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Antony Makes Waves At Deadline


Ted Schwerzler

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The dust has settled and the Minnesota Twins have wrapped up the 2016 Major League Baseball trade deadline. In total, the interim GM Rob Antony made three moves, two of which were completed on the final day.

 

First and foremost, the Twins flipped 2016 "All Star" Eduardo Nunez to the San Francisco Giants for Adalberto Mejia. Nunez was playing well above expectations this season for the Twins and needed to be moved. He fits as a utility guy on a winning team, and that's what the Twins were able to do with him. In getting Mejia back, the club picked up a top 100 prospect. That's something that would never have been expected to start the year, but the sellers have been doing well for themselves this season.

 

On deadline day, Antony started out by dealing one of three players I opined were "must move" types. Fernando Abad was a shrewd pickup by former GM Terry Ryan, and had played himself into an ideal situation for Minnesota. Owning a sub 3.00 ERA and dominating lefties on the year, he gets to head to a playoff team and be a solid left-handed option for them. In return, the Twins get a guy they drafted back in 2009. Pat Light throws nearly 100 mph and has strikeout stuff. Unfortunately his control has been pretty awful, but he could show up in the Twins pen as early as 2016.

 

Then there was the biggest move of the day for Minnesota. After being linked to the Los Angeles Angels all winter regarding Trevor Plouffe, the two clubs finally worked out a deal. This one however was focused solely around pitchers. The Twins shed Ricky Nolasco and his ugly contract, but had to throw in former top prospect Alex Meyer as well. In return, they get major league starter Hector Santiago, and Triple-A reliever Alan Busenitz.

 

On the surface, I really dislike the final trade. Nolasco has been horrible for the Twins, and getting rid of his

contract is a big plus. However, I still am of the belief that Alex Meyer has been poorly handled by the Twins and has more ability than he's been given the opportunity to show. Regardless, Hector Santiago is a nice parting gift from the Angels, and is a decent back end big league starter. He gives up way too many homers, but he's also got peripherals that are better together than what Nolasco has offered Minnesota.

 

If the Angels are able to fix Meyer, which requires him being healthy and consistent, than this trade could look pretty bad. It's been met with a ton of praise in the twittersphere, and shedding Nolasco's contract is the big reason for that. At this point, it appeared Meyer wasn't going to get a shot with the Twins long term anyways, so I can work through my own demons in accepting the deal.

 

To wrap up what the Twins did, we have to touch on the two pieces that were on my "must move" list and stayed put. Both Kurt Suzuki and Brandon Kintzler had little to no value for Minnesota now or going forward, and Antony failed to capitalize on that. Suzuki is a free agent at season's end, and being one of the hottest hitting catchers, should have been dealt for any return possible. Removing Kintzler from the 25 man would've given Minnesota the opportunity to promote Chargois, and now it appears that will have to wait.

 

At the end of the day, Rob Antony's first (and likely only) trade deadline is going to draw positive reviews from most. I'll consider myself in the lukewarm to positive group. I'm glad the Twins moved Nunez and Abad, but think it's a pretty big miss not to unload both Suzuki and Kintzler. I can get behind the Nolasco deal if Meyer is really cooked, but can't yet bring myself to believe that.

 

If this is Antony's one audition in doing this thing for real, he didn't take any steps backwards. His returns were about as expected in the sellers market. Regardless, the landscape for the Twins going forward is a very mediocre team that needs to see what it has for the year ahead. Continue to promote from within, and get those you're going to rely on a year from now ready.

 

For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

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So it would seem that no contending team was really interested in flipping something for Suzuki, or Kintzler.

 

Those two, along with Milone, could be made available during the waiver wire process, and one would suspect that no non-contending team will leap at the opportunity to grab them, so a chance might still exist that someone wants them higher up the scale. But because a contending team didn't deal for Suzuki, means that they were all content with their catchers already.

 

Add in Plouffe, the Twins have a few names that would be nice to just shed, salary wise, even if you don't get anything in return. When you put Suzuki, Plouffe and even Milone onto another team's roster, than they have to deal with the thought of keeping them or allowing them to walk at season's end. If the Twins are still interested, THEY MIGHT be able to regrab any of them at a bargain rate...or they might not...or might not even care to visit that.

 

I was really shocked that Santana wasn't grabbed by someone, unless the asking price was truly waaaaaay too high. But the Twins were willing to basically pay for Nolasco to go to Los Angeles and take Santiago, who could be an arbitration surprise.Mey

 

Question is Meyer. Who knows what he will be asked in the off-season and will he develop into a relief pitcher or a starter or nothing. Time will tell. The Span exchange looks like one of the worst deals ever (a reasonable long term contract on a lead-off guy and a centerfielder that was replaced with....what....).

 

The Light acquisition was interesting. Someone who the Red Sox probably didn't want to keep on their 40-man. And now the Twins have to make the same decision at the expense of what promising prospect, perhaps. If it is Zack Jones again, I'll be really mad!

 

But they did something. They got something for basically guys they added as free agents or, as in Nunez, a very minor prospect. It's too bad there is still more fluff on the roster that the Twins will basically say "goodbye" to with little coming abck in return...except play for the future and a lower payroll in 2017.

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Would not call Santiago a little coming back in return.  Do not know how good he can be, but has more upside than Ricky and may be finding himself.  Plouffe could well be a non tender in the offseason, so payroll should be a lot lower and money should be there at the end of 2017 to make a big splash in free agency.  See if we use it.

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The Suzuki situation is classic Twins. They have someone they are going to lose, they aren't in a position to benefit from his remaining the last third of the year, yet they sit on him. There can only be two reasons. Meaningless wins to placate the masses, or they want to convince him to stay for a few more years, which they could have bid on after the season. I do hope they move on from Kurt, he is a tough sucker, but it's time to defensively upgrade the position. As for Meyer, I liked him. But I don't think the Twins gave up anything for this reason. If you have a tool that you can't, won't, or don't know how to use, it has no value to you. If someone else can use it it does, so while it should have a level value to each person, it really doesn't. And that's Alex Meyer. Maybe no one can, but the Twins were never going to figure him out, so get what you can. I don't know what next year will bring, but this team still says away from true power pitchers. On almost no other team would a Chargois still be in Rochester.

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I was impressed that finally, a Twins GM made deadline trades. Ryan would have sat on his hands and said, well, we tried, no takers. Antony gets 3 deals done. Really like the Nunez trade and any semblance of control from Light, makes that trade a big win. I'm tending to agree with Platoon, if you don't know how to handle Meyer, then trade him, for the kids benefit.

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