20 Minnesota Twins Trades: JJ Hardy for some relievers

After the 2009 season, the Twins decided to make a smart move and deal from outfield depth to address a position that had been a weakness on the team for the better part of 20 years.  Just one year later, the Twins decided, "meh, shortstops are for dorks" and traded that same player away for a couple of relievers.  Buckle up folks, it's very hard to be even remotely positive about this trade.

The Trade:  BREAKDOWN!

The Minnesota Twins traded J.J. Hardy and Brendan Harris and cash to the Baltimore Orioles for Jim Hoey and Brett Jacobson. 

Harris and Jacobson never played for their new teams, so we can just move past them. 

Hoey was one of the worst Twins relievers in recent memory.  He only threw 24.2 innings for the Twins.  In those innings, he posted a 5.47 ERA, which was actually a career low!  He walked 13 batters and only struck out 14.  He nearly posted a 2.0 WHIP.  He was brutal.

After a disappointing 2010 season with the Twins, Hardy bounced back in 2011.  He hit 30 home runs for the Orioles and was worth 4.3 WAR.  His offense slipped to an 82 OPS+ in 2012, but his defense and power helped make him a 3+ WAR player anyway.  In 2013, He has been somewhere in between 2011 and 2012, but would still be much better than Pedro Florimon and Tsuyoshi Nishioka sharing a uniform and trying to use their four arms to their advantage. 

How did I feel at the time?

Not pleased.  I thought acquiring Hardy was a very smart move and I wasn't happy that the Twins gave up on him after a season.  I was not on the Nishioka bandwagon at all and I didn't think that trading away a power-hitting shortstop is the kind of thing a good team does.  I'm not going to state who was right or wrong. 

Why make the trade?

That is a question that I can't really answer.  Here's an ESPN.com article that tries it's best to make sense of the senseless. 

"We're looking for a little more offense to our regular shortstop position, and we're confident he can provide that," Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said. "We also talked to other shortstop targets."

I love it!  Adding a great offensive shortstop is a great way to improve a team.  We sure are lucky that MacPhail is back and making shrewd moves.  Wait.  This is what the Orioles did.  Oops.  Well, I'm guessing the Twins were targeting some high upside arms, right?

Hoey and Jacobson are two hard-throwing minor leaguers who could eventually help replenish Minnesota's bullpen.

Yeah!  Hard throwing.  Now I get it.  Let's bring in some hard throwing relievers.  They will certainly match the value of a good shortstop.  They'll pitch like 60 innings apiece and all will be well.  The question remains:  who are these people?

The 27-year-old Hoey was 4-0 with a 3.38 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings at Triple-A Norfolk. He pitched for Baltimore in 2006-07, going 3-5 with an 8.13 ERA.

Well that doesn't look promising.  Although, there was nowhere to go but up, I suppose.  What about the other guy?

The 24-year-old Jacobson was 8-1 with one save and a 2.79 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 71 innings at Class A Frederick. The Orioles got him in August 2009 from Detroit in a trade for Aubrey Huff.

Hmm.  Not terrible.  Of course, this ignores the fact that Jacobson was 24 and repeating A ball.  Whatever, the Twins needed relievers, as they were about to lose Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier.  Of course, the Orioles needed relievers too, as evidenced here:

The Orioles also reached a preliminary agreement with pitcher Koji Uehara on a one-year contract for $3 million. The deal is pending a physical.  The 35-year-old Japanese righty was 1-2 with 13 saves and a 2.86 ERA in 43 games for Baltimore last season.

Three million was only slightly less than what the Twins were going to pay Nishioka.  Uehara was only good as an MLB pitcher, not good as a class A pitcher.  So, it just depends on which league you value more. 

Analysis

If you want to even try to make sense of this move, then you are trying very hard to be positive.  However, the logic behind the move must have gone like this:  Nishioka is coming, Guerrier and Crain are gone, this will balance things out.  Hardy wasn't great in 2010 and the relievers acquired were young.  There is a hint of logic there.  A hint.  I'm not willing to go any further than that. 

The reality is that the Twins finally had a decent shortstop and they basically gave him away.  They gave him away much like they gave Jason Bartlett away just a few years prior.  It seems that the Twins aren't able to see a good defensive shortstop, unless it is very obvious.  As I type this, Pedro Florimon is manning the Twins' shortstop position and he certainly is defense-only.  However, Bartlett and Hardy might not make their defensive prowess as apparent as Florimon does.  They were both extremely solid but maybe didn't always look the part.  Whatever the issue was, the Twins let two very valuable players slip away. 

Of course, Hardy wasn't defense-only.  He has great power at a premium defensive position.  Hardy could bat 5th, play short and probably do so for another 3-4 years.  He'd be around when the Twins get good again.  Instead, the Twins will likely have a gaping hole at the position for the foreseeable future.  That being said, he's not a superstar.  True, the Twins let him get away, but he isn't without some major flaws.  He's inconsistent and he doesn't get on-base at even an above-average rate.  He's still a whole lot better than Nishioka, Hoey and Jacobson. 

Who won the WAR?

Hoey with the Twins:  -0.6 WAR

Hardy with the Orioles:  10.9 WAR

WAR won by the Orioles!

One Sentence Summary

Did anyone really think that the Orioles lost anything related to this trade?

20 Minnesota Twins Trades: Carlos Gomez for J.J. Hardy

After the 2009 season, the Twins were riding high.  They had just won the vaunted AL Central and were looking to improve the team by dealing from depth.  They had four solid outfielders in Denard Span, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel and Delmon Young.  They also had an extremely talented train wreck who was a major part of a blockbuster trade just two years prior.  Why not shore up a position that had been an issue for years and years and years and years and years and years and...

The Trade:  BREAKDOWN!

The Minnesota Twins traded Carlos Gomez to the Milwaukee Brewers for J.J. Hardy. 

Hardy only played 101 games in a Twins uniform.  He was injured and slow during his one season with the Twins.  However, he was a good defensive shortstop, just as he had always been and has been ever since.  The Twins didn't like what they saw in their short view of Hardy and shipped him off after the 2010 season (more on that next week). 

For two and half seasons with the Brewers, Gomez looked a lot like the player he was with the Twins.  He was excellent in center, but maddening at the plate.  Then, in the second half of 2012, Gomez broke out.  He started hitting for power and he actually posted an OBP over .300!  He carried that success into 2013, and has looked like a potential superstar with his combination of power, speed and defense.  

How did I feel at the time?

I liked this trade quite a bit.  Hardy was brutal in 2009, but had been a really productive player in 2007 and 2008.  Gomez was really fun to watch one minute and extremely frustrating to watch every other minute.  As much as I had high hopes for Gomez, I was happy that the Twins seemed to be addressing one of the biggest holes in franchise history.      

Why make the trade?

This ESPN.com article outlines things in clear terms:

"This was a good fit," Smith said. "We had one too many outfielders and they had one too many shortstops, so it worked out for both teams."

Seriously?  They had too many shortstops?  As a Twins fan, that makes me just want to puke all over your head, sir. 

Hardy was looking for a change of scenery, after being sent to the Minors during the 2009 season:

"I definitely knew I was going to get traded once I got sent down," Hardy said. "Once I got the call this morning, I was pretty excited about it."

It was reasonable to expect that Hardy would rebound after a poor 2009.  He had been productive in the two previous seasons and he was hitting that famed "age 27 season."    

I'm not even sure the Twins considered it "giving up on Gomez" anyway:

"To give up Carlos Gomez, and four years of control with the player, it's important to get somebody that we're going to have for more than a year," Smith said.

It was important to get someone who they would have for more than one year.  Yes.  That is true.  You should have followed that advice, Bill Smith.  

It seemed that Hardy was going to be the shortstop for the foreseeable future.  The Brewers may have been giving up on Hardy more than the Twins were giving up on Gomez.  The Twins were willing to take the chance on Hardy:

"He's got a strong arm. He's got good range and he's got power," Twins general manager Bill Smith said. "He had a bad year this year. We've talked to a lot of people and we have a lot of opinions in our organization. We're all on board that this was a good acquisition for us."

What is odd is that the perception of Hardy changed after one season.  Of course, two bad years is certainly more concerning than just one. 

Gomez was looking for a chance to play every day:

"Last year, I can't do nothing about it, because I didn't play every day," Gomez said. "You don't play every day, it's tough."

Gomez played fewer than 100 games in his first two seasons with Milwaukee.  Of course, he was awful offensively, so he didn't earn the playing time that he wanted.  Milwaukee's patience with Gomez does seem to have finally paid off.

Analysis

This was a smart trade.  You have to separate it from the next J.J. Hardy trade.  If you just look at this as it is, it was a smart move.  The Twins had outfield depth (although much of that depth would be gone very soon) and they had needed a shortstop for decades.  Literally decades.  I'm not sure how you feel about Pat Meares and Cristian Guzman, but Hardy was the best and most talented shortstop that the Twins have had since Greg Gagne. 

Some will criticize the Twins for how they handled Gomez.  Many feel that he was forced into the MLB lineup to justify the Johan Santana trade.  He wasn't ready for the Majors, and could have really used delicious seasoning in AAA.  I don't have a huge problem with pushing Gomez.  He was certainly raw at the plate, but he was ready for center field.  As bad as Gomez hit, he still produced 2.1 WAR in his first season with the Twins. 

The following season was not good.  Gomez made such poor contact that he was relegated to a more part-time role.  A part-time role is not really ideal for a 23-year-old with raw, developing tools.  The Twins decided to see what they could get for Gomez, rather than use at-bats developing him.  They bought low on a quality shortstop and filled a need while jettisoning a frustration.  Gomez has blossomed, but it took a very long time.  I do wonder how Twins fans would feel about this trade had the Twins simply kept Hardy.  We'll never know.  Unless we invent time travel and decide to use it for the most trivial of all reasons.   

Who won the WAR?

Gomez with the Brewers:  11.8 WAR

Hardy with the Twins:  1.2 WAR

WAR won by the Brewers!  Ouch.  (Since this trade, both players have produced exactly 11.8 WAR.)

One Sentence Summary

This trade was not a mistake, but it did directly lead to a huge mistake just one year later.