Ron Gardenhire Has No Room for Delmon Young in His Outfield

At just about this time last year, the Twins and Rays swapped budding stars Matt Garza and Delmon Young. Young was generally regarded to be one of the best prospects in baseball and most people thought the Twins got the better end of the deal. This winter, Ron Gardenhire is going around telling Twins fans that his starting outfield is Denard Span, Carlos Gomez, and Michael Cuddyer and that Young will be "in the mix" for playing time.

The first immediate result of this is that the rumors that Young might be available for trade this winter are all. If you happen to know a team that's interested in adding a 23-year-old outfielder that's really only had one lackluster year to tarnish his pedigree as a prospect, you should tell them to give Bill Smith a call.

If it seems insane that the Twins have given up on Young so quickly, well, it probably is. Young failed to progress much in his second year as a regular in 2008, but to give up on him to give playing time to a middling player like Cuddyer (who was actually much worse than Young at the plate last year) is just plain foolish. There will certainly be some well run teams this winter trying their hardest to pluck Young out of Minnesota while his value is at what may be its lowest.

H/T to our own Bruce Ciskie for this one.