Reviewing the Morneau, Young, and Liriano trades for the Twins

Last week I wrote about the 2010 season that was the end of an era due to the 2011 collapse. Today I’ll be reviewing three key trades from that group. Justin Morneau, Delmon Young, and Francisco Liriano were all gone by August of 2013 so let’s see how the Twins did in those trades.

Twins trade first baseman Justin Morneau to the Pittsburg Pirates for OF Alex Presley and a PTBNL.

Initial reaction from me: What? How? Why? Alex Presley?

I will admit I don’t remember when this trade happened very well, but looking back now it seems like a bad trade. Morneau was on an expiring deal and hitting alright with a .741 OPS so he wan’t going to net much of a return. Why even deal him? Maybe he just wanted to be part of a competent team. In case you don’t remember Alex Presley, he played 28 games with the Twins and had a .699 OPS. He was gone the next season.

Trade grade: D

Twins trade OF Delmon Young to the Detroit Tigers for RHP Lester Oliveros

The Twins traded Young just hours before the two teams were scheduled to play together which was very weird. The Tigers were another team hoping to unlock his potential, so the Twins got a really good return. Just kidding, it was Lester Oliveros who only pitched 21 ¹⁄₃ innings with the Twins before he retired after 2014. Delmon wasn’t great either, but he was still just 25 years old with potential so trading him doesn't really make sense to me but oh well.

Trade grade: D-

Twins trade SP Francisco Liriano to the Chicago White Sox for LHP Pedro Hernandez and EDUARDO ESCOBAR!

This was actually a good trade for the Twins, although it was because the secondary piece was good. Hernandez was the main piece but as we all know Eduardo Escobar turned into a great hitter and fan favorite around the Twins Cities. Liriano was dealt in the midst of his second season with an ERA over 5.00 so this was definitely a solid return for the performance he was putting up. Hernandez ended up pitching in just 14 games with a 6.83 ERA before leaving, but Escobar ended up playing seven solid seasons in Minnesota. He was then traded to the Diamondbacks for Ernie De La Trinidad, Jhoan Duran, and Gabriel Maciel.

Trade grade: A-

What did you think of these trades? Were there other trades that interested you from around this time? Leave your comments below on what you think!