Span, who will turn 29 in February, is a Tampa native coming off a solid season at the plate for the Twins, posting a .283/.342/.395 line (105 OPS+) with 38 doubles, 4 triples, 4 homers, 41 RBI, 17 of 23 stolen bases, and 62 strikeouts against 47 walks in 128 games and 568 plate appearances. Offensively, Span is a slightly above-average player, possessing little power but showing good pure hitting ability, great speed, and good plate discipline. But defensively, he really shines. Span has a 13.6 UZR (4.6 UZR/150) in nearly 4000 innings in centerfield, and since struggling in centerfield the first two years of his career, Span has been worth a ridiculous 22 UZR there the past three years and his 9.2 UZR/150 ranks third among MLB centerfielder minimum 3000 innings. Span’s arm is below-average, but the range factor of his UZR is 11.6 per 150 games, tops among centerfielders minimum 3000 innings. Span’s defense is undeniable elite, and combining his defense with his solid offense makes him an above-average all-around centerfielder. The Rays need to fill the hole in their lineup left by B.J. Upton as much as they need to fill the gap he leaves in their defense, but Span could have allowed them to move on next season without Upton while not losing too much and Span will also make just 11.25 million dollars combined over the next two seasons with a team option worth 9 million dollars for 2015. Isn’t he a player that would be a perfect trade target for the Rays?

In return for Span, the Twins received Alex Meyer, who was the 23rd overall pick by the Nationals in 2011 MLB Draft. Meyer had a nice season in 2012 as he worked his way up from Low-A Hagerstown to High-A Potomac, going 10-6 with a 2.86 ERA, a 9.7 K/9, a 3.1 BB/9, and a 0.4 HR/9 in 25 starts and 129 innings pitched. According to Minor League Central, Span’s groundball rate was 48.7% between the two levels. Meyer is a big 6’9″, 220 right-hander who flashes overpowering stuff but he struggled to repeat his delivery as is the case with many pitchers as tall as him, with Jeff Niemann being the example Rays fans are familiar with. Meyer’s fastball touches as high as 97 MPH, staying comfortably in the 93-95 MPH range, but how it moves is a whole other story. When he’s right, Meyer can get a great downward plane on his pitches, but his arm slot is inconsistent and his fastball moves in a variety of ways. When Meyer gets a higher three-quarters angle on his delivery, his fastball features heavy sink and run away from right-handed batters, while when it lowers a bit more, it shows natural late cutting action. Meyer gets into big trouble when he gets under the ball and leaves his fastball up in the zone. Bottom line, Meyer’s fastball often features great movement, but he can’t consistently control where it’s going to go.

Meyer’s best secondary pitch is a high-80′s slider that features devastating late break when Meyer can get on top of it, but at other times it gets slurvy and he leaves it up in the zone. Meyer struggles to throw his slider for called strikes at this point, relying it mostly as a swing-and-miss offering down in the zone. At its best, Meyer’s slider is a weapon versus hitters from both sides and forces hitters to keep it in their back of their minds even as he attacks them with electric fastball. He finishes off his arsenal with a high-80′s changeup that features good late sink and could be a strong third pitch for him moving forward, especially against left-handed batters. Meyer has a chance to profile as a true ace if he can figure out a way to repeat his delivery to help him command his three-pitch arsenal, but at 6’9″, it’s anybody’s guess whether that will ever happen. He’s an excellent pitching prospect but one with plenty of risk. He could end up as anything from a frontline starter to a closer to an enigmatic mid-rotation starter like Niemann to a middle reliever who can’t throw strikes.

The Twins traded a good player in Span and in return got a pitcher that hasn’t even appeared in Double-A yet. There’s a chance that Meyer blossoms into an ace and the Twins will look like geniuses for this trade in three or four years, but couldn’t they have gotten more for Span?

Watching Span get traded for such a risky prospect, Rays fans have to wonder why the Rays didn’t get more involved in the talks for him. The Rays could have offered them a pitcher like Chris Archer who is big league ready and has a chance to be a number two starter in the big leagues within the next couple of years or they could have traded one of their more experienced starters like James Shields or Jeremy Hellickson as part of a larger deal. But the Rays holding onto their starters tell you how highly they regard them and that they’re not going to trade players with outstanding ability just to fill needs. Span is a good player, but he has managed just a 95 OPS+ the last three years and if the Rays want great defensive value in the outfield, they could give Sam Fuld a starting job and pay him a fraction of what Span will make next season. At the end of the day, the Rays aren’t going to go out on a limb and trade a promising pitcher just to receive a moderate upgrade as a position of weakness. The Rays have enough pitching depth to allow them to consider trading a starter. However, they’re only going to carry out such a trade if they can receive maximum value in return, and getting into a bidding war with another team for the services of a player they don’t even regard so highly is far from that.

Shields got out of a small jam in the 4^th inning, as Joe Mauer singled, then stole second on a pitch that Willingham struck out looking at. Justin Morneau then sharply lined out to Upton in center, and Ryan Doumit grounded out to Rodriguez at short. The Rays had another chance to score in the bottom of the 4^th. Longoria struck out swinging to start the inning. Next up was Luke Scott, who battled Pavano in a ten pitch at bat. Scott got around on the sixth sinker of the at bat and hit a double the opposite way to left. Matt Joyce then singled to right field, advancing Scott to third. Upton had a chance to get his first big hit of his young season, but grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning. This continued a noticeable trend for the Rays this season; prior to this game they were only batting .236 with runners in scoring position.

After a 1-2-3 top of the 5^th inning, the Rays had more chances to score. Molina hit the first pitch thrown in the bottom of the inning for a double to left field. Joe Maddon must have felt that this game would be decided by only a few runs, so he had Sean Rodriguez lay down a sacrifice bunt to move Molina to third. With the slow-footed Molina on third, no one in the ball park must have seen a suicide squeeze coming.  Desmond Jennings did not get a good bunt attempt down on the third pitch in the at bat and popped it up down the first base side as Molina chugged his way home. Joe Mauer showed off the athleticism that he is known for and made a diving catch and doubled off Molina at third with plenty of time to spare.

Shields then pitched himself into trouble in the top of the 6^th inning. After two quick outs, Mauer singled, Willingham was hit by a pitch, and Morneau walked to load the bases. On a 2-2 count, Ryan Doumit hit a hard line drive in between short and third, but thanks to a patented Maddon shift, Longoria was able to snag the final out to end the danger. The bottom of the 6^th inning was even more dramatic than the top. Ben Zobrist struck out to begin the inning. Pena and Longoria reached on a hit and a single, respectively. They tagged up on a deep fly out by Luke Scott. Matt Joyce was then intentionally walked to bring up B.J. Upton. With two strikes on him, Upton was not fooled by a changeup that he softly lined in front of Denard Span in center field. Span fired a rocket to third to try to nab Joyce, but the ball hit Joyce’s back and squirted into foul territory. Three runs scored on the single by Upton, and he found himself at 3^rd base with two RBI.

By the 7^th inning, Shields was reeling as he set down the Twins 1-2-3. The Rays got one more run in the bottom of the 7^th thanks to an infield single by Jennings, an error by shortstop Jamey Carroll, a hit batsman in Pena, and an error by third baseman Valencia. Luke Scott ended the inning by grounding into a double play, thanks to a smooth glove flip by Alexi Casilla. Shields continued his masterful performance with another perfect inning in the 8^th, his fourth 1-2-3 frame of the night. Like his last start, Shields tried to pitch a complete game and came out for the 9^th, but also like his last start, he had to be relieved by Fernando Rodney. Rodney inherited a runner at first and third from Shields, but got help from a Desmond Jennings running catch in the corner in left; Willingham scored on the sacrifice. Rodney then struck out Valencia and Clete Thomas to end the game and earn his fifth save.

This marked the 3^rd consecutive game that James Shields has pitched 8+ innings. He had control of all of his pitches, and worked quickly through the Twins lineup; three of his strikeouts were on sliders, and three were on changeups. He ended the night with seven strikeouts, two walks, five hits, and one earned run (which scored after he left the game). He effectively got out of jams, and continues to prove that last year’s stellar season was no fluke as his ERA now sits at 2.76. Tampa batters did get eight hits, including Upton’s go-ahead single in the 6^th that ignited the 31,774 in attendance.  However, they were fortunate that the Twins made three errors leading to two of their runs. The Rays were patient all night at the plate. They drew four walks, and averaged 4.41 pitches per plate appearance. Zobrist and Rodriguez were the only two Rays that did not get a hit, as both of them are struggling at the plate to start the season. B.J. Upton had a nice second game, as he had two hits, two RBI, and was on base three times. Tampa looks to win the rubber match tomorrow afternoon at 1:40 as Jeff Niemann takes on a struggling Francisco Liriano.