Minnesota Twins: Acquire Jake Odorizzi from the Tampa Bay Rays
The Minnesota Twins added to their starting rotation on Saturday night when they acquired Jake Odorizzi from the Tampa Bay Rays
The Minnesota Twins finally addressed a question they have been attempting to answer all offseason thus far when they made a deal for Tampa Bay Rays starter Jake Odorizzi on Saturday night in exchange for Minnesota Twins shortstop prospect Jermaine Palacios.
What the Twins got
Odorizzi will be on his fourth organization with the Minnesota Twins. He was originally drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008. Odorizzi found his way to the Royals in the trade that brought Zack Greinke to Milwaukee, then to Tampa Bay as part of the deal that sent James Shields to Kansas City.
Odorizzi has been in the Tampa Bay rotation full time since 2014. He’s now averaged 30 starts per season and 167 innings over his four seasons in the rotation, with a 3.81 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 7.9% walk rate, and 22.1% strikeout rate.
With Ervin Santana out likely most of the first month of the season, and the Minnesota Twins in need of at least one other arm as well, Odorizzi fits well into the rotation.
One thing to take into consideration is that the Minnesota Twins hired former Tampa Bay Rays pitching analyst Josh Kalk this offseason, so the team has a very good idea of the pitcher that they’re getting.
Odorizzi is going to be 28 just a couple days before opening day this season, and he’ll have one more season of arbitration after this season of team control before becoming a free agent after the 2019 season.
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What the Rays got
I wrote up a scouting report on Palacios in July of 2017 on Palacios for Puckett’s Pond. Much of what was said there still rings true, though he’s shown some things to mention as well on top of what is said at that link.
Palacios played in his first full season in 2017, and the length of the season began to affect Palacios in August as he hit .200/.242/.24 with no home runs and just 3 extra base hits (his lowest amount in any other month of the season was 9).
Even as he slowed due to the length of the season, he still played excellent defense, and from all accounts, he’s truly a plus defender at shortstop, which is a big reason that the Rays were likely interested – he has a future ability to be a plus shortstop and also contribute with the bat.
As Rotoworld’s Christopher Crawford tweeted after the deal, there were a number of teams that could have beaten the Minnesota Twins’ prospect offering in Palacios, but few teams were likely to part with a better shortstop prospect than Palacios, so if that’s what the Rays were looking for, then they got what they wanted.
Next: What Twins do after Ervin injury
This is likely not the last move for either team as the Minnesota Twins will likely be looking for more arms for the rotation, and the Rays seem to be cutting costs, and may be in a mode to move off of pieces that are owed significant money in the next few seasons.