The Twins on Thursday traded Ben Revere to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for starting pitcher Vance Worley and right handed prospect Trevor May. Both teams have confirmed the deal.

Revere, 24, has elite speed and can cover a ton of ground. He also has a throwing arm that scouts would rate somewhere between that of Johnny Damon and that of Juan Pierre. The lefty-swinging center fielder enjoyed a terrific season at the plate in 2012, posting a .294/.333./.342 line in over 550 plate appearances.

Revere swiped 40 bases in 49 tries for the Twins in 2012. Image: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

He has virtually no power and his on base percentage is almost entirely dependent on his batting average, which is never ideal. As long as the hits are dropping, it looks great but when they aren’t, Revere won’t draw too many walks. Basically, he’s no where near the complete player that Denard Span, traded to the Nationals, is.

The Phillies woke up this morning and realized that their quest to land a center fielder had moved too slowly and all that was left on the market was Michael Bourn. Bourn was considered the best pure center fielder available, but he comes with an asking price North of $15 million per year.

With Bourn in need of a team and the Phillies figuring they should actually put someone in center field next season, it looked like Bourn’s agent, Scott Boras, had Ruben Amaro Jr. over a barrel. Instead, Amaro (known to some disgruntled Phillies fans as “Ruin Tomorrow Jr.”) lived up to the moniker and traded away a young, cost-controlled starter and the organization’s number two prospect to get a guy that, if all goes well, will have a career that rivals that of Scott Podsednik.

Worley will immediately help the Twins, who are in dire need of pitching both at the major league level and throughout their organization. In parts of three seasons with Philadelphia, the bespectacled righty has posted a very solid 3.50 ERA and strikeout-to-walk ratio of nearly two-and-a-half-to-one. In 2012, Worley made 23 starts, going 6-9 with a 4.20 ERA. He underwent a minor procedure to clean out his elbow at the end of the season, but it is not expected to be a lingering issue.

In May, the Twins get Baseball America’s 69th-highest rated prospect in the league and one who has put up dominant strikeout numbers in the minor leagues. He walks too many hitters at this point, but having just turned 23 he has time to right the ship. If there is one strength of the coaches throughout the Minnesota system, it’s teaching pitchers how to throw strikes.

The Phillies made a move that saves them money over having to submit to the demands of Scott Boras and Michael Bourn, but they also made a move that took one solid starting pitcher off of their big league roster and another potentially outstanding starter out of their organization. They did this to get a guy who was Minnesota’s second-best center fielder a week ago.

The Braves and Nationals are the class of the NL East. Instead of gaining on the elite  with this trade, the Phillies got a little closer to the Mets and Marlins.

Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Perhaps a perennial 40-steal player, Revere was worth 3.4 WAR last season in just his second year in the Majors. He’ll never be a star, but Revere will consistently be a solid player for a team. His hitting isn’t that bad, and it’s easier to deal with if he is placed in center field. The CF/RF doesn’t hit as well as most other corner outfielders, and his defense is still excellent in center. He is definitely best utilized in center, because a team can that pick up a better hitting corner outfielder to slot into right field.

Revere’s offense isn’t even that bad, because he did post a .333 OBP last season and can get on base. However, there is no doubt that hitting isn’t his strongest suit and that he is a well below-average hitter when compared to other right fielders. In center, he’s fairly mediocre compared to his peers. The biggest problem with playing him in right is that he provides virtually no power (no career home runs, career ISO under .050) at a position that is usually known for its power.

The Phillies are wise to inquire about Revere, and I could see him being a good fit for them. We’ll see what the Twins asking price is for the young, talented OF who is usually compared to Juan Pierre.

Update: The Phillies have acquired Ben Revere for starting pitcher Vance Worley and top prospect Trevor May; not exactly a good deal for the Phillies. What a steal for Minnesota.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.

Lannan is one of many starters on Minnesota’s radar. Image: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

So far this Winter the Twins have traded away center fielder Denard Span and got a minor league arm in return. Word is that they are listening on first baseman Justin Morneau and on left fielder Josh Willingham, though they don’t expect to deal either player. Ben Revere, who is slated to take over for Span in center, is drawing interest on the trade market and Twins GM Terry Ryan may be willing to part with him in a deal to bring back pitching.

Regardless of whether or not they can trade for a starter, the Twins will have to make at least a couple of free agent signings as well. This is an organization that has preached pitching to contact and has shied away from strikeout pitchers with big arms. It’s been a philosophy that has failed them in recent seasons and one they’ve noted must change.

Much like power at the plate is expensive, power arms don’t come cheap either and the Twins don’t have a ton of money to play with.

According to Jon Heyman, the Twins have checked in on just about every second and third tier starter on the open market.

Part of #twins shop list: saunders, blanton, liriano, pelf, ejax, marcum, lannan, mccarthy, jurrjens, pavano. need 2/3 SPs

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 5, 2012

Unfortunately, looking at that list, only a couple, Edwin Jackson and Francisco Liriano, could realistically be considered strikeout guys, and they’ve already been there, done that with Liriano.

The Twins are a long ways from contending again, but they can speed up the timeline by adding a few quality arms. They don’t necessarily need a power rotation to match what Detroit can throw out there, but building a staff of right handers with mid-80s fastballs isn’t going to cut it either. Guys like Carl Pavano and, to a lesser extent, Shaun Marcum are the opposite of the kind of pitchers they should be considering.

Ryan understands that he has multiple holes to fill and limited resources with which to work, but prioritizing someone like Jackson would give Minnesota a reliable, power arm at the top of their rotation. Moving from there to John Lannan and Joe Saunders and adding one of those two and there could still be enough left over to take a flier on someone like Jair Jurrjens.

It would be a patchwork staff to be sure, but one that, along with holdover Scott Diamond, would instantly bring the Twins back to respectability.

That will be difficult to do anytime soon as he and teammate Jim Thome have been placed on the team’s 15 day disabled list.  Kubel is still recovering from a sprained left foot and Thome strained his quad Wednesday. (more…)

Yesterday night, though, I did get the chance to be one of a record 8,497 crowd at New Britain Stadium as I watched the Portland Sea Dogs (Red Sox AA) defeat the New Britain Rock Cats (Twins AA) 8-5. I just so happened to attend on a day that saw top Red Sox prospect Casey Kelly face off against Deolis Guerra, who was once a key member of the Johan Santana trade.

I thought I’d offer my thoughts on what Kelly, Guerra, and several other key players in that game looked like, for the benefit of Red Sox fans, Twins fans, and other fans who care about the minors.

So, follow me after the jump for some of my very own scouting reports.

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