I have been poking around retrosheet’s transaction information lately, looking at the moves the Twins have made since the Pohlad’s took over and came across one I had almost forgotten about:
J.C. Romero for Alexi Casilla
I think most Twins’ fans will recall that at the time it was another, “yup, that’s the Twins for you” trade – in that it wasn’t a secret that Romero had worn out his welcome with the Twins and they wanted to dump him. So they gave him to the Angels for a minor league middle infielder that nobody had ever heard of. And Twins’ fans were left wondering why the front office couldn’t bring something of more value back for an established left handed reliever.
Out of curiosity, I went back and did a search at the Star Tribune to see if I could find out what the sports writers wrote about the trade at the time. And guess what? I couldn’t find a reference to Casilla at all. And the references to the trade of Romero all said “traded for a minor leaguer.” To quote La Velle E. Neal III:
Talented but enigmatic lefthander J.C. Romero clashed with Gardenhire and pitching coach Rick Anderson the past couple of seasons. Romero’s relationship with Gardenhire became irreparable late last season, punctuated by a Sept. 28 incident when Romero walked off the mound before Gardenhire got there to remove him from a game. Romero then argued with bench coach Steve Liddle in the dugout.
Romero was traded last month to Anaheim for a minor league infielder.
So why am I even bringing this up? Just to briefly reflect on how interesting this trade turned out to be. Casilla, at the time, was a 21 year old infielder who had played exactly 20 games above A ball. While he had posted decent numbers in the minors, he was hardly a sure thing. The thing about the trade was, though, that the Twins were willing to look at a guy like Casilla and say, “you know, it might take a few years, but we think he can really help us on down the road.” Not many organizations would be willing to take a player in return for the (arguably) valuable major league property Romero was at the time. But they did it, and it worked out. If you look at it from the Angels perspective, they got one horrible year out of Romero and let him walk in Free Agency. Granted J.C. has put together a couple of solid seasons since then, but from the Twins and Angels perspective, the trade was a steal for the Twins. And such a typical Minnesota Twins deal.
A disgruntled jerk doesn’t want to buy into the Twins system (love it or hate it), The Twins don’t want to pay him what he’s going to make the following season. Well, let’s trade him for someone unknown, talented and cheap.
And the circle of Twins life is complete.
