Minnesota Twins Trade Delmon Young to Detroit Tigers

The first domino has fallen for the Minnesota Twins. Today the Twins traded starting left-fielder Delmon Young to the division rival Detroit Tigers for left-handed pitcher and Edina, Minnesota native Cole Nelson and a player to be named later, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Young was acquired along with Brendan Harris and Jason Pridie by the Twins on November 28, 2007 in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays for Jason Bartlett, Matt Garza, and Eduardo Morlan. At the time of the trade it looked like a good move for the Twins who desperately needed a power-hitter, which Young never turned out to be.

Delmon burst on to the Major League level in 2006 and in 2007 was second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. Delmon has shown improvement throughout his career, with 2010 being his best year hitting for an average of .298, 122 RBI, and 21 home-runs. He was tenth in AL MVP voting last year.

Delmon is only 25 and has still many years of baseball ahead of him. This year Delmon was on the disabled list for an ankle injury after crashing into the outfield fence in Milwaukee.

Delmon’s first game as a Detroit Tiger will be tonight against his former team the Minnesota Twins, who just got into town after yesterday’s rainout against the Cleveland Indians.

This move will give Detroit another power threat and a boost for their playoff run. Detroit is currently 64-56, 2.5 games ahead of second place Cleveland and four games ahead of the third place Chicago White Sox.