While most of us have been enjoying our week-end, the Minnesota Twins front office has been hard at work burning up the phone lines looking high and low as they work to improve the team. Today they made their second trade in as many days when they traded their 2021 first round selection (26th over all) RHP Chase Petty to the Cincinnati Reds for RHP Sonny Gray who himself was the Oakland A’s first round selection (18th over all) back in 2011 before moving on to the Yankees in 2017 and finally the Reds in 2019. The Twins also received right-handed minor league reliever Francis Peguero a 24-year old Dominican who pitched in High A ball in 2021.
This is one of those “potential for experience” kind of deals. A type of trade that the Minnesota Twins disdained over they years. In a way it is similar to the Kenta Maeda deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers for prospect pitcher Brusdar Graterol a few years back. The big difference in that deal was that Graterol was big league ready and Petty is straight out of high school and has all of 5 innings of pro ball under his belt. Another trade that comes to mind was the 2010 deal with the Nationals when the Twins traded catcher Wilson Ramos for closer Matt Capps and Twins fans were not happy campers. Capps went on to save 45 games for Minnesota over three seasons. Ramos is still catching in the big leagues after 12 seasons (seven teams) and has two All-Star games and a Silver Slugger on his resume. You just never know how these kinds of trades will work out.
But, a high school pitcher like Chase Petty has a long row to hoe ahead of him. Petty has shown that he can reach 102 on the gun and ranking services have him ranked somewhere between 7-14 in the Twins minor league system. The Twins gave Petty a $2.5 million bonus to sign with the club last season.
Tennessee native Sonny Gray was originally a 27th round pick in 2008 by the Cubs but he passed up that offer and went on to pitch at Vanderbilt. After three seasons there he was selected in the first round (18th over all) by the Oakland A’s in 2011. In addition to Gray that drafts first round produced pitchers like Gerrit Cole, Trevor Bauer, Dylan Bundy, and the late Jose Fernandez not to mention numerous position players that went on to become stars. That was a strong draft but not for the Twins who had the 30th pick in the first round that year and ended up with Levi Mitchell who ended up being the highest player drafted that year that never had a sniff of big league play.
The 32-year old Gray is a two-time All-Star, the last time as recently as 2019. There is a lot to like about Gray but what I like best about him is that he can strike out a batter when he needs to and he keeps the ball in the park even though he played at the Great American Ball Park which only follows Coors Field and US Cellular Field in home runs allowed. He will fit right in as the Twins ace and head the rotation.
The Twins also received right-handed minor league reliever Francis Peguero a 24-year old Dominican who pitched in High A ball in 2021. Not sure how he ended up in the deal but the Twins must like something about him even though he has never pitched above High A and he has been in pro ball since 2017.
I checked out a couple of Cincinnati sites and the prevailing opinion seems to be an unhappiness with the trade. The Reds seem to be in a sell-off mode but Reds fans say it is more than that, it is more like a give-away mode. Whatever it may be, it looks like a good deal for the Twins and they have control over Gray for the next two seasons. I have never had a problem trading potential for a proven experienced player so I am really pleased with this deal, particularly when it involves trading a first round pick that was used to draft a high school pitcher. I have to give the Twins an “A” for this trade.
Interesting is an understatement Paul. I wonder if Falvey and Levine have gone rogue
Sort of like a partly cloudy day—Sunny
Gray..?
Interesting move on Donaldson for Urshela and Sanchez, too.