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Twins Trade Francisco Liriano To White Sox For Prospects Eduardo Escobar, Pedro Hernandez

In a stunning late-night move, the Minnesota Twins sent left-handed starter Francisco Liriano to the Chicago White Sox on Saturday in exchange for a pair of prospects according to the league's official Twitter account:

Liriano was scheduled to pitch Sunday's series finale with the Indians, but will now head to Chicago to join his new first-place squad and greet his teammates. While it was essentially assumed to be only a matter of time before Liriano was dealt, it's interesting that the Twins chose to trade him to a rival opponent, and a mere hours before he was scheduled to have a 'showcase' start for interested teams.

As far as the players the Twins picked up in the deal, 23-year-old infielder Eduardo Escobar is obvious prize as a slick-fielding shortstop with a quick bat. Tabbed as a top ten prospect in the White Sox organization in each of the past two years, Escobar grades out as a Gold Glove-caliber defender at short with above-average speed on the basepaths.

Also included in the deal is left-handed reliever Pedro Hernandez, who did not impress White Sox scouts by getting demolished for eight runs in his big-league debut earlier in the month. While Hernandez does not come with the pedigree that Escobar does, he was acquired by Chicago in the offseason as a sizable chunk of the Carlos Quintin deal and figures to play a significant role in the Twins' pitching staff in future seasons.

For more on the Twins, head over to Twinkie Town. For more MLB news and analysis, check out Baseball Nation.

Photographs by Micah Taylor, clairity, and Fibonacci Blue used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.