-P- As UtesFan89 pointed out in the diaries, Shane Youman has been claimed on waivers from the Phillies. It's kind of a weird feeling to not actually care that the Pirates have lost a player on waivers to another team. Youman's about as low-upside as a major league pitcher can possibly be; there's about a .00001% chance this claim ever comes back to bite us. Also, Josh Sharpless cleared waivers and is headed to Indianapolis. One would think Sharpless would be more interesting to other teams than Youman, but I guess there's just that much desperation for guys who can start, however badly.
-P- The Rays and Twins are "close" to swapping youngsters Delmon Young and Matt Garza. The Twins would get Young, shortstop Brendan Harris, and minor league outfielder Jason Pridie, while the Rays would get Garza, shortstop Jason Bartlett and reliever Juan Rincon.
I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop on this one; this can't be right. I get that the Rays need pitching and defense, and that this trade would address both those needs by adding a very good young pitcher in Garza, a better defensive shortstop in Bartlett and a pretty good reliever in Rincon. But Rincon had a terrible second half last year, Harris is probably better offensively than Bartlett, Garza is almost two years older than Young, and Pridie is a real prospect, not a throw-in.
Also, whatever questions about Young may exist about his makeup or about his control of the strike zone, his upside is still just tremendous - just for reference, three of his top four comparables at Baseball Reference are Tris Speaker, Roberto Clemente and Joe Kelley. And Young has the top-prospect pedigree to boot. He could easily flame out, or he could emerge as a superstar as soon as next year. Garza's a terrific young pitcher but there isn't a pitcher in baseball I'd trade for Young - and Bartlett and Rincon aren't nearly good enough as complementary pieces to make me trade him. Believe it or not, over the past couple years, Tampa Bay has been a very well-run franchise, so I have to think there's some piece of information I'm missing here, because from my vantage point it looks like the Rays are getting hosed.