The Minnesota Twins traded away a center fielder last week and obtained one of the top 50 prospects in baseball from the Washington Nationals. They liked the idea so much they tried it again at the Winter Meetings, but offered up a center fielder no where near as good as the one they traded last week and guess what happened? Some fool gave an even better package to get this one.
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.