[gehrig38]

MINNESOTA HITS PAYDIRT FOR SUPERSTAR HAUPT
Landmark, career-defining, franchise turning point and more. Those are just a few of the comments overheard at the press conference today announcing a massive deal between the Huskies and Tarpons which saw superstar Mike Haupt pack his bags and head from the frigid streets of Minnesota to the sunny beaches of Miami, Florida. That was the easy part of the deal.

Sources close to the deal say there was an enormous amount of back and forth and that this deal had been started just after last years winter meetings.
In return for a player, many believe to be the games best all-around centerfielder the Tarpons parted ways with players, picks, and money.

2005 1st overall draft pick Joe Linn and 30-year-old slugger Chris Hastings (Florida retained 100% of Hastings salary) were the major “player” components of this trade. Linn is expected to appear on this years top 100 prospect list and in the upper quarter at that. 24-year-old prospect Lupe Medina and 22-year-old 1B prospect Pat Strickland were included.
Schilling also sent the following:
2006 2nd round draft choice (from Detroit)
2006 3rd round draft choice (from Washington)
2006 5th round draft choice (from Los Angeles)
2006 7th round draft choice

In a winter analysis of the Tarpons moves it was noted that in their 9 trades they traded away 16 players while receiving 13, they traded 8 draft picks (2, 2 3's, 4, 5, 6, 7 and a 10th) and received a 2nd, 2 3rds a 5th and a 9th. Financially they sent or retained a total of 2.178 million all trades included.

Reaction has been radical in every corner of the game. From “How on earth could he 'ransom' the future” to “How on earth does Minnesota trade a 23 year old potential hall of famer”?

POST PRESS CONFERENCE THOUGHTS
After the smoke settles our draft looks like this. We have the 1st overall pick, 1st pick in the 2nd, 16th pick in the 3rd and the 1st and 25th in the 5th. So after 5 rounds, we will still have 5 players. We have no 6th 7th or 10th pick.

There was no option for Linn. The talks would not even hit a 2nd discussion if he was not the 1st player on the list. 30-year-old slugger Chris Hastings was a deal breaker too. The pain in losing his bat is a bit compounded by the fact we'll be paying him to hit homers for them.
The two minor leaguers were players they like far more than we did. This came down to one of the games simple but true philosophies. You must be strong up the middle to win.
Chris Haupt is a hall of fame talent at 23 years old. If you could go back in time as a GM would you trade the farm for someone people believe will compare to Willie Mays? Ya, me too.

This will put an enormous amount of pressure on our scouts to get it right but I am ok with that because it will be the same for me.
That up the middle group now includes Josh Klatt at SS, a well above average defender at 25 and someone who will hit in the 2 slot vs RHP. Our catching is looking good with the hope 21-year-old Max Ramirez can progress enough as a hitter to allow his hall of fame caliber defense and field leadership to play every day. In the meantime, Burwell and Nabbe are above average defenders with Cobus coming off a decent .258-18-64 year. Max is going to get a shot to win the job this spring but he must get at-bats and that means he either starts every day here or at Alamogordo.