Twins post-trade

Well, the Twins did it. They made a trade-dealine move, akin to the days of yore. If you remember correctly, the Twins in the early part of the decade were active at the trade deadline. By my recollection, they made moves for Rick Reed, Todd Jones and Shannon Stewart within four years, if not three straight. The only trade that had a huge impact, was Stewart. Reed was decent for a year or two, not spectacular, and Jones was kind of a bust, if memory serves me.
So what will the Cabrera trade do for the Twins? I'm not sure, but I'm willing to bet he will not light a fire under the team like Stewart did for a glorious two month stretch.
This weekend showed by hesitation for the Twins to make a move like this. They have multiple weaknesses, that adding one move isn't going to make a difference. Cabrera had a good weekend for the Twins - 3 for 8 with a homer and a walk. We really can't ask for much more. Yet, we were blown out badly in these games.
Thankfully, the Twins didn't give up a whole lot for him. A mid to decent level prospect, while receiving some cash as well, all and all it didn't cost them much.
And in the grand scheme of things, this move probably needed to happen to squash public clamoring and in-house pleading to make a move. If this trade helps keep Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, etc... in a Twins uniform, it was great.
But make no mistake. This move makes the Twins marginally better at best, and did not address their biggest need - pitching. Besides, Cabrera takes away at bats from Brendan Harris, who has shown to be the most professional hitter out of the Harris, Nick Punto, Alexi Casilla trifecta of mediocrity. Harris has shown his best defense, and consequently his best offense, when he plays shortstop. Now, you force him to play out of position at 2nd or 3rd.
The player the Twins should have traded for was Freddie Sanchez of Pittsburgh. He is an all-star second baseman, and former NL batting champion. Plus, he plays second base (our biggest need on the infield) and used to play third, where he could play next year when Crede leaves. Yes, the asking price for Sanchez was much higher. Reports were either the Twins AAA third baseman, who is penciled in to start 3rd next year, of their top outfield prospect. To me, I saw either would have been fine. You need to give up something to get something. Right now, you have no holes in your outfield. In fact, you have too many outfielders. And if you trade your third baseman of the future, Sanchez can play third. And with the new ballpark, the theorized new revenue could be used to keep Sanchez for anther couple of years. But I am a huge fan of trading prospects for a known quantity. You can't do it all the time, but sometimes you need to. It is quite possible neither of the two players the Pirates asked for will be as good a player is Sanchez, the former batting champion and all star.
But we should be happy the Twins made a move. At least it is a step, albeit more a ceremonial one, but a step none the less the try and improve the team. Now if only we could get ...