One week after trading one of their starting outfielders, the Minnesota Twins dealt another in their continued pursuit of starting pitching.
The team announced Thursday that it has traded center fielder Ben Revere to the Philadelphia Phillies for 25-year-old right-hander Vance Worley and 23-year-old pitching prospect Trevor May.
Worley, a third-round pick of the Phillies in 2008, made 23 starts in the majors last season. He was 6-9 with a 4.20 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 133 innings. In three years with Philadelphia, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound Worley was 18-13 with a 3.50 ERA. He underwent season-ending surgery in early September to remove bone chips from his right elbow.
May, the Phillies' 2008 fourth-round pick, pitched at Double-A Reading last season. He was 10-13 with a 4.87 ERA and 151 strikeouts in 149 2/3 innings. MLB.com ranked him as the Phillies' second-best pitching prospect. The 6-foot-5 May also was named the Phillies' Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
Minnesota general manager Terry Ryan has made it clear that acquiring starting pitching is the team's main objective this offseason. The Twins' rotation had the worst ERA in the American League (5.40) and ended the season with just one starter, left-hander Scott Diamond, penciled into next year's rotation.
The acquisition of Worley gives Minnesota another arm for this season, as he should step into the back end of the rotation. May appears to be a year or two away from reaching the majors, just like Alex Meyer, the pitcher the Twins acquired from Washington in exchange for Denard Span last week.
Revere, 24, was the Twins' first-round pick (28th overall) in the 2007 draft. He made his major league debut in 2010 and went on to play 241 games combined in 2011 and 2012. Revere had his best offensive season this past year, batting .294 with a .333 on-base percentage and 40 stolen bases. He also became a fan favorite due to his highlight-reel catches in center and right field during his two seasons at Target Field.
Revere figures to be the Phillies' starting center fielder in 2013. Shane Victorino was Philadelphia's everyday center fielder until he was dealt to the Dodgers last July. He signed as a free agent with Boston this week.
Now that the Twins have traded Span and Revere in an effort to bolster a sagging rotation, a new question has emerged: who will be Minnesota's center fielder? Of the players currently on the major league roster, Darin Mastroianni appears to a likely option to start the year in center field.
But the Twins have plenty of outfield depth, and it's assumed that 23-year-old Aaron Hicks will be Minnesota's center fielder before long. Hicks has yet to play higher than Double-A, but he batted .286 with 13 homers and 32 stolen bases last year for New Britain. Minnesota's outfield depth in the minors also includes 21-year-old Oswaldo Arcia and 24-year-old Joe Benson, who appeared briefly in the majors in 2011.
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