-The move shows to Mauer and Morneau that the team is trying to win. Morneau has been saying that Mauer won't resign in 2010 with the Twins if they don't acquire other quality players.
-Mauer and Morneau wanted Cabrera on the team. Cabrera told reporters that last week that every time Mauer and Morneau were on the bases they told Cabrera that they were trying to get him on the team, that they wanted him on the Twins.
-The Twins have has a dreadful middle infield this year, worst in the majors. Cabrera is average, but just average is a huge upgrade from what we had before.
-A new guy will provide a mental boost, a la Shannon Stewart in 2003.
If you read my previous post, you find out that Tyler Ladendorf is a guy with some high upside. He is the best SS prospect we had. But he is no guarantee either and is 3-4 years away. And he's been struggling at the new level he's been called up to. The trade could come back to haunt us, but I wouldn't be too worried about it. I'm just glad we didn't trade away our two top prospects Danny Valencia and Aaron Hicks.
Now here is where this trade could go from being good to great. The Twins were reluctant to part with Ladendorf. In a now related story, the Twins have been one of the leading candidates to sign top Dominican prospect Miguel Angel Sano who also plays shortstop. If the Twins signed Sano to make up for the loss of Ladendorf then I would be extremely happy. Sano has an extremely high ceiling, much higher than Ladendorf's.
Even if that doesn't happen, if this move goes a long ways towards being able to keep Mauer here forever, then it was a grand slam of a trade, regardless of what other consequences come of the trade.
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