The Braves lost their ace and veteran on their staff in Tim Hudson last night to a broken ankle that will most likely require season ending surgery. This could open the door to a deal that could benefit the Braves this season and the Twins in the future seasons.
Twins send SP Mike Pelfrey and RP Brian Duensing to the Atlanta Braves for SS Jose Peraza, SP Ryan Weber, and SP Jarrett Miller.
Pelfrey had a horrible start to the season coming off Tommy John, but seems to have finally turned a corner. He has a 2.68 ERA since the beginning of June and his velocity is back up to right around 95 MPH consistently on his fastball. The fact that is he is owed less than 2 million the rest of the season and can fill the void Hudson left for the remainder of the season and then move on makes him more appealing to the Braves. I'm sure they'd love to just go to a Triple-A arm, but unless your AAA guy is a stud you would prefer a veteran for the stretch run.
Duensing is a cheap lefty that they have already been scouting and have had interest in. He was great in April and June posting an ERA right around 2.20, while May and July have not been great posting an ERA over 6 in both months. He has been solid against lefties this year and in a smaller role such as a lefty specialist he would probably thrive more so.
Peraza is a slick fielding shortstop and is only 19 playing very well in Low A ball. He's hitting .278 with an on base percentage of .346 and has stolen 42 bases. He has the potential to become a very good leadoff hitter, thanks to his outstanding speed and ability to already get on base at a high clip that will only get higher as he learns the strike zone. Could you imagine him and Buxton at the top of the lineup infront of Sano, Mauer, Arcia, Rosario, etc come 2015?
Weber and Miller are both right handed starting pitchers having solid seasons in High A. Both have ERAs right around 3.50 and are striking out around 7 batters per 9 innings. Neither of these guys are can't miss prospects, but would be upgrades to some of the pitching we have in our system and would just create more depth for our organization.
The Twins could also add a prospect into this deal to sweeten it for the Braves to make sure they get the very speedy high upside Peraza. They could add say SS Levi Michael, he is currently at High A Fort Myers and is very good with his glove at both SS and 2B. Runs well, not as well as Peraza, but is already an even more patient hitter then Peraza with an on base percentage almost 100 points higher then his average. He won't have as high as upside as Peraza but with Florimon playing well and Santana playing well at SS in AA New Britain and should be up in 2014 or 2015 they can afford to move Michael.
As much as Pelfrey has impressed since the beginning of June and would probably be a help to our rotation in 2014, if a deal like this can be made the Twins needs to do so. They lack a high upside prospect at SS and lack depth in SP and this deal would help fill both voids. If the Twins can get something for value for Pelfrey they must take it.
Written by Nick Calo, follow me on Twitter for more updates and sports thoughts @PRH1987
Twins send SP Mike Pelfrey and RP Brian Duensing to the Atlanta Braves for SS Jose Peraza, SP Ryan Weber, and SP Jarrett Miller.
Pelfrey had a horrible start to the season coming off Tommy John, but seems to have finally turned a corner. He has a 2.68 ERA since the beginning of June and his velocity is back up to right around 95 MPH consistently on his fastball. The fact that is he is owed less than 2 million the rest of the season and can fill the void Hudson left for the remainder of the season and then move on makes him more appealing to the Braves. I'm sure they'd love to just go to a Triple-A arm, but unless your AAA guy is a stud you would prefer a veteran for the stretch run.
Duensing is a cheap lefty that they have already been scouting and have had interest in. He was great in April and June posting an ERA right around 2.20, while May and July have not been great posting an ERA over 6 in both months. He has been solid against lefties this year and in a smaller role such as a lefty specialist he would probably thrive more so.
Peraza is a slick fielding shortstop and is only 19 playing very well in Low A ball. He's hitting .278 with an on base percentage of .346 and has stolen 42 bases. He has the potential to become a very good leadoff hitter, thanks to his outstanding speed and ability to already get on base at a high clip that will only get higher as he learns the strike zone. Could you imagine him and Buxton at the top of the lineup infront of Sano, Mauer, Arcia, Rosario, etc come 2015?
Weber and Miller are both right handed starting pitchers having solid seasons in High A. Both have ERAs right around 3.50 and are striking out around 7 batters per 9 innings. Neither of these guys are can't miss prospects, but would be upgrades to some of the pitching we have in our system and would just create more depth for our organization.
The Twins could also add a prospect into this deal to sweeten it for the Braves to make sure they get the very speedy high upside Peraza. They could add say SS Levi Michael, he is currently at High A Fort Myers and is very good with his glove at both SS and 2B. Runs well, not as well as Peraza, but is already an even more patient hitter then Peraza with an on base percentage almost 100 points higher then his average. He won't have as high as upside as Peraza but with Florimon playing well and Santana playing well at SS in AA New Britain and should be up in 2014 or 2015 they can afford to move Michael.
As much as Pelfrey has impressed since the beginning of June and would probably be a help to our rotation in 2014, if a deal like this can be made the Twins needs to do so. They lack a high upside prospect at SS and lack depth in SP and this deal would help fill both voids. If the Twins can get something for value for Pelfrey they must take it.
Written by Nick Calo, follow me on Twitter for more updates and sports thoughts @PRH1987