point of being worth John Ryan Murphy. Hicks was just decent... not a superstar but he did stick around New York for 2,000 AB's of average baseball. 2,000 AB's with the Yankees is pretty hard to do.

Plouffe - 1st round pick. Career OPS of .714. The definition of average. Yet... he was entrenched as the every day 3B for 6 years like he was Adrian Beltre. So entrenched at 3B while playing average baseball that the arrival of top prospect Miguel Sano had to detour to RF to accommodate an average Plouffe. Once Plouffe hit free agency... he barely found a job spent two months with the A's and was traded to the Rays for a player to be named later. 

Valencia - No Credit for Danny... He was given to the Red Sox after producing a back to back sub .522 OPS season. His success came with the Orioles, A's and Jays. At best those clubs fixed him after we broke him. At worst... he's just another example of a young player that we moved off of as a young player and they found themselves elsewhere. At least for awhile in Danny's case.  

The Twins really really really struggled with development over that long dark period and I believe it was why the period was long and dark. I'm not sure the Twins could have done worse and I'm typically a pretty optimistic guy.