The Twins paired a couple moves today, bringing back Jacque Jones and losing Jason Pridie to the Mets when they placed him on waivers to make room for Orlando Hudson.

Pridie was ranked by Baseball America as the Twins #7 prospect in 2008.  He had shown a little pop and decent speed in the past two seasons with Rochester — averaging 11 HR and 25 steals. His poor walk rate dismal OBP in 2009 — only 19 walks in 549 plate appearances — suggest the Twins won’t miss him.

With a bounty of similar outfielders in the minor league system and future OF stars Aaron Hicks and Ben Revere making their way through the system, the Twins had little need for Pridie.

Jones, who has multiple 20HR-seasons under his belt, is likely to begin the season in the minor leagues.  This is perhaps a situation where the team is bringing back one of the family to give him a shot to re-establish himself, get some exposure in spring training and maybe land a job elsewhere.

I suppose in the event of an injury, the Twins could do worse than Jones as a replacement.  He takes plenty of bad at-bats, to be sure, but he does have the ability to drive the ball out of the park and is not horrible defensively.

If I had to make a prediction, I would guess that Jones will never see Target Field in a Twins’ uniform.

Filed under: Jacque Jones