Minnesota "Renovates"

The Minnesota Twins have said throughout the offseason that one of their goals has been to add speed to their lineup, and the one area where they felt they could do that was in the middle infield. The Twins' desire to go in that direction became clear when it posted the winning bid for exclusive negotiating rights with speedy Japanese infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka last month. And the Twins solidified that thought on Thursday when they closed out the Winter Meetings by trading shortstop J.J. Hardy to the Orioles. The deal sent Hardy, infielder Brendan Harris and $500,000 cash to Baltimore in exchange for two right-handed Minor League pitchers, Brett Jacobson and Jim Hoey. The trade didn't come as a surprise considering that Hardy's future had been up in the air ever since the Twins had placed the winning bid for Nishioka. In addition to working to bring the speedy, switching-hitting infielder to Minnesota, the Twins had said that they would like to give Alexi Casilla a chance at a starting job in the middle infield. Hopefully, the Twins can prepare their newly renovated team before the start of the next season.