Twins add Jon Rauch

The Twins on Friday afternoon traded the ever-popular player to be named later to Arizona for Jon Rauch, a right-handed reliever who is the tallest player in major league history (he's 6-foot-11) and a decent middle man. 

That's something the Twins have needed for the past two years. It's not that we should expect him to take over eighth inning duties from Matt Guerrier and Jose Mijares, but that he'll keep them out of the seventh or sixth innings.  

The Twins also shipped minor-leaguer Yohan Pino to Cleveland as the PNL in the Carl Pavano trade. He had a pretty decent season this year, split between Double A and Triple A, pitching mostly in relief, but he was repeating Double A and is said to have a mediocre fast ball. Lack of velocity didn't keep him from boosting his K rate this year. 

 I like Pino's stats, but the Twins really needed an established starter, and Pino isn't a really prime prospect.