Front Page: Revisiting Falvey and Levine Era Trades: How the Jaime Garcia Trade(s) Will Help the Twins in 2020

[Nate Palmer]

Derek Falvey and Thad Levine have made plenty of trades during their tenure of leading the Twins front office. The series of transactions surrounding Jaime Garcia in 2017 is one of the oddities of baseball history and is the focus of this look back at Falvey and Levine era trades.Last week we took a look at what may be the most successful trade, as of the moment, that the Derek Falvey and Thad Levine led front office has completed. This week we will take a look at not only their strangest sequence of transactions but one of the oddities in the history of baseball.

 

On July 24, 2017, the Twins felt as they were enough in the race for the postseason that they needed to bolster their rotation. That led them to send Huascar Ynoa to the Atlanta Braves for Jaime Garcia, Anthony Recker, and cash.

 

On July 28, 2017, Garcia would start for the Twins and go 6 2/3 innings, allowed three runs, three walks, and issued seven strikeouts and led the Twins to a win. All is good for Garcia in Minnesota right? All except that was the only game they won in the time he was a Minnesota Twin.

 

The drop in the standings resulted in another trade of Garcia, this time to the New York Yankees from whom the Twins received Zack Littell and Dietrich Enns. For those playing along the Twins essentially traded Ynoa for Recker, Littell, Enns, and cash.

 

Now Recker didn’t really ever do anything for the Twins. He played 19 games at Rochester and slashed .286/.333/.414 before being granted free agency at the end of the season. Enns was brought to the Twins with the likely hope that he would be an option for the back end of the rotation. After four innings in the majors in 2017, Enns spent 2018 in the organization but spent 2019 with the Padres.

 

That leaves Littell as the only player standing from that package. It has been well noted throughout 2019 the breakout that Littell had after moving from starting to the bullpen. His 2.68 ERA over 37 innings was an effective part of the emergent Twins bullpen. That alone gives the weird events of the trade a positive mark.

 

 

We won’t truly be able to evaluate this trade from a value standpoint for several years since Ynoa is still only 21-years-old and just made his major league debut this season (even if it was only four innings). One thing that seems evident is that the Braves have already decided that Ynoa isn’t going to be able to stick as a starter and has been moved to what appears to be a full-time relief role.

 

Ynoa has the raw stuff with four pitches and good velocity that he very well could still develop into a weapon for the Braves out of their bullpen. As young as Ynoa is there is plenty of time for him to make all Twins fans wish he was in our team's pen at some point.

 

Ultimately this trade receives an incomplete grade. I am inclined to think that unless Ynoa develops in the next Aroldis Chapman as a closer this is ultimately a good sequence of moves for the Twins. Littell was a valuable part of this year’s bullpen and without his contribution who knows if 101 wins would have become a reality.

 

It may end up being a trade of immediate results for long term results. A trade-off contending teams need to do at times.

 

What are your memories of the Garcia swaps? How do you feel about how it has all panned out two and a half years later?

 

Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Not registered? Click here to create an account. To stay up to date, follow Twins Daily on Twitter and Facebook.

 

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[Channing1964]

Its not fair for me to say right now. Im too busy celebrating the overwhelming successes of our free agent signings. Odo, Piñeda, Alex Avila, and Romo will surely vault us into a World Series title in 2020. why fix anything that isnt broke. The Yankees could never play that well in the ALDS next year.....ummm...wait...a...minute...that Matt Wisler sure has promise don't he?

[Tom Froemming]

Its not fair for me to say right now. Im too busy celebrating the overwhelming successes of our free agent signings. Odo, Piñeda, Alex Avila, and Romo will surely vault us into a World Series title in 2020. why fix anything that isnt broke. The Yankees could never play that well in the ALDS next year.....ummm...wait...a...minute...that Matt Wisler sure has promise don't he?

 

This is not cute. Throwing a temper tantrum unrelated to the topic at hand is disrespectful to both the writer and any readers who are actually looking to have a conversation about this article. There are plenty of other places on the site you can vent your frustrations.

[Mike Sixel]

Incomplete. That said.....

 

I don't think you can judge the trade as Ynoa for.... Those are two different trades, unless this was the plan all along. Getting anything useful for Garcia at that point is a good trade. The fact you may have paid too much for Garcia is separate. Unless, as I said, this was the plan all along.

[drivlikejehu]

 

Incomplete. That said.....

I don't think you can judge the trade as Ynoa for.... Those are two different trades, unless this was the plan all along. Getting anything useful for Garcia at that point is a good trade. The fact you may have paid too much for Garcia is separate. Unless, as I said, this was the plan all along.

 

While I'm sure it wasn't specifically the plan, the fact it happened in such quick succession at least indicates that the club was aware of the possibility of flipping Garcia.

 

Overall it looks like something of a wash, unless Ynoa turns into an elite closer or something (possible given his raw stuff, but he still lacks command). Littell has less upside but is already a solid reliever.

[Jham]

Whoa. Sort of a big deal to get wrong since the article states the exact opposite. The Twins didn't GET cash, we ate $4 plus mil for the Yankees. So we gave up Ynoa plus $4 million to get Littel who may have been dfa'd by the Yankees anyway. The revisionist history on this site lately...

[Thegrin]

The trade made sense at the time.  It was obvious the Twins weren't going anyplace....Woops. Wrong again. The Twins made the playoffs. 

[h2oface]

I really can never get on board with the "trees". Each trade stands on it's own. The origin of each butterfly effect is hard to nail down. I know people like to do it, but trading Ynoa was done to help us then.... not in the future. It did not. Ynoa does not become a trade for Littell. Each trade stands on its own.

[old nurse]

 

Whoa. Sort of a big deal to get wrong since the article states the exact opposite. The Twins didn't GET cash, we ate $4 plus mil for the Yankees. So we gave up Ynoa plus $4 million to get Littel who may have been dfa'd by the Yankees anyway. The revisionist history on this site lately...

They got Cash from Atlanta, Not revisionist history but an omission. Revisionist history is thet the Yankees were going to DFA a player not even on the 40 man roster.

[big dog]

Fun article.  I thought Littell sounded like one of the Twins farmhands in past years who is untouchable in the low minors but never develops major league stuff.  I was really pleased that he's been able to show pitches that play in the majors and hope that he can really develop into a long-term asset.

 

Ynoa might turn out to be special, but the odds are tough. 

 

[miracleb]

 

I really can never get on board with the "trees". Each trade stands on it's own. The origin of each butterfly effect is hard to nail down. I know people like to do it, but trading Ynoa was done to help us then.... not in the future. It did not. Ynoa does not become a trade for Littell. Each trade stands on its own.

I mostly agree with this but looking at the long term ramifications of trades definitely should be taken into consideration.   Giving up a long term asset for a short term gain is a decision that needs to be evaluated.   If the short term gain "didn't work," then I think we can decide for ourselves that the decision/trade was a "fail."    Right now, I would think it would be doubtful that Atlanta would even-up trade a 21 year old Ynoa for a 24 yr old Littell.   

 

[miracleb]

PS     "I am inclined to think that unless Ynoa develops in the next Aroldis Chapman as a closer this is ultimately a good sequence of moves for the Twins...."     

 

That sentence is more absurd than anything.   

 

That is like saying trading Nick Anderson to the Marlins for Brian Schales is a good trade for the Twins if Nick Anderson DOESN'T develop into the next Mariano Rivera......

[Nate Palmer]

 

Whoa. Sort of a big deal to get wrong since the article states the exact opposite. The Twins didn't GET cash, we ate $4 plus mil for the Yankees. So we gave up Ynoa plus $4 million to get Littel who may have been dfa'd by the Yankees anyway. The revisionist history on this site lately...

 

Since the eating of the contract wasn't listed in the official transaction I will admit to being wrong or overlooking that aspect of the second trade. Instead of accusing me of trying to re-write history I would appreciate a conversation or reminder of that aspect. A simple "Hey, don't forget that..." sort of thing. That is why I am here, for conversation about my favorite team.

 

It honestly doesn't really change me evaluation of the trade but it is a noteworthy aspect to remember.  

[Nate Palmer]

 

PS     "I am inclined to think that unless Ynoa develops in the next Aroldis Chapman as a closer this is ultimately a good sequence of moves for the Twins...."     

 

That sentence is more absurd than anything.   

 

That is like saying trading Nick Anderson to the Marlins for Brian Schales is a good trade for the Twins if Nick Anderson DOESN'T develop into the next Mariano Rivera......

 

The big difference here is that Schales is already out of the organization. 

 

My thought here is along the lines of "do you think the Cubs care that Gleyber Torres is a stud after trading him for Chapman?" The answer is really no or very little because Chapman helped them get a ring. So while Littell didn't get the Twins a ring, he helped move them forward to the playoffs. So if Ynoa has similar effectiveness to Littell this series of trades are good. If Ynoa becomes Chapman or Rivera then we will need to revisit this. Thanks for reading! 

[Dman]

To be honest I didn't like the trade when they made it.  I didn't feel that Garcia was a needle mover and granted the price wasn't heavy but I really liked Ynoa.  After they traded with the Yankee's I felt they would have been better standing pat. 

 

I see your point though.  I feel like Littel was a big factor in stabilizing the pen this year.  Granted he didn't do it on his own as May and Duffy also emerged but he played a big role as well.  Not sure how our season turns out without him in that role but I have to agree with you that we likely don't make it to 101 without him.  

 

I still like Ynoa's potential better than Littel but it will take time to see how the value works out.  I think you have a good point about the timing of Littel being able to help the team where Ynoa was not yet ready.  That puts an up arrow next to Littel right now.  This could be a trade that just works out well for both teams based on the timing of being ready to contribute.  In fact given Atlanta's bullpen issues last year they might have wished they had gotten Littel from Yankee's instead of Ynoa.

[rdehring]

Is it possible that the trade can go down in the books as a win-win for both teams?  Is there something wrong with that result?  Not in my opinion.

 

As for Littell, I commented last year that I saw a lot of Joe Nathan in this kid.  Not exactly the same pitchers, velocity, etc.  But the idea I was getting is that he could become a really good late inning workhorse.  Still believe that is possible, perhaps as early as this year.

 

I have also stated that I see him as a perfect opener for Graterol as an option for our #5 spot in the rotation.  Pitch Littell the first two innings with Graterol coming on for the next 4 or 5.  Results could be very good.  Would also leave Littell available for an inning or two between those appearances.  

[Puckett34]

How dare you not address him by his proper name. It's Twins Legend Jaime Garcia. 

 

That said, seems to be a decent, albeit incomplete flip.

[gunnarthor]

I think one of the problems we've had so far in the Falvine era is that, outside of the Odorizzi trade, it's hard to name the next best trade. Maybe this is it? Dunno. I don't like this trade. Ynoa looks like a potential strong bullpen arm that would be better than Littell, who has about 50 innings on him in the majors.

 

I always forget that Littell is so young (24 next year) and that's good for him but I don't like his stuff. He wasn't used in many high leverage spots (except the playoffs) and he wasn't used that much overall last year. I'd rather have Ynoa. But hopefully, Littell proves me wrong.

[sweetmusicviola16]

My take is it's not a Ynoa for Littell trade. We have two trades not one. Ynoa for Garcia was not a good trade. At the time it was a mediocre move by the FO for a playoff push. Then it was almost like a panic move to get rid of Garcia. Which leads us to the Garcia for Littell trade which is an obvious good trade.

 

We're glad to have Zack and lets hope he continues to be solid in 2020.

[big dog]

 

The big difference here is that Schales is already out of the organization. 

 

My thought here is along the lines of "do you think the Cubs care that Gleyber Torres is a stud after trading him for Chapman?" The answer is really no or very little because Chapman helped them get a ring. So while Littell didn't get the Twins a ring, he helped move them forward to the playoffs. So if Ynoa has similar effectiveness to Littell this series of trades are good. If Ynoa becomes Chapman or Rivera then we will need to revisit this. Thanks for reading! 

I will be surprised if Ynoa even becomes the next Nick Anderson, though he's certainly got a chance.  He may well have a shot at being the next Littell.

 

I don't think the Twins adding $4 million to the trade should do anything but astonish TD readers- don't we always complain about the owners not being willing to spend and just using it to buy vacation homes or whatever?  I think that's a great feature of this trade- Hey look everyone! We spent money!  On the Twins!

 

[miracleb]

 

The big difference here is that Schales is already out of the organization. 

 

My thought here is along the lines of "do you think the Cubs care that Gleyber Torres is a stud after trading him for Chapman?" The answer is really no or very little because Chapman helped them get a ring. So while Littell didn't get the Twins a ring, he helped move them forward to the playoffs. So if Ynoa has similar effectiveness to Littell this series of trades are good. If Ynoa becomes Chapman or Rivera then we will need to revisit this. Thanks for reading! 

"The big difference here is that Schales is already out of the organization"    That obviously makes the trade look considerably worse.   This is an obvious trade that we can "look back on" and determine that it was botched(or at least a poor evaluation of talent.)    

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Whoa. Sort of a big deal to get wrong since the article states the exact opposite. The Twins didn't GET cash, we ate $4 plus mil for the Yankees. So we gave up Ynoa plus $4 million to get Littel who may have been dfa'd by the Yankees anyway. The revisionist history on this site lately...

 

 

They got Cash from Atlanta, Not revisionist history but an omission. Revisionist history is thet the Yankees were going to DFA a player not even on the 40 man roster.

 

Let's not accuse fellow posters of bad faith over this. There are a lot of moving parts to these deals, and I think these were both honest mistakes. The Twins sent cash to the Yankees, received (less) cash from the Braves, and received a player likely to be DFA'd by the Yankees (Enns).

 

Edit to add: the cash going from the Braves to the Twins was nominal -- looks like only $100k according to this site:

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/07/twins-acquire-jaime-garcia-anthony-recker.html

 

It was reported that the Twins were taking on the rest of Garcia's contract, so I suspect this money was just to help offset Anthony Recker's contract (he was still due about $250-300k).

[Shaitan]

 

Is it possible that the trade can go down in the books as a win-win for both teams?  Is there something wrong with that result?  Not in my opinion.

I dislike the whole concept of "winning" a trade. Teams don't make trades to "win" against their competitor GMs. It doesn't work like that. Both teams are seeking mutually beneficial deals. Otherwise trades wouldn't happen.

[wabene]

Littel IS surprisingly young. When he came up as a starter he seemed like a back ender at best. The move to the pen was an eye opener for me. The stuff looks really good. The 23 year old didn't handle his surprising insertion into a playoff game but I don't think that will have any future ramifications. From what he has said he really likes the pen. Not having to pace himself. Unlike Duffey who took a long time to embrace the role Littel is into it. We could see some further development this coming season.

[JD Green]

Trades can be like a box of chocolates, you never know what is in the box until you eat all the chocolates.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

For those playing along the Twins essentially traded Ynoa for Recker, Littell, Enns, and cash.

Cool thing: Prospectus/Cot's keeps a pretty full accounting of the cash and salaries involved in these deals:

 

https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/card/52254/jaime-garcia

 

https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/card/46537/anthony-recker

 

And since Recker was immediately waived and outrighted to the minors after we acquired him, I think it makes sense to include his salary obligation along with Garcia's in the "cash" part of the deal.

 

That leaves us with $4,524,590 salary for Garcia, plus $301,639 salary for Recker, less $100,000 cash from Atlanta, less the prorated minimum of $184,180 that the Yankees paid Garcia. Total Twins outlay is $4,524,590.

 

So I think this is a fair summary:

 

The Twins essentially traded Ynoa plus $4.54 mil for Littell and Enns.

 

(You could add the one start from Garcia, and 1-2 months of Recker stashed in AAA, to the Twins benefit side, if you want to get technical too!)

[ewen21]

I, for one, respect the divergent opinions of posters here.  While I do not understand all the criticism about the Twins not signing anyone of note thus far this off season--I certainly get it.  I have been that way in the past, but for now, I guess after the last postseason embarassment I don't see where this is a "win now" club.  So I get the analytics-driven approach that dictates guy try to get the maximum value from trades and deals.

 

Falvey and Levine did their job, in my opinion.  It was the players who failed.  Had they won a game in the playoffs I might feel differently.  They could not win a game.  AGAIN.  Once again, we could not hit a lick in the postseason.  How is a guy like Ryu or Bumgarner going to fix that?  So I am not going to rip our GMs this offseason.  I am reserving that for guys like Kepler and Buxton.  These two darlings contributed NOTHING in the postseason.  One ran into a wall (for the umpteenth time) in a meaningless game in Florida to ensure his season was over early and the other was invisible the last month of the season.

[mike8791]

I'm afraid this is going to be a very short series of articles, given this FO has made one trade of consequence in three years!  Yes, the Odo pickup was a plus, but let's face it, Falvine didn't risk much in obtaining him.  

To look at the Littell deal as a positive assumes his short stint as a reliever in 2019 was indicative of future success.  Looking at his minor league stats, especially his low SO/IP ratio, there is little(no pun) reason to think he can sustain this success in the majors.  One has to ask: is this the type of reliever you want in a tight, late-inning situation or even in the playoffs at all?  Hope I'm wrong here, but you just can't count on a guy like this with his mediocre minor league record.

If we look at the Anderson, Pressley and Dyson trades vs. Odorizzi one, the best you could give this FO is a C grade.  If they fail to make a significant trade in the 2019/2020 offseason, you can lower that to a D.  Sorry, but this FO reminds me all too much  of the do-nothing Ryan regime, in risk aversion and small-mindedness.

[MN_ExPat]

 

Falvey and Levine did their job, in my opinion.  It was the players who failed.  Had they won a game in the playoffs I might feel differently.  They could not win a game.  AGAIN.  Once again, we could not hit a lick in the postseason.  How is a guy like Ryu or Bumgarner going to fix that?  So I am not going to rip our GMs this offseason.  I am reserving that for guys like Kepler and Buxton.  These two darlings contributed NOTHING in the postseason.  One ran into a wall (for the umpteenth time) in a meaningless game in Florida to ensure his season was over early and the other was invisible the last month of the season.

Fair enough... but just to play Devil's Advocate a bit, Kepler also was very banged up and hurt going into the end of the season.   IMHO he really should have also been on the DL with Buxton and not on the field as he just didn't "look" like he was healthy.

[Twins63]

Jeepers, point is how the Garcia trade will help the Twins in 2020-which I think it will. Would love to see the 19-1 redhead continue to develop!