Category: Trades

Twins trade Polanco to Mariners

Jorge Polanco

Just before bed time here in Florida on Monday night I saw the news that the Minnesota Twins were in the process of finalizing their trade of Jorge Polanco the switch-hitting second baseman who has been a regular part of the Twins infield since 2016 to the Seattle Mariners for four players, two experienced major league players and two minor league players and cash. The will get right-handed starter Anthony DeSclafani and reliever Justin Topa, and two minor leaguers, outfielder Gabriel Gonzalez and pitcher Darren Bowen. The Mariners will also send cash (rumored to be $8 million) to the Twins, the teams announced.

The Twins second second base job has multiple suitors and the soon to be 31 year-old Polanco was slated to make $10.5 million this season. Polanco was liked by his teammates and his fans alike and will be missed in Minnesota. But I have the feeling that we have not seen the last of the franchise leader in home runs by a switch-hitter and longest-tenured Twins player.

Polanco was signed by scout Fred Guerrero for the Minnesota Twins in 2009. On March 18, 2018, he received an 80-game suspension for testing positive for the banned old-school steroid, Stanozolol. Polanco claimed that he had consumed the steroid inadvertently, as he thought he was taking a simple vitamin supplement in his native Dominican Republic. In 2019, “Chulo” was the first player to hit for the cycle that season. This marked the start of an outstanding first half in which he was the Twins’ best offensive player while they were the best team in the American League. He was in turn elected as the starting shortstop in the 2019 All-Star Game.

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Twins keep transaction wires busy

Michael A. Taylor

The Minnesota Twins are keeping the transaction wires busy. Yesterday, their latest move had them acquiring outfielder Michael A. Taylor who will turn 32 years of age in late March from the Kansas City Royals. Taylor has spent the past two seasons in Kansas City. The rangy right-handed hitting center fielder earned his first career Gold Glove in 2021 and signed a $9MM extension covering the 2022-23 campaigns late in that season. Taylor is known for his glove but his bat isn’t too shabby and he should make a nice back-up for Byron Buxton when he needs time off. Taylor had a 2.5 and 3.2 WAR in his last two KC seasons. Right-hander pitcher A.J. Alexy was designated for assignment to clear a spot for Taylor on the 40-man roster.

Evan Sisk
Steven Cruz

In return the Twins part ways with two minor league relief pitchers, LHP Evan Sisk and RHP Steven Cruz. The Twins had acquired Sisk from the Cardinals in the J.A. Happ trade in July of 2021. Steven Cruz was signed as a Dominican free agent in March 2017. Both are relatively young and have strike-em-out ability but have control issues. If one or both can lower their walks then the Royals have got something.

Arraez traded

So after we get home from a local Urgent Care I see on Twitter that the Miami Marlins have traded right-hander Pablo Lopez, top infield prospect Jose Salas and outfield prospect Byron Chourio to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for reigning AL batting champion and Silver Slugger winner Luis Arraez, per announcements from both clubs.

It has been evident of late that the Twins and Marlins were talking about a trade of Pablo Lopez so this is not a shocker by any means but to be honest I was hoping that the Twins center-piece of the trade would be Max Kepler versus Luis Arraez. I know that Kepler alone for Lopez would not probably be enough but I think the Twins could have sweetened the pot a bit.

Luis Arraez

I really like Luis Arraez and I will miss watching him play. He enjoys the game and for me no Twins player is as much fun to watch in the batters box as he was. I really think that the Twins will miss him more than they know, they need his kind of bat in the lead-off spot even though he is not the prototypical lead-off hitter. I think the ban of the shift will also benefit Arraez more than the average hitter. Arraez has his flaws of course like every player, he does not walk as much as you would like but then again how many regulars in the big leagues get more walks than strikeouts? My biggest concern with Arraez has always been is how long his knees will hold up? Defense is also not his strength but he played some pretty nice first base for Minnesota considering it was a new position for him. Maybe the Twins didn’t trade Arraez at peak value but it is always smarter to trade someone a year or two too early versus a year or two too late.

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Twins say a new era is dawning

The Minnesota Twins had a big “to-do” at the Mall of America on Friday, November 18 when the organization announced that a “new era of Twins basball” was dawning with their first brand refresh in 35 years. According to Pat Reusse about 1,500 of the Twins loyalists were in attendance to witness the club roll out a new set of uniforms and modify their TC insignia. It is kind of ironic that the Twins chose the MOA which is where Metropolitan Stadium once stood as the place to roll out these changes.

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Twins & Yankees agree on a blockbuster

Less than two days ago the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees agreed on a blockbuster trade but Twins and Yankee fans are in a quandary about what to think of the deal. Social sites for both teams seem to be up in arms about the deal with both sides thinking they got the short end of the stick.

The trade in question calls for the New Yorker’s sending 29-year old catcher Gary Sanchez and 30-year old third baseman Gio Urshela to Minnesota for 36 year-old third baseman Josh Donaldson, 27-year old shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa and 24-year old catcher Ben Rortvedt.

It appears that there were multiple reasons to make the trade. The Twins seem to be looking to get out from under the $50 million the team owes Donaldson over the next two seasons and the Yankees have wanted to move Sanchez for some time. It is one of those situations where you swap my problems for your problems. The Yankees were in desperate need of a shortstop and the Twins had just acquired Kiner-Falefa from Texas earlier in the day. So in order for the Yankees to take Donaldson and pay him what he is owed the Yankees needed to get Kiner-Falefa in the deal and they wanted Rortvedt to replace Sanchez. Getting Donaldson and Kiner-Falefa made Urshela expendable and he was on his way to Minnesota.

Gary Sanchez
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Twins deal 2021 first round pick for 2011 first round pick

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.

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Twins and Rangers make a deal

It didn’t take long for the Minnesota Twins to make their first post lockout deal when they traded 31-year old catcher Mitch Garver to the Texas Rangers for soon to be 27-year old shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa and minor league right-handed pitcher Ronny Henriquez who pitched in AA ball after starting at High A.

Mitch Garver – Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY

Garver was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 9th round of the 2013 amateur draft and for all practical purposes was the best player the Twins selected in that draft. In addition, Garver was the best catcher drafted that year if you rank them by WAR and they got him for a measly $40K signing bonus.

Garver made his big league debut on August 19, 2017 at Target Field against the Arizona Diamondbacks as a pinch-hitter for Miguel Sano and struck out in his lone appearance in that game. Garver had a breakout season in 2019 as part of the Bomba Squad when he hit 31 home runs and was awarded the Silver Slugger award as the best hitting AL catcher. 2020 and 2021 were seasons that Garver would just as soon forget as injuries limited him to 23 and 68 games respectively.

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Trading season opens for the 2021 Twins

A couple of hours before the Twins were to take on the Los Angeles Angels at Target Field yesterday afternoon the Twins front office announced that they had struck a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Twins were sending arguably their best hitter 41-year-old DH Nelson Cruz to Tampa Bay along with minor league right-handed relief pitcher Calvin Faucher and in return Tampa sends Minnesota two minor league right-handed pitchers, Joe Ryan and Drew Strotman.

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Deal or No Deal?

Late on February 4th rumors started swirling that the Boston Red Sox had finally moved Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The deal supposedly also involved the Twins and in the deal Minnesota traded arguably their top pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol to the Dodgers who then flipped him to the Red Sox.

Brusdar Graterol
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