The Minnesota Twins have acquired RHP Jake Odorizzi from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for SS Jermaine Palacios.
For the Twins, they\’ve been looking for a number one starter to go along with Ervin Santana and Jose Berrios all offseason. Odorizzi is really a number two, but it\’s a nice fall-back plan after missing out on Yu Darvish, who went to the Cubs. The only give up Palacios, their 24th best prospect, for two years of control of Odorizzi.
Odorizzi, 27, had a 4.14 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and 127 strikeouts in 143.1 innings for the Rays in 2017. In his MLB career for the Rays and Kansas City Royals, Odorizzi has a 3.83 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 643 strikeouts in 705.1 innings.
For the Rays, they are in their rebuilding process. They even traded face-of-the-franchise Evan Longoria to San Fransisco. They might decide to hold on to ace Chris Archer, who\’s stated on Twitter he doesn\’t want to leave Tampa. But, trading Odorizzi makes more sense. He has just two more years left on his contract, including this year (the other one, next year he\’ll be arb eligible. They get Palacios, a Single-A player who can be an MLB player, or a nobody. Only time will tell.
Palacios, 21, has a .290 batting average, 17 homers, 161 RBIs and 46 stolen bases in 1303 Plate Appearances.
I think the Twins win this deal. They get an MLB starting pitcher for a Single-A player. Of course, they win for now.
CarterHud 