I’ll put this trade in the “I didn’t see this coming even if I used a radar from the USS Enterprise” category.

Young is on his way to Detroit

The Detroit Tigers acquired OF Delmon Young today from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for minor league pitcher Cole Nelson and a player to be named later. Young is under contract for 2012 and will be a free agent in 2013.

After a stellar 2010 season in which Young finished 10th in American League MVP voting, he has really taken a step back in 2011. Young has a .266/.305/.357 slash line with just four home runs in 325 plate appearances in 2011. That’s pretty bad.

But despite Young’s brutal season, this isn’t such a bad move for the Tigers. Here is a comparison of Young’s 2011 versus the other Tiger outfielders not named Brennan Boesch…

Magglio Ordonez is absolute toast and Andy Dirks and Ryan Raburn are nothing more than fourth outfielders on a playoff team. One could probably say the same thing about Young, but if I was forced to start one of these guys in a playoff series, Young would be the guy.

In return for Young, the Twins will receive Cole Nelson, who is a 22-year-old, left-handed pitcher and originally is from Minnesota. In two minor league seasons, Nelson has a 4.00 ERA, 4.3 BB/9, 8.3 K/9, and a 1.49 WHIP in 132.2 innings. He was in High Single-A with the Tigers.

By The Baseball Index