What were the best and the worst trades made by Derek Falvey?

[Thiéres Rabelo]

So far, the Twins have made 81 trades since Derek Falvey started his tenure as the club's POBO. What were, in your opinion, the five best ones and the five worst ones? You can see the list below or simply click here to read it on Google Sheets.

December 8, 2016	Acquired RHP Justin Haley from the San Diego Padres for RHP Miguel Díaz.
February 9, 2017	Traded RHP Pat Light to Pittsburgh Pirates for Player To Be Named Later.
May 8, 2017	Traded LF Danny Santana to Atlanta Braves for cash and LHP Kevin Chapman.
June 3, 2017	Traded LHP Jason Wheeler to the L.A. Dodgers for cash.
July 23, 2017	Traded RHP Nick Tepesch to the Toronto Blue Jays for cash considerations.
July 24, 2017	Acquired LHP Jaime García, C Anthony Recker and cash considerations from Atlanta for RHP Huascar Ynoa.
July 27, 2017	Traded C John Ryan Murphy to Arizona for LHP Gabriel Moya.
July 30, 2017	Traded LHP Jaime García and cash to the N.Y. Yankees for LHPs Dietrich Enns and Zack Littell.
July 31, 2017	Traded RHP Brandon Kintzler to Washington for LHP Tyler Watson and international bonus pool allocation money.
December 6, 2017	Acquired C David Banuelos from the Seattle Mariners for Future Considerations.
December 6, 2017	Acquired OF Jacob Pearson from the Los Angeles Angels for $1,000,000 in international bonus pool cap space money.
February 17, 2018	Acquired RHP Jake Odorizzi from the Tampa Bay Rays for SS Jermaine Palacios.
March 16, 2018	Traded RHP Luis Gil to the New York Yankees for CF Jake Cave.
March 20, 2018	Acquired 1B Robby Rinn from the Kansas City Royals.
March 23, 2018	Traded C Rainis Silva to Seattle Mariners for Future Considerations
March 23, 2018	Acquired RHP Adam Bray from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
May 5, 2018	Traded RHP Max Cordy to Los Angeles Angels.
May 9, 2018	Traded LHP Anthony McIver to Seattle Mariners for cash.
May 22, 2018	Acquired 1B Chris Carter from the Los Angeles Angels for cash.
May 27, 2018	Traded RHP Phil Hughes, cash and the 74th overall draft pick in 2018 to San Diego for C Janigson Villalobos.
May 30, 2018	Traded RHP Myles Jaye to Cleveland for cash.
July 6, 2018	Acquired RF Jon Kemmer from the Houston Astros.
July 19, 2018	Acquired LF Jeremy Hazelbaker from the Tampa Bay Rays for cash.
July 27, 2018	Traded SS Eduardo Escobar to the Arizona Diamondbacks for RF Ernie De La Trinidad, RF Gabriel Maciel and RHP Jhoan Durán.
July 27, 2018	Acquired RHP Jorge Alcalá and OF Gilberto Celestino from the Houston Astros for RHP Ryan Pressly.
July 30, 2018	Traded RHP Lance Lynn and cash to New York Yankees for 1B Tyler Austin and RHP Luis Rijo.
July 30, 2018	Traded LHP Zach Duke and cash to Seattle for RHP Chase De Jong and INF Ryan Costello.
July 31, 2018	Traded 2B Brian Dozier to the L.A. Dodgers for INF Logan Forsythe, OF Luke Raley and LHP Devin Smeltzer.
August 9, 2018	Traded RHP Fernando Rodney to Oakland Athletics for RHP Dakota Chalmers.
August 30, 2018	Traded C Bobby Wilson to the Chicago Cubs for C Chris Gimenez and a player to be named or cash.
November 21, 2018	Traded RHP Nick Anderson to Miami for 3B Brian Schales.
January 15, 2019	Acquired INF Daniel Ozoria from the Los Angeles Angels for RHP John Curtiss.
March 3, 2019	Traded OF Zack Granite to Texas for RHP Xavier Moore and cash and traded Moore to Baltimore for international signing bonus pool allocation.
March 3, 2019	Traded RHP Xavier Moore to Baltimore Orioles for Future Considerations.
March 23, 2019	Traded CF Michael Reed to the San Francisco Giants for OF John Andreoli and cash.
April 8, 2019	Traded 1B Tyler Austin to San Francisco for OF Malique Ziegler.
May 4, 2019	Traded 2B Adam Rosales to Cleveland Guardians for cash.
June 2, 2019	Traded OF John Andreoli to Seattle.
June 10, 2019	Traded LHP Tyler Jay to Cincinnati for cash.
July 20, 2019	Traded RHP Mike Morin to Philadelphia for cash.
July 21, 2019	Traded RHP Matt Magill to Seattle for cash.
July 25, 2019	Traded cash to Boston Red Sox for LHP Jeremy Bleich.
July 25, 2019	Traded C Brian Navarreto to New York Yankees.
July 27, 2019	Acquired RHP Sergio Romo and RHP Chris Vallimont and a player to be named from the Miami Marlins in exchange for INF Lewin Díaz.
July 31, 2019	Traded OF Jaylin Davis and RHPs Prelander Berroa and Kai-Wei Teng to San Francisco for RHP Sam Dyson.
July 31, 2019	Acquired RHP Marcos Diplan from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for cash.
August 2, 2019	Acquired OF Brandon Barnes from the Cleveland Guardians for cash.
August 5, 2019	Traded RHP Drew Hutchison to Los Angeles Angels for cash.
August 6, 2019	Traded RHP Drew Hutchison to the L.A. Angels for cash.
August 10, 2019	Acquired CF Ian Miller from the Seattle Mariners for cash.
September 8, 2019	Acquired OF Ryan LaMarre from the Atlanta Braves for cash.
January 29, 2020	Traded RHP Ryne Harper to Washington Nationals for RHP Hunter McMahon.
February 10, 2020	Acquired RHP Kenta Maeda and C Jair Camargo and cash considerations from Los Angeles Dodgers for RHP Brusdar Graterol and OF Luke Raley and a Competitive Balance B Pick in the 2020 First-Year Player Draft.
August 11, 2020	Acquired INF Ildemaro Vargas from the Arizona Diamondbacks for cash considerations.
February 4, 2021	Traded LaMonte Wade Jr to San Francisco Giants for RHP Shaun Anderson.
July 7, 2021	Acquired RHP Joe Kuzia from Texas in exchange for cash considerations.
July 22, 2021	Acquired RHP Joe Ryan and RHP Drew Strotman from Tampa Bay in exchange for DH Nelson Cruz and RHP Calvin Faucher.
July 30, 2021	Traded RHP Hansel Robles to Boston Red Sox for RHP Alex Scherff.
July 30, 2021	Traded RHP José Berríos to Toronto Blue Jays for SS Austin Martin and RHP Simeon Woods Richardson.
July 30, 2021	Traded LHP J.A. Happ and cash considerations to St. Louis in exchange for LHP Evan Sisk and RHP John Gant.
August 31, 2021	Traded LHP Andrew Vasquez to Los Angeles Dodgers for C Stevie Berman.
March 12, 2022	Traded C Mitch Garver to Texas Rangers for 3B Isiah Kiner-Falefa and RHP Ronny Henríquez.
March 13, 2022	Acquired RHPs Sonny Gray and Francis Peguero from Cincinnati in exchange for RHP Chase Petty.
March 13, 2022	Traded 3B Josh Donaldson, INF Isiah Kiner-Falefa and C Ben Rortvedt to the New York Yankees for C Gary Sánchez and INF Gio Urshela.
April 7, 2022	Traded LHP Taylor Rogers, OF Brent Rooker and cash to the San Diego Padres for RHP Chris Paddack, RHP Emilio Pagán and Player To Be Named Later.
April 21, 2022	Acquired RHP Brayan Medina from the San Diego Padres.
May 30, 2022	Traded RF John Andreoli to the Philadelphia Phillies.
August 2, 2022	Acquired RHP Jorge López and cash considerations from Baltimore in exchange for RHP Yennier Cano, LHPs Cade Povich, Juan Rojas and RHP Juan Nunez.
August 2, 2022	Acquired RHP Tyler Mahle from Cincinnati in exchange for SS Spencer Steer, INF Christian Encarnacion-Strand and LHP Steve Hajjar.
August 2, 2022	Acquired RHP Michael Fulmer from Detroit in exchange for RHP Sawyer Gipson-Long.
August 2, 2022	Acquired C Sandy León from the Cleveland Guardians for RHP Ian Hamilton.
November 18, 2022	Acquired INF Kyle Farmer from Cincinnati in exchange for RHP Casey Legumina.
November 18, 2022	Traded INF Gio Urshela to the Los Angeles Angels for RHP Alejandro Hidalgo.
January 10, 2023	Acquired RHP A.J. Alexy from Washington in exchange for minor league RHP Cristian Jimenez.
January 20, 2023	Acquired RHP Pablo López, INF José Salas and OF Byron Chourio from Miami in exchange for INF Luis Arráez.
January 23, 2023	Acquired OF Michael A. Taylor from Kansas City Royals for LHP Evan Sisk and RHP Steven Cruz.
March 27, 2023	Traded LHP Danny Coulombe to Baltimore Orioles for cash.
March 27, 2023	Acquired LHP Gabriel Yanez from the Philadelphia Phillies.
April 9, 2023	Traded LHP Sean Nolin to Miami Marlins.
April 12, 2023	Acquired SS Alex De Goti from the Miami Marlins.
April 30, 2023	Acquired a player to be named and cash from Milwaukee Brewers for RHP Trevor Megill.

Edited May 17, 2023 by Thiéres Rabelo

[Nine of twelve]

There are two ways to evaluate trades. One, base judgement on information available and the team's needs at the time of the trade. Two, base judgement on the career path of each player involved from the time of the trade forward. Subsequent transactions involving those players create a trade tree which branches with subsequent transactions, so a complete evaluation of a trade can require literally decades in some cases.

[whosafraidofluigirussolo]

Is the trade of Eduardo Escobar for Jhoan Durán et al missing from this list?

Pretty striking to look at how many of the trades were minor deals involving players I don't remember or even haven't heard of.

Cruz + for Ryan + may turn out to be the best in terms of value added. The Maeda trade still looks solid to me even after his injury issues.

And the Arráez-López deal has time to swing either way, but if it ends up helping both sides as it looks to be doing right now, a win-win is still a win.

[Thiéres Rabelo]

54 minutes ago, whosafraidofluigirussolo said:

Is the trade of Eduardo Escobar for Jhoan Durán et al missing from this list?

 

That's right. I even double-checked the ESPN list, and that's not the only 2018 trade they missed. They didn't include the Lance Lynn deal, either. I wonder how many more they missed... Anyway, I'll update the list. Thank you!

Edited May 12, 2023 by Thiéres Rabelo

[gunnarthor]

baseball-reference has every trade.

I think the trades that bothered me the most were the ones that show a lack of  a plan by the FO, rather than disappointing results.

Examples would be the deadline trades in 2017. First, we talked all off-season of trading Dozier but couldn't make it work, which made us look pretty stupid. But then we were competitive (which I called but most were surprised by). So the FO goes out and trades a nice dynamic arm in a "win-now" trade to grab Garcia. But then a week later, we backtrack and trade Garcia and our closer, pretty much assuming we couldn't win this season. Of course, the team still made the playoffs despite the FO. They FO had no idea what they were doing. At the end, Ynoa looks like a good arm, although he had elbow issues so he might be done.

In 2018, they traded a 2nd rounder to dump salary. That might have been more an ownership thing but small market teams like the Twins should horde, not trade, picks. That's why I also really don't think the Graterol/Maeta trade was great since we gave up a pick as well (Graterol has been pretty solid and has pitched about 30 innings less than Maeta since the trade despite being a relief pitcher). It's another reason I don't really like the Gray/Petty trade. Grabbing Gray for Petty made sense but only if they were going to do more. They didn't. So we traded a big time lottery ticket and still had a very bad pitching staff. They tried to cure that by adding Mahle late but that was a mistake, But it kinda makes sense so ...

[The Dyson trade was a huge blunder but I'm honestly not sure if the Giants lied or the Twins didn't do their due diligence. But it was a bad trade.]

On the other hand, I actually like Lopez trade the most. I think they picked the right time to trade high on Arreaz (unlike Dozier). And adding Taylor made sense to be competitive this year. It looked like the Twins actually had a plan to improve the staff.

The Cruz trade was a no-brainer but it was nice to see them get something back for him and I liked the Berrios trade even though Martin has been hurt.

I do think the FO has generally been worse but I also think they've gotten better and learned from their mistakes. Hopefully, this season continues to be a good one for us.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Fixed the table so it's much more readable, though far from perfect.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Best trade is Cruz for Ryan. Worst trade is Mahle. Those are easy.

So let's do penultimate best and worst.

Penultimate best is for Odorizzi. The Twins have really hosed the Rays of late.

Penultimate worst is... oh, that's a tough one. Probably the Pressly trade? But that wasn't even that bad but there are a few meh/bad trades to choose from there.

[annismark]

1 hour ago, Thiéres Rabelo said:

That's right. I even double-checked the ESPN list, and that's not the only 2018 trade they missed. They didn't include the Lance Lynn deal, either. I wonder how many more they missed... Anyway, I'll update the list. Thank you!

and Lamont Wade Jr. for Shaun Anderson 2/4/2021. That Raley/Wade/Rooker outfield that could have been.

[SwainZag]

The fact that they pretty much turned JA Happ into Michael A. Taylor is pretty cool.

[IndianaTwin]

1 hour ago, Thiéres Rabelo said:

That's right. I even double-checked the ESPN list, and that's not the only 2018 trade they missed. They didn't include the Lance Lynn deal, either. I wonder how many more they missed... Anyway, I'll update the list. Thank you!

It seems to me like I read somewhere on TD that we once traded Taylor Rogers. 

[Linus]

The best by a country mile is Cruz for Joe Ryan. I think the trade for Sonny Gray is working out well as is Escobar for Duran. The rest aren’t great but the only horrible one for me is Presly for Alcala and Celestino.   The Berrios trade doesn’t look good from a prospect return standpoint but not giving him $120 million is the biggest win. I’m glad I saw this list. My impression was their trade record was much worse. 

[troyjuhn]

Joe Ryan for Nelson Cruz is one of the best trades made by any FO I've seen.  Falvey has definetly gotten better and better as the years go by as far as trades go

[Doctor Wu]

12 hours ago, IndianaTwin said:

It seems to me like I read somewhere on TD that we once traded Taylor Rogers. 

And Brent Rooker!

[Doctor Wu]

11 hours ago, troyjuhn said:

Joe Ryan for Nelson Cruz is one of the best trades made by any FO I've seen.  Falvey has definetly gotten better and better as the years go by as far as trades go

I'd pick that as the best trade too. As much as we loved Nelson Cruz, Ryan has been fantastic. And I still like the Berrios trade. I have a feeling that either Martin or SWR will end up being a long-term player for the Twins. 

[LewFordLives]

The Cruz-Ryan trade has worked out well for the Twins, but how much of that was luck?

For the best trade I gotta go with Sonny Gray for Chase Petty. Any time you can get two years of a solid mid to top rotation starter for a #10 prospect, you do it. 

For worst, I'm going with Ryan Pressley. It was a dumb trade at the time and has only gotten worse with age. They threw in the towel on the season and gave up a quality arm that they still had under team control for another season. Alcala and Celestino were not top prospects.

[Major League Ready]

Ryan for Cruz is #1 for me and Duran for the rental of Escobar is top 3.

I don't see the trade of Josh Donaldson for Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez on the list but that was a top 5 trade.  Thank god we are not still saddled with that contract.  They got a good year out of Urshella and a decent year out of Sanchez..  Then they flipped Urshella and basically replaced one remaining year of Urshella for 2 years of Farmer.  It will be even higher if Hidalgo turns out to be a decent ML pitcher.

The Mahle trade may turn out to be the worst.  Quite a few of us disliked it at the time and suggested they bolster the BP but not invest that much prospect capital for a team that was in first place but was not a legitimate contender.  However, if those prospects fizzle it's no loss.  We shall see over the next few years.

[USAFChief]

Cruz for Ryan the best, but a sort of a no-brainer. The kind of trade any noncontender makes at the deadline. Expiring contract for prospects. Still, full credit for the return.

Worst is Pressly for sure. Completely unnecessary. The kind of trade bad teams make. Extraordinary talent for meh.

[weitz41]

Cruz for Ryan is easily the best.

You could say the trading Palacios for Odorizzi is a close second.

Pressly is probably the worst at this point. With Mahle a close second.

These could flip-flop depending on whether any of the prospects actually end up being MLB regulars.

[arby58]

16 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Best trade is Cruz for Ryan. Worst trade is Mahle. Those are easy.

So let's do penultimate best and worst.

Penultimate best is for Odorizzi. The Twins have really hosed the Rays of late.

Penultimate worst is... oh, that's a tough one. Probably the Pressly trade? But that wasn't even that bad but there are a few meh/bad trades to choose from there.

The Mahle trade is only 'the worst' if the players actually do much more than WAR at the MLB level - I'd say the jury is still out. Besides, you can't keep all your prospects - some will have to 'age out' because of the 40 player limit.

I'd say the worst was the Pressley trade. He is an elite closer, and there was evidence that that might be the case.

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 hour ago, arby58 said:

The Mahle trade is only 'the worst' if the players actually do much more than WAR at the MLB level - I'd say the jury is still out. Besides, you can't keep all your prospects - some will have to 'age out' because of the 40 player limit.

I'd say the worst was the Pressley trade. He is an elite closer, and there was evidence that that might be the case.

The Mahle trade is still worse because those prospects had value that could have been traded elsewhere. In return, the Twins essentially received zero value from Mahle. Actually negative value once you factor in his salary.

[arby58]

12 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

The Mahle trade is still worse because those prospects had value that could have been traded elsewhere. In return, the Twins essentially received zero value from Mahle. Actually negative value once you factor in his salary.

'Trading prospect value' is marginally useful at best. The best return on trading a prospect was for Gray - and none of the players we gave up in the Mahle trade had that value. We got a bunch of prospects for Santana, and Gomez didn't blossom until we unloaded him. We got a bunch of prospects for Dozier - pretty much nada. We got two prospects for Pressley - not working out so far. The best 'before this front office' trade was probably unloading Knoblauch - but we got back major league players, and they did pretty well. Ergo, the Mahle trade was still worth the risk - and hindsight is always 20-20.

[Brock Beauchamp]

4 minutes ago, arby58 said:

'Trading prospect value' is marginally useful at best. The best return on trading a prospect was for Gray - and none of the players we gave up in the Mahle trade had that value. We got a bunch of prospects for Santana, and Gomez didn't blossom until we unloaded him. We got a bunch of prospects for Dozier - pretty much nada. We got two prospects for Pressley - not working out so far. The best 'before this front office' trade was probably unloading Knoblauch - but we got back major league players, and they did pretty well. Ergo, the Mahle trade was still worth the risk - and hindsight is always 20-20.

Oh, I’m not bashing the Mahle trade. I wholly supported it at the time.

But given the results, it was an objectively bad trade. 

[USAFChief]

21 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

The Mahle trade is still worse because those prospects had value that could have been traded elsewhere. In return, the Twins essentially received zero value from Mahle. Actually negative value once you factor in his salary.

At least there was a reason for the Mahle trade. Team in first. Desperate for starting pitching. 

What was the thought process behind unloading Pressly?

[Brock Beauchamp]

3 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

At least there was a reason for the Mahle trade. Team in first. Desperate for starting pitching. 

What was the thought process behind unloading Pressly?

I’m purely evaluating these trades on the results. The thinking behind the Pressly trade was far more questionable for sure. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

3 hours ago, Major League Ready said:

Ryan for Cruz is #1 for me and Duran for the rental of Escobar is top 3.

I don't see the trade of Josh Donaldson for Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez on the list but that was a top 5 trade.  Thank god we are not still saddled with that contract.  They got a good year out of Urshella and a decent year out of Sanchez..  Then they flipped Urshella and basically replaced one remaining year of Urshella for 2 years of Farmer.  It will be even higher if Hidalgo turns out to be a decent ML pitcher.

The Mahle trade may turn out to be the worst.  Quite a few of us disliked it at the time and suggested they bolster the BP but not invest that much prospect capital for a team that was in first place but was not a legitimate contender.  However, if those prospects fizzle it's no loss.  We shall see over the next few years.

I almost voted for the Urshela/Sanchez trade as the second-best but ultimately the Odorizzi trade was so lop-sided that it won. I’d put that Yankees trade as the third-best, probably followed by the Duran trade. This front office has made several really nice trades amongst the clunkers. 

[USAFChief]

20 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I’m purely evaluating these trades on the results. The thinking behind the Pressly trade was far more questionable for sure. 

👌

[tony&rodney]

Turning Nelson Cruz into Joe Ryan stands out.

The one curious move, which befuddled me at the time, was giving up on Nick Anderson.

 

[Major League Ready]

3 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I almost voted for the Urshela/Sanchez trade as the second-best but ultimately the Odorizzi trade was so lop-sided that it won. I’d put that Yankees trade as the third-best, probably followed by the Duran trade. This front office has made several really nice trades amongst the clunkers. 

I agree completely at this point in time, but it could still change.  I realize it's a relative longshot but the optimist in me hopes for Hidalgo to be a middle of the rotation guy.  If that were to happen, ditching Donaldson and his salary, getting Urshella/Sanchez and 6 years of Hildago would make it #2 for me.  

[dxpavelka]

23 hours ago, gunnarthor said:

baseball-reference has every trade.

I think the trades that bothered me the most were the ones that show a lack of  a plan by the FO, rather than disappointing results.

Examples would be the deadline trades in 2017. First, we talked all off-season of trading Dozier but couldn't make it work, which made us look pretty stupid. But then we were competitive (which I called but most were surprised by). So the FO goes out and trades a nice dynamic arm in a "win-now" trade to grab Garcia. But then a week later, we backtrack and trade Garcia and our closer, pretty much assuming we couldn't win this season. Of course, the team still made the playoffs despite the FO. They FO had no idea what they were doing. At the end, Ynoa looks like a good arm, although he had elbow issues so he might be done.

In 2018, they traded a 2nd rounder to dump salary. That might have been more an ownership thing but small market teams like the Twins should horde, not trade, picks. That's why I also really don't think the Graterol/Maeta trade was great since we gave up a pick as well (Graterol has been pretty solid and has pitched about 30 innings less than Maeta since the trade despite being a relief pitcher). It's another reason I don't really like the Gray/Petty trade. Grabbing Gray for Petty made sense but only if they were going to do more. They didn't. So we traded a big time lottery ticket and still had a very bad pitching staff. They tried to cure that by adding Mahle late but that was a mistake, But it kinda makes sense so ...

[The Dyson trade was a huge blunder but I'm honestly not sure if the Giants lied or the Twins didn't do their due diligence. But it was a bad trade.]

On the other hand, I actually like Lopez trade the most. I think they picked the right time to trade high on Arreaz (unlike Dozier). And adding Taylor made sense to be competitive this year. It looked like the Twins actually had a plan to improve the staff.

The Cruz trade was a no-brainer but it was nice to see them get something back for him and I liked the Berrios trade even though Martin has been hurt.

I do think the FO has generally been worse but I also think they've gotten better and learned from their mistakes. Hopefully, this season continues to be a good one for us.

The Dyson trade wasn't a win but it wasn't really a loss either.  Gave up Jaylin Davis.  Pretty sure our fortunes were not negatively impacted by losing him.  Fun fact about the Garcia trade:  He won more games as a Twin that year than he did as a Yankee.  Seems nobody but me wants to call out the Berrios trade.  Yeah, I know, I know.  His numbers in Toronto this year and last don't scream "a guy we should have kept."  But saying he would have done here what he did there is just lazy. And he WAS rock solid for Toronto down the stretch that first year. I said when we made that deal that with any luck we'd need to trade for a similar guy a year hence.  And sure enough a year later, the Mahle deal. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

34 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

I agree completely at this point in time, but it could still change.  I realize it's a relative longshot but the optimist in me hopes for Hidalgo to be a middle of the rotation guy.  If that were to happen, ditching Donaldson and his salary, getting Urshella/Sanchez and 6 years of Hildago would make it #2 for me.  

Huh. I hadn’t considered that aspect of it. Yeah, I guess that trade is still in more flux than I realized.