If the Boston Red Sox can alter the terms of what was a three-way trade between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota Twins over a pitcher who may or may not have been the player they thought he was, then I wish the Twins had made a little more noise over reliever Sam Dyson.
The #Twins, even without being technically part of the three-way deal, still end up with Kenta Maeda, and also $10 million, per @Ken_Rosenthal. They give up Brusdar Graterol and the 67th pick in the 2020 draft to the #Dodgers.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) February 9, 2020
The Twins traded three prospects last season to the San Francisco Giants to get Dyson and he was a resounding flop, particularly in an outing against the lowly Miami Marlins. It didn’t get much better after that, and then we all learned that Dyson had shoulder problems that would require surgery. Later, he was essentially released by the Twins; Dyson elected to become a free agent.
The Twins gave up Jaylin Davis, Prelander Berroa and Kai-Wei Teng to get Dyson.
Here’s what MLB Trade Rumors had to say after the trade went through:
Berroa, 19, is a starting pitcher out of the Dominican Republic who currently sports a 5.40 ERA across seven starts in rookie ball. Davis, a 25-year-old outfielder, earned a promotion to Triple-A in June and is hitting a robust .298/.392/.563 with 25 home runs on the season. Teng, 20, is a low-A starting pitcher with a 1.60 ERA over 50 2/3 innings this year.”
Meanwhile, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports the Twins will still get starting pitcher Kenta Maeda from the Los Angeles Dodgers — and now $10 million — but instead of sending flame-throwing prospect and the most interesting name in baseball, Brusdar Graterol, to the Red Sox (the player they were worried about), he now heads to the Dodgers along with the 67th pick in the 2020 draft. Getting $10 million is nothing to sneeze at, but I’m still a little “meh” on Maeda.
Maeda doesn’t pitch a lot of innings, but he still struck out 169 batters in 153-plus innings in 2019. Overall, he was 10-8 with a 4.04 ERA last season. For his career, Maeda is 47-35 with a 3.85 ERA, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
Some reaction to the original announcement that the Twins were getting Maeda:
Kenta Maeda…last 68 games (3 yrs) = 2.3 total WAR 😑
— Jeff (@MNTwinsZealot) February 5, 2020
Quick thoughts on this Graterol for Maeda deal:
* Maeda is a very good starting pitcher (likely a No. 3 in this rotation) who strikes out 10 batters per 9 – at $3m/year thru 2023. A very good asset.
* Graterol is a stud prospect. I'm not sure the Twins viewed him as a starter.
— Phil Mackey (@PhilMackey) February 5, 2020
Twins paid steep price in Graterol to get Maeda. But they absolutely needed to upgrade rotation, and their window is now. They look like favorites in AL Central over Indians and improved White Sox.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 5, 2020
I'm legitimately stunned by this. https://t.co/6UVCA7Wmur
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) February 5, 2020
Extra innings…
-Starting pitcher, Jose Berrios, lost his salary demands before an arbitrator and will now earn $4.025 million in 2020. That still represents a nice pay increase after the $620,000 he earned in 2019, but it’s also disappointing to see that the Twins wouldn’t meet his original request of $4.4 million, a difference of $375,000. It’s little things like this that can sour a relationship between player and team.