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

    Seth Stohs

    By Seth Stohs

    According to Jeff Passan of ESPN.com (And now many others), the Twins and Marlins are nearing a deal that would bring veteran relief pitcher Sergio Romo to the Minnesota Twins.

    Twins first base prospect Lewin Diaz is heading to the Marlins in return. The Twins will also receive a minor league pitcher Chris Vallimont and a Player to be Named Later in return.

    Image courtesy of Jeff Curry, USA Today

    Twins Video

    The Twins and Marlins reached an agreement. The Twins will send 1B Lewin Diaz to the Miami Marlins in exchange for veteran Sergio Romo.

    Per Passan: "The Minnesota Twins are deep into talks with the Miami Marlins on a deal that would send reliever Sergio Romo to Minnesota, sources with knowledge of the situation tell ESPN. The expectation is a trade will soon be finalized."

    Moments later, Passan tweeted: "One Marlins source says the deal should be completed soon. It would add a much-needed bullpen piece to the Twins, who continue to be aggressive in pursuit of help to their pitching staff."

    The 36-year-old Romo is in his 12th MLB season. He has 17 saves this season in 18 opportunities and a 3.58 ERA.

    Want a Winner? Romo was part of three World Series championship teams with the San Francisco Giants.

    Romo is excited to join a team that is making a pennant push.

    https://twitter.com/DaniAlvarez_16/status/1155291606402179072

    Lewin Diaz had a tremendous 2019 season, returning to his prospect status. He began the year in Ft. Myers and has continued to mash since being promoted to the AA Pensacola Blue Wahoos.

    https://twitter.com/MarianaGuzzy/status/1155289081351430145

    Chris Vallimont is a 22-year-old right-handed pitcher who was 4-4 with a 2.99 ERA in 13 starts with the Clinton LumberKings. He has now made six starts for Jupiter, the Marlins High-A Florida State League affiliate, and is 2-3 with a 3.75 ERA. Combined, he has 122 strikeouts in 105+ innings this year. He is likely to join the Kernels in Cedar Rapids. He was the Marlins 5th round pick in 2018 out of Mercyhurst.

    ANALYSIS... OK, Opinion

    While I believe that Lewin Diaz can be a solid MLB 1B starting sometime in 2020, I don't have any problem with this trade.

    Diaz has had a nice bounce-back season in 2019 after a disappointing 2018 ended early with an injury. However, he is behind CJ Cron, Miguel Sano, Brent Rooker, Zander Wiel and Alex Kirilloff in the Future 1B pecking order.

    Sergio Romo isn't dominant, by any means, but he is a successful veteran who has won a lot of games and even three World Series championships (if you think that matters anymore). He's not a hard-thrower anymore, but he is crafty and gets the job done, especially lately.

    Chris Villamont is an intriguing prospect. He can throw pretty hard, especially if he were to be moved to the bullpen at some point. He may be a similar prospect (Ranking-Wise) to Diaz, and yet he doesn't need to be added to the 40-man roster for two more years.

    And hey, if he goes to the Miracle, it's possible that they could lose a starting pitcher or two over the next four days.

    Finally, the Twins will also get a Player to be Named Later, a lottery pick, if you like.

    So to summarize, for Diaz (who likely wouldn't have been added to the 40-man roster this coming offseason), the Twins will get 2+ months of a competent, quality veteran reliever, a hard-throwing pitcher currently starting in the Florida State League after being drafted just a year ago, and another minor leaguer.

    Hard to argue with that.

    Seth Stohs has been blogging about the Minnesota Twins since May 2003. A founder and owner of Twins Daily, Seth has been a Twins fan for 40 years and has a passion for covering the minor leagues and prospects.
    Follow Seth Stohs on Twitter: sethtweets

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    Featured Comments

    Dman

    Dman 7,149

  • Verified Member

    • Posted (edited)

    Seems like kind of a savvy move by both FO's.  Marlins get a big young bat that looks close to MLB ready and the Twins swap the bat for a very intriguing arm that doesn't need to be put on the 40 man anytime soon.  On top of that the Marlins sweeten the pot by giving us Romo. 

     

    Our FO accomplished two things with this trade.  They get Bullpen help and they swap a strength 1st baseman Hitter for a weakness in the system which is Pitching.  Too early to tell who got the best deal but this move really helps us in two ways so I give our FO the early edge on this one.

    Edited by Dman
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    AZTwin

    AZTwin 1,166

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Really like Lewin Diaz so tough pill to swallow but I really like this deal. Maybe reports are true that Mets want pitching and this will help keep some pitching depth in our minors as well. Diaz was expendable given his position. Hope he does well in Miami. Will be rooting for him

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    ashbury

    ashbury 48,546

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

    I got very tired of trading away one guy and getting two or more back, under the old front office. Today's trade harkens back to an era that said you can't forecast anything, so just get quantity and you'll come out ahead of the smarty-pants teams in the long run. Yes, we struck gold with Eduardo Escobar that way, but my memory is that most of those trades turned out exactly as you would imagine - no impact and within a couple of years all the pieces so-acquired had scattered to the four winds. Maybe that trading record is a topic worth someone's time as a careful study

     

    Given Diaz's imminent need for 40-man protection, he is of value to only a few teams, so I guess Miami had us over a barrel. But I still long for a time when we're the ones packaging someone like Diaz with a couple of other pieces that don't really fit, to get someone of enviable value in return.

     

    Meanwhile, Romo probably is better than the relievers we've recently DFA. But he hasn't been anything close to lights-out in years. A minor piece, someone no other team will envy, that should have cost less than Diaz.

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    Highabove

    Highabove 136

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted

    There is some fear that this might be their signature bullpen move. 

     

    The Front Office deserves to get ripped if this is the case.

     

    It's a good move if this in front of some high end bullpen acquisitions. 

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    Mr. Brooks

    Mr. Brooks 7,174

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted

    Even though I really like this deal in a vacuum, I do still agree with others in that if this is it then I'm very underwhelmed.

     

    Throwing together a (very low quality) video on Vallimont now.

    Well of course. Everyone would (and should) be underwhelmed if this is the only deal. I don't understand why, with more than 100 hours left until the deadline, people are already judging this as if it will be the only move.

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    DocBauer

    DocBauer 14,431

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Absolutely want and need a power arm better than this. But what's not to like about this deal on it's own merit???

     

    Diaz is solid, probably not great, rule 5 eligible, stuck behind a couple higher ranked prospects. Romo is on fire since May, having a solid year, has had a quality career with fine SO and SO/BB numbers and brings a great deal of post season experience to a bullpen that has how much? Oh yeah, none.

     

    And we get an A ball pitcher drafted just last season in the 5th round?

     

    Unless Diaz turns out to be a stud, this is a real win.

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    Dman

    Dman 7,149

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    We've literally never been fleeced by the Marlins. Like, not even close.

     

    https://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/trade-partners.cgi?franch_ID_1=MIN&franch_ID_2=FLA

     

    We've fleeced THEM twice in three attempts.

    Initially the article only stated Romo in the trade and not Valimont or player to named later. I don't think that Diaz for Romo would have been a good trade. I deleted my post after more info was added. Nick Andersson would have been nice to have right now but the Marlins got him for a prospect who hasn't done much for us yet so if it would have been Romo for Diaz straight up we would have been fleeced two out of three IMO.

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    Mr. Brooks

    Mr. Brooks 7,174

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted

    Initially the article only stated Romo in the trade and not Valimont or player to named later. I don't think that Diaz for Romo would have been a good trade. I deleted my post after more info was added. Nick Andersson would have been nice to have right now but the Marlins got him for a prospect who hasn't done much for us yet so if it would have been Romo for Diaz straight up we would have been fleeced two out of three IMO.

    Nick Anderson has 0.2 career bWAR.

    We're calling that a "fleecing"?

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    Rosterman

    Rosterman 3,922

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Well, the Twins would need to protect Diaz sooner rather than later. Is he the first abseman of the future? Who knows. Seems the Twins are getting not one NUT TWO otehr prospects besides. Be interesting to sww how he pitches for the Twins.

     

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    Hosken Bombo Disco

    Hosken Bombo Disco 15,870

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

    Honest question.

     

    Do they make Romo fly up to Chicago tonight, then fly right back to Miami with the team tomorrow night?

     

    Probably, but teams often let starting pitchers fly ahead of the team by a night, and our bullpen is fairly rested. Maybe they let Romo meet the team in Miami.

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