Article: Nunez Traded To Giants For LHP Prospect

[ND-Fan]

Looks to be a fair trade for the Twins. Hope he keeps himself clean and not caught again for drugs. It opens up infield for Escobar to get playing time and I wouldn't be surprised if Dozier might be traded opening the way for some Twins prospects to come up later this year. Still expect Twins to trade reliever yet for fair prospect. I hope they can trade Nolasco and Milone for something. Nolasco future is in the national league. Milone would fit with a lot of teams he can make a fifth starter to eat innings or he can be used in long relief. I still wonder how much trading is going to happen before the trade deadline. Its good start for the Twins but I still think they have work cut out for them in moving some players yet.

[drivlikejehu]

 

So Antony actually did a trade, and with our best tradeable asset. I love the return we got with Mejia. I now have to wonder if the Twins might be looking to move Stephen Gonsalves. Yes Gonsalves has been our second best minor league pitcher this year (until Berrios is no longer in the minors he is our best minor league arm), yet I have to wonder if the Twins will want to sell high on him. Most of Gonsalves pitching stats do suggest he has the potential to be a good-great starting pitcher in the majors. However, he is wild and has yet to show improved control and with his lack of control if the Twins trade him now would be the time to do it before he struggles a lot once he gets to the majors.

 

One can only hope this is some novel form of satire.

[goulik]

What makes you say that? He's only started 7 games in AAA in his career. If the Twins don't think Berrios is ready, then they definitely don't think Mejia is ready.

 

Also, does anyone know if Mejia will be on the 40 man roster?

He was on San Franciscos 40 Man roster so he has to be on ours or designated for assignment if I understand the system correctly.

[Minniman]

This trade may end up fine for the Twins, but it is sort of funny.

 

I mean, trading the team's one All-Star player in that same season is something Calvin Griffith would do.

 

It's no problem though because the Twins have lots of .296 hitters with 27 steals, 47 RBIs, and 12 dingers.

 

Nunez looks like a player MacPhail would have picked up to balance the young nucleus on the team.

[Danchat]

 

He was on San Franciscos 40 Man roster so he has to be on ours or designated for assignment if I understand the system correctly.

OK, I thought I saw that he wasn't on their roster, but you have to be right. So the Twins remain with 3 open spots on the 40 man roster. 

[ScrapTheNickname]

 

This trade may end up fine for the Twins, but it is sort of funny.

 

I mean, trading the team's one All-Star player in that same season is something Calvin Griffith would do.

 

It's no problem though because the Twins have lots of .296 hitters with 27 steals, 47 RBIs, and 12 dingers.

 

Nunez looks like a player MacPhail would have picked up to balance the young nucleus on the team.

Nunez was not an All-Star. He made the All-Star team. There is a difference. He has picked up his offensive game in the last full year of play - good for him - he made himself a semi-valuable trading chip.

Edited July 29, 2016 by ScrapTheNickname

[John Bonnes]

BTW, per Baseball America, Mejia wasn't suspended for a steroid, but for a weight-loss drug:

 

Maturity and conditioning have gone hand in hand for Mejia, who drew a 50-game suspension in 2015 for a weight-loss drug, not an anabolic agent.

 

Read more at http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/maturity-conditioning-aided-mejia/#1XbcZJG6msRs4yCG.99

 

 

[goulik]

This is San Franciscos 40 man roster tonight with our newest pitcher on it. Look quick, it may be different tomorrow.

 

http://m.giants.mlb.com/roster/40-man/

Edited July 29, 2016 by goulik

[Pius Jefferson]

Looks like a solid return but not honestly not expecting all that much. Rare for teams to give up top young talent and less so if the return if a utility infielder having a career season.

[John Bonnes]

 

Yeah this is annoying, can't you guys just edit it so Seths article becomes the first post in a thread? It's annoying that you guys went and locked a good 56 post thread.

 

It drive us even crazier than it does you. It's a limitation of the software. Here is my understanding, and Brock can correct me....

 

1) We can merge two straight threads but the earlier thread always becomes the one we keep.

 

2) However, the same thing happens if we merge a story with comments to a thread - it keeps the earlier one, which is usually a thread with breaking news, which would be fine except....

 

3) that it screws up the story.

 

So we can't merge a breaking news thread with a story with comments without womping on the story and thus taking it away from the front page. 

 

I may not have all the details right, but we agree - we would love to have the comments from the original thread merged into the story comments. We just can't do it with this version. Sorry about that. 

 

 

[gunnarthor]

Solid return.  I actually thought the Twins were aiming for Mejia or Clevinger (Cle) with the Nunez rumors so I was pretty happy to be right for once. 

 

Good luck to Nunez in SF.

[goulik]

It drive us even crazier than it does you. It's a limitation of the software. Here is my understanding, and Brock can correct me....

 

1) We can merge two straight threads but the earlier thread always becomes the one we keep.

 

2) However, the same thing happens if we merge a story with comments to a thread - it keeps the earlier one, which is usually a thread with breaking news, which would be fine except....

 

3) that it screws up the story.

 

So we can't merge a breaking news thread with a story with comments without womping on the story and thus taking it away from the front page. 

 

I may not have all the details right, but we agree - we would love to have the comments from the original thread merged into the story comments. We just can't do it with this version. Sorry about that.

 

Thank you for the honest explanation. I thought it was weird and out of character with everything else you guys do here so I wasn't offended but I was confused. I REALLY appreciate all you guys do here to make this the premier Twins site.

[John Bonnes]

Well, I really like this deal. Mejia is far from can't miss, but he's 23, he's in AAA, he's having a breakthrough year and seems to be getting stronger as he moves up the ladder. He's also a lefty.

 

(By the way, to have a trio of southpaws at AAA and AA like Tyler Jay, Stephen Gonsalves and Adalberto Mejia?)

 

The one thing I think will disappoint people is that I don't think there is anyway the Twins have in in the majors this year. He's at 108 innings. He only pitched 50 last year, and has never exceeded 105 in his professional career. I expect they shut him down in .... 30-40 more innings at the most?

 

[Darius]

I like it. Currently eating my shoe because I didn't think they'd make a trade like this. The return, being a decent LHP prospect, is great. Also, its not within the division, or even league. I think it's well done.

[twinsnorth49]

Pretty much exceeded everyone's expectations I imagine. Perhaps that's not saying much though.

 

Kudos to Antony, the window for Nuno was small, he managed to crawl through it and find some value on the other side.

 

Going to miss the helmet shucker, he kind of grows on you.

[magiklair]

Good return. I hope we see quite a few more trades here. Time to let the kids play..

[LaBombo]

 

Well, I really like this deal. Mejia is far from can't miss, but he's 23, he's in AAA, he's having a breakthrough year and seems to be getting stronger as he moves up the ladder. He's also a lefty.

 

(By the way, to have a trio of southpaws at AAA and AA like Tyler Jay, Stephen Gonsalves and Adalberto Mejia?)

 

The one thing I think will disappoint people is that I don't think there is anyway the Twins have in in the majors this year. He's at 108 innings. He only pitched 50 last year, and has never exceeded 105 in his professional career. I expect they shut him down in .... 30-40 more innings at the most?

Good to know, but sort of what I expected. It would be fun to see Adalberto have a go at the Twins rotation, but compared to the disappointment of seeing Nunez fizzle out in a year and net nothing in return, waiting until next season to see Mejia is just waiting until Christmas morning to open presents, as opposed to getting a lump of coal in your stocking.

[tobi0040]

Absolutely love it

[rghrbek]

Nunez, has had a great year, but most of us know he is not the player we've seen the last 3 months.   Finally the twins have sold somewhat high on a player who will end up at his norms (look at his last 1.5 months not good), and got pitching.   Top 100 guy they say, but they key is, he's at AAA, so he's close enough that we are not waiting for 2 years to figure him out what he is, which is what we are doing for most of our better starting pitching prospects.

 

I'm pleased.

Edited July 29, 2016 by rghrbek

[BeenHazy]

I don't know what's more astonishing...the fact that the Twins managed to trade-string Drew Butera into a top 100 prospect, or the fact that Butera is still in the bigs and hitting .308 /.366 /.538.

 

Antony nailed the twin pillars of trading:  Trade from depth, and trade the sudden overachiever.  Well done.

Edited July 29, 2016 by BeenHazy

[Rosterman]

At this point, since he is on the 40-man, no reason to NOT bring him up in September, even just to throw a couple of innings out of the pen.

 

Again, when you have a losing team, use September to give guys a taste of the Big Leagues so they know what to work towards in the off-season.

 

23-year-old left-handed possible starter not named MILONE.

[Brock Beauchamp]

At this point, since he is on the 40-man, no reason to NOT bring him up in September, even just to throw a couple of innings out of the pen.

 

Again, when you have a losing team, use September to give guys a taste of the Big Leagues so they know what to work towards in the off-season.

 

23-year-old left-handed possible starter not named MILONE.

John made a good point about innings. It's incredibly unlikely the Twins will want him pitching in September.

[zchrz]

I really like this trade.  Nunez has had a really nice year, but I think he is best served as a utility guy into the future.  Getting a close to the majors, young, lefty with some stuff and pitch-ability is an awesome return for the investment put into Nunez.  

 

Time to let Polanco shine, and hopefully Mejia can see some major league innings this year. 

[zchrz]

 

Hmmm... yes, I like this trade. The Twins acquired a decently-talented starting pitcher in Mejia who I would estimate is a year away from making the rotation. Good stuff.

 

I'm going to miss Nunez, with his helmet-flying off and insane 2016, but this is for the greater good. Escobar and Polanco can rotate at SS and figure out what the future for that position will be. 

 

Man, they cleared a logjam and got a decent prospect. I like it!! I'm still expecting a reliever to be traded, but this is a great start.

 

The helmet flying off every time he takes more that 5 steps is collectively my favorite Nunez moment.  There are only going to be depressing Twins drinking games now.

[rghrbek]

The problem know is where to play Palonco?  He's not a shortstop.  I hope the twins are creative and give him shots at 2nd base, SS and 3b.   Let's see what he's got.

 

Still very pleased with early return though, nice Mr. Antony.

[DuluthFan]

 

At this point, since he is on the 40-man, no reason to NOT bring him up in September, even just to throw a couple of innings out of the pen.

 

There IS a reason to not bring him up. The Twins need to evaluate the rest of their pitching prospects. I think it is safe to say that Mejier WILL be on the 40 man roster if not the 25 man roster next year. The Twins need to evaluate the rest of the roster and to decide whether to bring any of them back. They need to use September to try out some of the AAA staff if not to look for major league players for next year, but to find possible DFA candidates to make room for promotions from the AA team and for rule 5 considerations.

 

Mejier's evaluation will take place in AAA this year and in spring training next year.

[h2oface]

Palanco up! Great!

Nunez regressing on another team? Great!

Berrios says to himself under his breath... great...

Another pitcher to not bring up? Great?

Mauer got 2 hits w/ a triple! WHAT!

[Champuckett]

Considering what we initially had to give up to get Nunez, this trade is fine.  Nothing fancy or spectacular, but also nothing too ridiculous or lopsided.

 

We ended up having the upper hand the last time we did a trade with the Giants.  Curious how this turns out.

[goulik]

This is San Franciscos 40 man roster tonight with our newest pitcher on it. Look quick, it may be different tomorrow.http://m.giants.mlb.com/roster/40-man/

And now it has Eduardo and not Adalberto

 

And ours with Adalberto on Our 40 man roster

 

http://m.twins.mlb.com/roster/40-man/

Edited July 29, 2016 by goulik

[dgwills]

Like any trade there is no guarantee that this works out. It was a move that had to be made though. Nunez has looked great this year, but his upside will always be limited by his defensive shortcomings. Mejia fits in great with the Twins timeline. Replacing the highly paid low end starters with cost controlled guys is the priority and will allow the Twins a lot more flexibility when they are contending. 

There's a few other guys I would move, but this is a great start.