The Twins today traded backup catcher/1B/DH/PH Jose Morales today to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for 22 year old left-handed pitcher Paul Bargas.
Morales has had an eventful career since the Twins drafted him as a 2B in 2001, two rounds after taking Joe Mauer. He always put up solid offensive numbers, but he was just hurt so often. He played one game for the Twins in 2007, went 3-3 with a double, but he hurt himself sliding into 2B and was done for the year. He would spend parts of 2008-2010 with the Twins. In 2009, he was frequently the Twins DH. He is a decent catcher with a poor arm. But he is fairly athletic for a catcher. He should play more with the Rockies.
Obviously this is a big thing for Drew Butera in that it appears he will remain the Twins backup catcher. Morales was options in 2008, 2009 and 2010, so he would not have been able to go to Rochester again in 2011.
Bargas was the Rockies 13th round pick in 2009 out of UC-Riverside. He pitched in 58 games out of the bullpen in 2010 for Asheville, the team’s Class A affiliate in the Sally League. He went 5-4 with 5 saves and a 3.59 ERA. In 67 innings, he walked 19 and struck out 65.
Now that the Twins have only Mauer and Butera as the catchers on the 40-man roster, who might be added? The Twins won’t go with just those two, will they?
Good golly, once they trade Mauer and Morneau, they won’t have any offensive players left at all….they never appreciated that this guy could actually contribute to the team. I hope whatever theory they are operating under is correct.
Just another move from our fabulous front office to make this team better.
Hey DisGuy, maybe wait and see if Bargas pans out, and whether BS can land a decent back-up Catcher who has options remaining for AAA to sign for less than $1. I’ve seen lots of decent catchers signing $1 deals, just don’t have time to do a search.
Sorry less than $1mil…
Seth: Wasn’t there some mention of a recent reserve catcher signing named Rene Rivera (sp?)?
The Twins signed a couple different AAA catchers, including one with major league experience. There was no room for Morales on the active roster and he wouldn’t pass through waivers. He was gone regardless.
j-sin, that’s exactly my point, we’ll have to wait to see if Bargas pans out. So, what, 3 years? Morales would have helped this year. The club seems to be content with making the team worse this year to be maybe marginally better 3 years down the road. They need to make a run at a World Series while they have all this talent. There’s a window of opportunity, and it’s closing fast. Morales wouldn’t have been the difference, but he’s an insurance policy in case Mauer gets hurt, and there’s a damn good chance Mauer’s going to get hurt.
Again, moves like this are made by rebuilding teams, not supposed contenders.
I like Morales more than Butera, but Gardy obviously doesn’t. He wasn’t going to be used as the backup catcher. He was out of options, so he would have to pass through waivers before they could send him to rochester. There’s almost no chance of him clearing. At least they get something in return this way.
DB has it 100% correct.
Should we really be trusting Gardy’s eye for evaluating talent and value? This is a guy who started Nick Punto for years, called Cuddy the 2010 team MVP, believes “speed” is more important than defense, believes defense is more important than offense, only gave Valencia a shot when he had literally no other choice, and believes Matt Tolbert is a major league baseball player.
It’s okay to tell Gardy no sometimes.
No, heaven forbid we trust the eye of the reigning MANAGER OF THE YEAR!
How is it that people can actually suggest that they are better talent evaluators than any major league manager. I understand that there are the Bill James’ of the world… but are any of us THAT guy?
Disgruntled guy, you are a sorry fool.
Morales is a defensively challenged singles hitter who doesn’t walk much. I don’t get all of the complaining.
Well, actually Morales walks quite a bit. For his career, he’s walked just slightly less than Joe Mauer.
You’re right, Andrew. I didn’t realize Morales has been walking more the last couple seasons. It’s still really not a big deal to see him go.
Agreed.