rgslone

Trade Revere to the Reds for Cozart = problem solved.

What about Homer Bailey or Mike Leake from the Reds? Both are young and cheap. What would it take to get that done?

What about Willingham and Revere for Homer Bailey and Drew Stubbs? Bailey is a 26 yr. old power arm, with a 3.68 ERA and a no-hitter this season. Stubbs has great speed and defense in CF, he's also pretty good against LH pitching (although he's a strikeout machine against RH pitching). The Twins would also save a few million that they could use for another piece (e.g., a SS).

If you do not have enough B- pitching prospect available to fill your needs then you have to trade for what is scarcer. You can always pick up another MI, for younger prospects. You might not always find a pitching rich team. That's not the most efficient method of doing things though. It's like drafting a pitcher for the sake of needing pitchers instead of drafting best player available. If you always draft to need and not to talent available, you are making your overall system weaker in the process. Except the Twins GM has proven time and time again that he is afraid to sign free agent pitchers to multi-year deals. Therefore, the only way to get a controlable pitcher is to trade for one. Ryan is not afraid to sign offensive free agent vets. Besides, it's not like the teams we are talking about are talent rich in offense, the Braves, Reds, Rays and Mariners have much better pitching options to deal than they do on offense. Anyone who thinks there is more value in future utility player Didi Gregarius than in Tony Cingrani, Daniel Corcino or Robert Stephenson is crazy. Trade for cheap young promising pitching and then you can afford to overpay a little to make sure you get your veteran middle infielder. Otherwise your trading for an a uninspriring guy like Gregorius and end up paying top dollar for short term uninspiring starters. I'd rather rather have a Cingrani or Mike Minor and pay Stephen Drew or Jeff Keppinger on the open market, then end up with Gregorius or Tyler Pastronicky and have to settle for Joe Saunders or Joe Blanton. You may well be correct that the Twins should pursue a starter prospect instead of a SS. Still, the premise of the discussion was about getting a SS. So, if getting a SS is the goal, then I doubt that the Twins will pick up a better option than Cozart or Gregorious for a player like Span or Revere (both of whom are good players, but not stars). I also think that you're wrong about the value of Gregorius. He's a prospect, which by definition means that he may not pan out. But his potential, both offensively and defensively, and how close he is to being ready make him one of the best SS prospect bets the Twins could make (again, assuming a young SS is the way they want to go).

You have a good perspective on the Reds SS dilemma. Given the Twins CF depth I think a Span/Revere for Cozart/Gregorious deal would be to the Twins benefit. Cozart has speed, power, and was in line for the Gold Glove this season. He's a solid SS that many MLB teams would like to have starting for them. Gregorious has speed (although not a great base stealer at this point), great defense and arm, and projects to be a good contact hitter and is starting to show power that most scouts have always said is there - plus he's 22 yrs. old and hits left-handed. The problem with a deal from the Reds standpoint, however, is they may not be comfortable yet deciding which player will be their SS of the future. They likely feel that Gregorious needs another year (or at least half a season) at AAA, and they have no option other than Cozart for 2013.