http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-bas ... l-sulbaran
The Yankees have trade infielder Eduardo Nunez to the Twins in exchange for minor-league lefty Miguel Sulbaran. The teams announced the deal on Monday.
Nunez, 26, owns a career slash line of .267/.313/.379 (87 OPS+) across parts of three big-league seasons. He's also capable of playing shortstop, second and third. The Twins announced that Nunez will be assigned to Triple-A Rochester.
As for Sulbaran, the 20-year-old Venezuelan owns a career minor-league ERA of 3.15 and a K/BB ratio of 3.48 in 55 games, 45 of which have been starts. He spent all of last season in the Low-A Midwest League.
Nunez was supposed to be the heir apparent to Derek Jeter buck just never amounted to much of anything consistently. His defense was spotty (at best) and his offense came and went. Has speed and some offensive punch but just never looked right.
Sulbaran wasn't a particularly high rated prospect in the Twins organization but Dodger fans was pissed when they traded him to Minnesota for Sal Butera in 2012.
He's a young lefty that has a fastball that can hit the 92-93 range on occasion and reportedly can throw 2 different types of breaking pitches (curve and slider, with his curve supposedly the better pitch). Currently a starter but could project as either a starter (he pitches a lot of innings per start for a guy his age) or as a lefty reliever. With the ability to throw 3 pitches and with reportedly good command, he probably can be projected as a potential backend rotation starter at best down the road.
Another case of the Yankees holding onto someone for too long? We shall see.
Here's a couple links to videos about Sulbaran:
http://nomaas.org/2014/04/profile-miguel-sulbaran/
http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/26271672/v29094755/top-prospects-miguel-sulbaran-lhp-dodgers/?c_id=min
Time to get Andy Petitte in to work with the Yankee minor league pitchers? In the 1st video, Sulbaran's delivery kinda looks a little Petitte like.
Here's a blurb about Sulbaran (ranked 28th best Twins prospect by one Twins insider):
When the Twins traded Drew Butera to the Dodgers in July for a player to be named later or cash considerations my assumption was that the return would be cash and the considerations would be approximately the cost of a bucket of baseballs. Instead they ended up getting Miguel Sulbaran, a diminutive 19-year-old left-hander with a solid track record in the low minors since signing out of Venezuela as a 16-year-old.
As one of the youngest pitchers in the Midwest League last season Sulbaran had a 2.96 ERA and 101/32 K/BB ratio in 113 innings. For comparison, top-10 prospect Jose Berrios had a 3.99 ERA and 100/40 K/BB ratio in 104 innings facing the same low Single-A hitters at the same age. Two years ago the Twins drafted Berrios with the 32nd overall pick and he has much better raw stuff, so they're hardly prospect equals, but to get any sort of useful player for Butera was shocking.
Sulbaran hasn't cracked any Baseball America or ESPN rankings, but before the trade Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com rated him as the No. 14 prospect in the Dodgers' farm system. Mayo wrote that Sulbaran "has a good feel for his low-90s fastball" and "his curveball is his best offspeed pitch and both his slider and changeup show promise." Any deal for Butera would have gotten the "great trade ... who'd we get?" treatment, but Sulbaran was a nice haul.
If anyone is wondering how good Drew Butera was? Austin Romine would look like Johnny Bench compared to him.
