On Friday, San Francisco dealt RHP Joe Nathan, RHP Boof Bonser, and LHP Francisco Liriano to Minnesota for C-L A.J. Pierzynski and a player to be named later or cash. Pierzynski's presence on the trade market was well known but seeing him land with the Giants was somewhat unexpected. The Padres and Cubs now will have to look elsewhere to fill their catching needs.

Minnesota drafted Pierzynski out of high school with a third round pick in the 1994 draft. He made his major league debut with the Twins in Anaheim on September 9th of 1998, but he didn't begin catching regularly for Minnesota until 2001. The catcher has never displayed much patience at the plate, but he compensates for his low walk rate with a high contact rate. As a groundball hitter, Pierzynski hasn't shown a great deal of power even with the power advantages the Metrodome provides to left-handed batters. Consequently, while the 26-year-old is in the prime of his career, the Giants should anticipate that the negative effects of PacBell will counter and likely exceed any natural power growth that Pierzynski might experience in the next few years. Hopefully, he'll remain above average offensively for a catcher, but San Francisco shouldn't rush to sign him to an expensive multi-year deal.

With other young catching talent present in the system, the Twins felt comfortable trading Pierzynski, which freed Minnesota of the burden of finding room on the payroll for the raise the first-year arbitration eligible player was due to receive. The Twins seem sufficiently comfortable with C/1B/DH-R Matt LeCroy's defense to consider starting him behind the plate while giving C-L Joe Mauer some time at AAA. Nevertheless, if Mauer again impresses the club in Spring Training, Minnesota likely will give him the starting job behind the plate on Opening Day and allow him to develop his offensive skills in the majors, as they're content with his defense.

I'm generally against players skipping minor league levels, particularly AA or AAA, and I believe Mauer's immediate impact will be much stronger if he's allowed a couple of months at Rochester before taking his place behind the plate in the Metrodome. The Twins would also delay his arbitration and free agency clocks by giving him the extra development time, which would allow them to save on his salary for another year in the future. Nonetheless while I expect promoting him now will delay his offensive maturity, the consistency he's shown with his plate discipline throughout his minor league career leads me to believe he should be able to perform adequately offensively immediately, and I don't anticipate any lasting damage.

In addition to freeing Minnesota of the pending burden of Pierzynski's salary and opening a clear route to the majors for Mauer, this trade brought three pitchers to the Twins.

San Francisco drafted Joe Nathan as a shortstop out of the State University of New York-Stony Brook with a sixth round pick in the 1995 draft. He spent the remainder of the year at Birmingham in the Rookie-level Northwest League, but his unimpressive performance evidently motivated him to quit baseball and finish his degree. He returned to the Giants' system and converted to pitching in 1997 after which he rose quickly through the organization. His abbreviated development time led to command problems in the majors. Nathan underwent shoulder surgery following the 2000 season, causing him to spend 2001 and most of 2002 rehabbing in the minors. As Nathan continued to struggle with his command and the Giants had alternatives for the rotation, San Francisco moved him to relief in 2003, and he won a bullpen job out of Spring Training.

Relief work appeared to agree with Nathan, as he compiled an 83:33 K:BB with 51 H and 7 HR in 79 IP for a 2.96 ERA over 78 appearances. His ability to vulture decisions from the rotation caught the attention of observers, since he finished the season with a 12-4 record, though he blew his only three save opportunities. Alarmingly, he performed much better against right-handed batters and amassed a .58 G-F. I fear that outside the pitcher friendly environs of PacBell and inside the Metrodome, Nathan will run into serious home run problems.

The Giants drafted Bonser out of high school with the 21st overall pick of the first round of the 2000 draft. He did well at A Hagerstown in the South Atlantic League in 2001 but struggled when San Francisco tried to jump him to AA Shreveport in the Texas League in 2002, so the club sent him down to A+ San Jose in the California League. Bonser opened 2003 at the AA Norwich in the more pitcher-friendly Eastern League, where he compiled a 103:67 K:BB with 122 H and 11 HR allowed in 135 IP over 24 starts before the Giants promoted him to AAA. The 22-year-old performed fairly well in the four starts he made with AAA Fresno in the Pacific Coast League, but his struggles in the Arizona Fall League and his AA walk rate lead me to believe he should spend most of 2004 at the Twins' AAA affiliate.

San Francisco signed Francisco Liriano as a non-drafted free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2000 and converted him from outfielder to pitcher. He performed well in rookie-ball in 2001 and was rolling through A Hagerstown when he had to end his 2002 season in July due to shoulder problems. His arm trouble continued this year and kept him from pitching more than a few innings during the regular minor league season. However, the Twins reportedly were pleased by his performance in the instructional league this fall. Considering he only turned 20 in October, Liriano has plenty of time to work through his physical difficulties and develop into a productive pitcher. Minnesota could even try to move him back to the outfield if injuries thoroughly impede his pitching career.

Overall, I don't believe the Giants received a stunning talent when they acquired Pierzynski but neither did they part with guaranteed commodities. Minnesota should be fairly pleased with the trade even if only one of the pitchers proves productive. I doubt the player to be named later will significantly sway the scales given the Twins have the option of substituting cash for talent, but I will try to comment if a name is announced.