Front Page: 2019 Minnesota Twins Trade Deadline Recap

[Andrew Thares]

For about three hours this afternoon, leading up the to MLB trade deadline, it appeared as though the entire state of Minnesota was ready to storm 1 Twins Way like it was Area 51. Finally, Twins fans had a trade deadline where they weren’t sellers and they weren’t in between, no they were in full buy mode to give this team a better shot at winning the World Series, and what were they left with, Sergio Romo, a reliever who in his own right is a good addition to the bullpen, but by himself is a little underwhelming of a trade deadline. However, right before the clock struck zero, the Twins were able to acquire another addition to the bullpen in right-handed reliever Sam Dyson. Both Sergio Romo and Sam Dyson were featured in Twins Daily’s “Potential Twins Bullpen Target” series last month.Going into the deadline, many Twins fans had their sights set on adding a front of the rotation starting pitcher, along with a couple backend of the bullpen arms. As the deadline started to draw near it, was apparent that this wasn’t going to be the case, for not only the Twins, but for most of the teams looking to add pitching at the deadline. Some of the biggest named starting pitchers, like Noah Syndergaard, Madison Bumgarner, Matt Boyd, Robbie Ray or Mike Minor didn’t even get traded.

 

The only big-name starting pitchers that go moved were Marcus Stroman, Trevor Bauer and Zack Greinke. Neither Bauer nor Greinke were ever really options for the Twins as the Indians weren’t going to deal Bauer to the Twins while they are in a division race together, and Zack Greinke wouldn’t waive his no trade clause for a potential trade to the Twins. This left Stroman, who was traded to the New York Mets in the biggest head scratcher at the deadline. Not only are the Mets not in contention this year, but the package they gave up to acquire Stroman could have easily been matched by the Twins with Jhoan Duran and Blayne Enlow. It sounded as though the Twins were in trade talks with the Blue Jays, but the Jays didn’t circle back to the Twins before making the deal with the Mets. It is unclear why this happened, or if the Twins were just unwilling to offer something that rivaled the Mets offer.

 

The Twins were also reportedly interested in some of the big-name relievers on the trade market, which included Will Smith, Kirby Yates, Ken Giles, Felipe Vazquez, Edwin Diaz and Shane Greene. At the end of the day, the only one of those pitchers who actually got moved was Shane Greene, who really wasn’t much of an option for the Twins as the Tigers weren’t all that interested in making an interdivision trade. It is up for debate if the Twins could have been more aggressive to try and acquire one of these arms to assist the bullpen, but if nearly all of them didn’t get traded it probably suggests that the asking price was way too high, and could have been a trade the Twins would come to regret down the road, ala Matt Capps.

 

Now that has been said, let’s move on from what the Twins didn’t acquire, and focus on what they did. I won’t spend a ton of time going over the Sergio Romo acquisition, as we already spent a bunch of time on that, but if you would like a more in-depth review of that trade you can find it here. The Twins also made a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers for a Double-A reliever named Marcos Diplan in exchange for cash considerations. In 2013, Diplan was consider the top available pitcher on the International Free Agent market. Fast-forward to 2019, and things haven’t exactly gone as planned for the now 22-year-old. In 57 and 2/3 innings at Double-A this year, Diplan has a 4.99 ERA (4.41 FIP) with a 9.8 K/9 and an extremely high 5.8 BB/9.

 

The final trade that the Twins made before the deadline was perhaps their biggest, when the acquired Sam Dyson from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for Jaylin Davis, Prelander Berrroa and Kai-Wei Teng. In the Twins Daily Mid-Season Top 40 rankings, Davis was ranked as the 35th best prospect in the Twins system, while neither Berroa nor Teng were ranked. In all, it was more of a quantity over quality get for the Giants, which is exactly what the Twins were looking to do as they did not want to part with some of their higher ranked prospects.

 

So, what are the Twins getting with their newly acquired piece to the bullpen? Sam Dyson is a 31-year-old right-handed reliever who has had his fare share of ups and downs during his MLB career. So far, this year has been more up than down for Dyson. In 51 innings, across 49 appearances, Dyson has a 2.47 ERA (2.74 FIP), with a respectable 8.2 K/9 an excellent 1.2 BB/9, which is the 5th lowest among qualified relievers in 2019. This has helped Dyson get a remarkably low .902 WHIP. This is not only lower than Taylor Rogers (1.027), but also lower than Dyson’s former teammate Will Smith (.906) and ranks 11th amongst qualified relievers this season. Relievers who can keep runners off the base paths late in games are the kind of low stress pitchers that Twins fans will need as we watch some of the highest stress Twins baseball in over a decade a few months from now.

 

Despite being reliever, Sam Dyson uses a five-pitch mix, with his sinker being his most prominent pitch, which he throws about 45 percent of the time. Despite this, Dyson’s sinker appears to be his worst pitch, as opposing hitters have a .305 average and a .343 wOBA against his sinker, while Dyson isn’t giving up a batting average above .211 and a wOBA above .232 on any of his other pitches. It wouldn’t shock me if Wes Johnson and the Twins take a similar approach with Dyson that they have with some of their other pitchers, like Tyler Duffey, and faze out Dyson’s sinkers. Whether that happens mid-season is up in the air, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear rumors of the Twins tinkering with Dyson’s pitches next spring. Dyson also features both a cutter, which he throws about 25 percent of the time, and a four-seam fastball, which he throws roughly 13 percent of the time, to go along with his sinker. If the Twins were to make some changes with Dyson’s pitch selection this season, look for those to pitches start being used more often.

 

A few weeks ago, our own Tom Froemming made a video pitch for why the Twins should acquire Sam Dyson. You can check out the video here. While you’re at it, make sure to go ahead and subscribe to Tom’s Youtube channel. He posts a bunch of excellent video content on Twins related topics, so if you can’t get enough Twins talk, this is a great place to go.

 

 

Overall, Sam Dyson is another good addition by “Falvine” to Taylor Rogers and the rest of the Twins bullpen. On my personal reliver trust rankings, I have Dyson and Romo slotted in at second and third respectively. While neither will be the lights out relief ace, they are still big improvements on the Twins bullpen from where it stood a week ago.

 

What are your thoughts? Did the Twins do enough to make you feel comfortable about their chances to take on the Yankees and Astros in October? Let us know in the comment section down below.

 

Related Content

Twins Acquire RHP Sam Dyson from Giants

Twins Trade Lewin Diaz for RHP Sergio Romo, 2 Minor Leaguers

 

Click here to view the article

[mikelink45]

After all the hype I have to say I find The results to be really boring. I wish I could get excited about them but I am left with indifferent. Not against the trades they were fine but I hope you that we had reached higher.

[Cooper Carlson]

For three months now all we have heard is "at least add two quality relievers" and that is exactly what the Twins did but there still seems to be a lot of angry fans. The Twins did exactly what was required, no more no less.Solid trade deadline for the Twins, especially considering the price tags on most guys.

[D.C Twins]

Dear Twins FO,

 

Congrats on Dyson boys!

You were so wise to hold on to all of your high level prospects and avoid starting pitchers like Stroman because the Mets paid such an ASTROnomical cost. And ANY cost for Minor would have been too high!

 

And your starting playoff rotation....it weakens our knees just thinking about it...

Enjoy those 3 playoff participation ribbons you will earn over the next 5 years while you hoard prospects!

 

Love,

Houston FO

 

PS. We were so impressed by you guys we had to post this in two different places to make sure you saw it!

[Dantes929]

Kennedy was my baseline not really of what I wanted them to do but what I thought they would do.   I would rather have Kennedy that Romo but I would rather have Dyson that Kennedy so I am pretty happy with the result.

[Florida Loggerman]

ALCS: Astro's Starting Rotation: Verlander-Greinke-Cole    Twins Starting Rotation: Berrios- ?-?   not good, not good at all.  it's not easy being a life time Twins fan, since the TK Tom Kelly ear, it's been slim pickin's big time   hard to think Big when the Twins FO always plays the Cheap Retread Route, it is what it is, like we expected anything different from a Pohlad ownership. 

[Reider]

I felt all along that at minimum the Twins should get one high end starter and two high end bullpen arms. They did not get a starter and they did not get two high end bullpen arms. I'm fine with counting Dyson as one of them and I"m fine with Romo being added to the roster, but I was hoping for someone a bit better than Romo for that second bullpen spot. In other words, I feel that the Twins only filled 1 of the 3 spots.

 

It would have been great if the Twins could have at least gotten one of Giles/Smith/Vazquez in addition to Romo and Dyson, but nobody acquired them, so I suppose it's not the end of the world. As for starting pitching, there was Greinke who has a massive contract and doesn't want to play in Minnesota, Stroman, who the Blue Jays possibly sold cheaper to the Mets than what the Twins may have been willing to give them, then there's Aaron Sanchez, who's stats have slipped since 2016. It seemed like an odd trade deadline. The Twins did okay given all of the circumstances, but at the end of the day, I still think I would have liked to have seen the Twins acquire another pitcher or two.

 

The one positive about this deadline is that the Twins were able to get a couple of good bullpen arms without giving up the farm. The Twins' farm system is still in good shape.  

 

 

Edited August 1, 2019 by Reider

[Dman]

I think the Twins FO did OK here.  Seems like they stuck to their plan of safe guarding the farm and finding a way to offer value to another team with Prospects largely outside the top 30. 

 

Given the prices for the higher quality talent this year I think they did well.  They managed to turn two potential rule V players into assets to acquire talent (Two Relievers) at the deadline and even add to the farm an interesting pitcher with three more years of control left who is currently in our top 30 prospect list and a lottery ticket player to named later.

 

They gave away no high end prospects to get the two relievers who should be able to help this team compete through the end of the season.  The pen is what I wanted them to fix the most and they did that.  Would I have loved a high end starter? Yes I would have but not many of them moved this year so I don't find myself blaming them for the odd market this year.  They are right in that we need to believe in the players we have.  Believe that they can get the job done.  There are 5 playoff spots and really only 6 teams competing for those spots.  Once in anything can happen.

 

Right now I am happy with what they got done.

[jokin]

 

I think the Twins FO did OK here.  Seems like they stuck to their plan of safe guarding the farm and finding a way to offer value to another team with Prospects largely outside the top 30. 

 

Given the prices for the higher quality talent this year I think they did well.  They managed to turn two potential rule V players into assets to acquire talent (Two Relievers) at the deadline and even add to the farm an interesting pitcher with three more years of control left who is currently in our top 30 prospect list and a lottery ticket player to named later.

 

They gave away no high end prospects to get the two relievers who should be able to help this team compete through the end of the season.  The pen is what I wanted them to fix the most and they did that.  Would I have loved a high end starter? Yes I would have but not many of them moved this year...

 

Right now I am happy with what they got done.

 

I was relieved that Dyson came into play in the 11th hour. But it could have, should have been even more. The Twins cleared 4 roster spaces, so I suspect they thought they were going to get more. And unfortunately, this could have been accomplished largely within the risk-avoiding parameters the FO, and we both aspire towards.

 

For example:

 

The Marlins were open for business for their annual fire sale... The Twins were sitting in the front row seat! Obtaining any of Gallen, Lopez and Smith would have immediately upgraded the Twins rotation, and the Marlins have/had a small handful of intriguing pen throwers in addition to Romo.

 

The Twins' relief pitching staff woes were addressed, and they have staunched the bleeding for now. But I would love to find out if there was a legitimate offer to the Reds for Bauer, and what it truly would have taken to get MB from the Giants.

 

What the Stros accomplished makes what the Twins did this week seem like the definition of an exercise in futility.

Edited August 1, 2019 by jokin

[gil4]

 

Dear Twins FO,

 

Congrats on Dyson boys!

You were so wise to hold on to all of your high level prospects and avoid starting pitchers like Stroman because the Mets paid such an ASTROnomical cost. And ANY cost for Minor would have been too high!

 

And your starting playoff rotation....it weakens our knees just thinking about it...

Enjoy those 3 playoff participation ribbons you will earn over the next 5 years while you hoard prospects!

 

Love,

Houston FO

 

PS. We were so impressed by you guys we had to post this in two different places to make sure you saw it!

"Houston FO"

 

That is all

[Dman]

 

I was relieved that Dyson came into play in the 11th hour. But it could have, should have been even more. The Twins cleared 4 roster spaces, so I expect they thought they were going to get more. And unfortunately, this could have been accomplished largely within the risk-avoiding parameters the FO, and we both aspire towards.

 

For example:

 

The Marlins were open for business for their annual fire sale... The Twins were sitting in the front row seat! Obtaining any of Gallen, Lopez and Smith would have immediately upgraded the Twins rotation, and the Marlins have/had a small handful of intriguing pen throwers in addition to Romo.

 

The Twins' relief pitching staff woes were addressed, and they have staunched the bleeding for now. But I would love to find out if there was a legitimate offer to the Reds for Bauer, and what it truly would have taken to get MB from the Giants.

 

What the Stros accomplished makes what the Twins did this week seem like the definition of an exercise in futility.

 

I agree with you on the Marlins.  I don't know much about Gallen but if he as good as he was against us I would have created a package to get him.   We need good young controllable pitching and if he was the answer and could have been had for Larnack or Kiroloff  with some other throw in's that could have really helped us IMO.  Maybe Gallen isn't that good?  I don't know but even he was just effective he would have been a nice piece to have moving forward.  We need pitchers not hitters right now. so trading to even that out would have been nice IMO.

 

[Danchat]

On MLBTradeRumors, the Twins are listed second on the Deadline Headlines: American League article... as in, compared to the rest of the AL, only the Astros made more impactful trades in their opinion. IMO that doesn't justify the lack of more moves, but it puts it in some context.

 

Also, check out how the New York media is handling things....

[Cooper Carlson]

 

On MLBTradeRumors, the Twins are listed second on the Deadline Headlines: American League article... as in, compared to the rest of the AL, only the Astros made more impactful trades in their opinion. IMO that doesn't justify the lack of more moves, but it puts it in some context.

 

Also, check out how the New York media is handling things....

I do think the lack of moves is justified. Falvine did a fine job, but with a huge lack of sellers and prices sky high, there wasn't much else he could do. The Twins had a fine deadline considering the circumstances.

[jokin]

 

 

 

Also, check out how the New York media is handling things....

 

 

Ha! Awesome. And hilarious.

Edited August 1, 2019 by jokin

[jokin]

 

 

I do think the lack of moves is justified. Falvine did a fine job, but with a huge lack of sellers and prices sky high, there wasn't much else he could do. The Twins had a fine deadline considering the circumstances.

 

Bauer from Reds?

Kennedy from Royals?

6 good arms from Marlins?

Seems like they were get-able.

Edited August 1, 2019 by jokin

[twins_89]

Going into the trade deadline there was a hope that the team would make a move that would have a major impact, instead the Twins front office did the absolute minimum to avoid being labeled as a failure. The team got better, but by no means did they separate themselves from Cleveland or the rest of the AL playoff contenders.

[yarnivek1972]

That the asking price for relief arms was apparently so high makes the decision to trade a very good, controllable one for a couple lottery tickets look very bad.

[rghrbek]

With no August waiver trades available I think we saw the landscape of the new MLB.  I don't like it.  I wanted a bigger relief pitcher and a starter but we got what we got  I feel like the sellers were just asking for too much.  I think its different than other years.

 

the angst is justifiable given the Twins poor history at the deadline, but I think with context, this year they did ok.  Even with our team being this good

 

Do I wish we did more?  Yes,  Give up elite prospects?  Yes.  But I do think that this year is different and that multiple elite prospects were required and Grenkie probably had us on his no trade list (I don't know this for a fact) yes.  Teams were just not ready to pull the trigger.  Still no excuses, but reality.

 

Color me underwhelmed and disappointed but not devastated or that angry.

[AlwaysinModeration]

I wonder what the actual asking price for Wheeler or F Vasquez was.

 

In general I am happy with the deadline, picking up two clear upgrades for the bullpen while not giving up any of the top 6-8 guys I was loathe to lose (Lewis, Kiriloff, Brusdar, Balazovic, Arraez, Duran, Larnach, and Cavaco.)

 

Just wondering if something like Rooker and Gordon or Javier and Enlow would have landed either of the two guys I mention above.

[old nurse]

 

Bauer from Reds?

Kennedy from Royals?

6 good arms from Marlins?

Seems like they were get-able.

The Reds gave up a former all star, a top prospect, and more to get Bauer. That is a lot. To give up more would be crazy.

Kennedy is above average in relief. Not elite as he is paid to be.

Good arms from Miami. The Twins have good arms. I suppose the could have traded good arms for good arms but in the end you do not improve the team.  The only thing it does is create new people for fans to complain about.

[Tomj14]

 

I wonder what the actual asking price for Wheeler or F Vasquez was.

In general I am happy with the deadline, picking up two clear upgrades for the bullpen while not giving up any of the top 6-8 guys I was loathe to lose (Lewis, Kiriloff, Brusdar, Balazovic, Arraez, Duran, Larnach, and Cavaco.)

Just wondering if something like Rooker and Gordon or Javier and Enlow would have landed either of the two guys I mention above.

In general I was happy as well, but as I have been saying both of these moves probably could have been done weeks ago, sure it might have cost more but they would have been pitching for the Twins for longer.

That was until one of the Twins main competition in the American League went out and got Greinke.

I will say I believe like Verlander I don't believe the Twins had a chance at Greinke, but was disappointed they didn't get anybody to match that trade.

[rdehring]

For everyone wishing the Twins had traded some of their elite prospects for player X, they are missing one thing.  By not trading them, they remain in the organization. 

 

Granted, prospect A, B or C could slide due to lack of performance.  That is a risk, a real risk.  But they also may maintain their status or even get better.  Regardless, prospects A, B and C remain members of the organization.  That means they are an asset that the Twins can trade in the future, whether that is this coming winter, next July or thereafter.  With players like Lewis, Kirilloff and Graterol, they could be worth even more in the future.  

[VATwinsFan]

I would expect that except under the most extraordinary circumstances there will no longer be a need for 6 out saves from Rogers.

 

Thank goodness.

Edited August 1, 2019 by VATwinsFan

[Jham]

For everyone wishing the Twins had traded some of their elite prospects for player X, they are missing one thing. By not trading them, they remain in the organization.

 

Granted, prospect A, B or C could slide due to lack of performance. That is a risk, a real risk. But they also may maintain their status or even get better. Regardless, prospects A, B and C remain members of the organization. That means they are an asset that the Twins can trade in the future, whether that is this coming winter, next July or thereafter. With players like Lewis, Kirilloff and Graterol, they could be worth even more in the future.

It's apparent all 3 have slid down national rankings just this year.

[Squirrel]

Bauer from Reds?

Kennedy from Royals?

6 good arms from Marlins?

Seems like they were get-able.

It always seems that way, but we don’t know what GMs were asking us for. When Bauer went to the Reds I thought ‘maybe’, given our FO’s Cleveland connection, given what it took the Reds to get him, and got my hopes up a little. Wish I had been a fly on the wall everywhere. It was a sky high sellers market and the buying just didn’t happen most everywhere. I’m okay with where we are ... it’s not awesome, it’s not horrible, we did more than past regimes have, we’re better than we were, so forward we must go. Here’s hoping for the best ...

[nicksaviking]

 

Bauer from Reds?

Kennedy from Royals?

6 good arms from Marlins?

Seems like they were get-able.

 

Bauer from the Reds? Does the Reds GM want to be blacklisted from trades for the rest of his career?

 

AZ gave up a top 60 SS prospect for Gallen, the Twins only have one of those, giving up Royce Lewis because of one game Gallen pitched against the Twins is how we get Hicks/Murphy swaps.

[rdehring]

There is some business remaining related to the deadline.  With Dyson joining the team today, who gets sent to the minors?  After last night, expect it will be Poppen.  

 

But then who goes next when Cron comes off the IL in a few days?  Will it be Stashak or Thorpe?  My guess is Stashak as Thorpe is the only pitcher in the pen who is able to go more than an inning or two at the most. 

 

I could see Thorpe getting lots of opportunities to go 4-5 innings paired with both Pineda and Perez over the next two months as they try to limit the innings load for both.  That could include a few spot starts should Pineda make another appearance on the IL as he did earlier this year.

[jokin]

 

Bauer from the Reds? Does the Reds GM want to be blacklisted from trades for the rest of his career?

 

 

 

All's fair in love and war.

 

And the Indians couldn't get Bauer out of Cleveland fast enough.

 

The Twins, at the very least, should have made a very serious inquiry on Bauer.

Edited August 1, 2019 by jokin

[puckstopper1]

I think they did OK.  The floor of the bullpen is certainly higher.  Dyson and Romo added needed depth, and Dyson is under team control for next year.

 

The Giants unexpected success of late either raised the asking price for MadBum and Smith, or totally took them off the market.

 

IMO these moves should be enough to allow the Twins to make the playoffs either as the Central Champs or a Wildcard.

 

IMO the Twins are still behind the Astros and Yankees come playoff time.

 

We shall see...

[djvang]

I'm fine with them not making a big trade. No teams were willing to pay the asking price for Syndegaard or Bumgarner. It wasn't just the Twins. Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don't make.