Ranking the Top 5 Best Trades Under Derek Falvey and Thad Levine

[Cody Christie]

Fans will quickly point out trades that end poorly, but the Twins' current front office has seen some good deals during their tenure. Here are the top five trades made by Derek Falvey and Thad Levine.

Image courtesy of Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

MLB's 2023 Trade Deadline is scheduled for August 1, and the Twins will likely need to add pieces to keep themselves in contention. Before the deadline, looking at previous years and how this front office has approached the trading process is critical. This series will look at some of the best and worst trades made by the current front office. 

5. Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa , and Ben Rortvedt for Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela
Trade Date: March 13, 2022
The Twins didn't gain significant value from this trade, but it might have been more about what the team could dump. Minnesota was ready to move on from Donaldson after two seasons, and the front office was lucky to find an organization willing to take on his salary. Urshela was a solid contributor in his lone Twins season, with Sanchez also providing minimal value. Dumping Donaldson gave the Twins financial flexibility to make other moves leading into the last two seasons. 

4. Jermaine Palacios for Jake Odorizzi
Trade Date: February 17, 2018
Only a few teams win trades with the Tampa Bay Rays, but the Twins have been successful in recent years. Tampa is known for having limited payroll resources, and Odorizzi was getting expensive through the arbitration process. After the trade, he posted a 4.01 ERA with a 1.28 WHIP and a 110 ERA+ from 2018-19. He was an All-Star during the 2019 season, and the Twins extended him the qualifying offer leading into the 2020 season. Odorizzi struggled during the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign by allowing ten earned runs in 13 2/3 innings. Palacios never made it to the big leagues with the Rays, so it was a clear win for the Twins. 

3. Chase Petty for Sonny Gray and Francis Peguero
Trade Date: March 13, 2022
It's tough to trade a recent first-round pick, but the Twins might have found a way to maximize a player's value. The Twins took Petty with the 26th overall selection in the 2021 MLB Draft, but high school pitchers are one of the most challenging player types to draft and develop. Minnesota got two strong years from a veteran starting pitcher by trading Petty for Gray. Following the 2023 season, the Twins can extend a qualifying offer to Gray. The Twins receive draft pick compensation if he declines the offer and signs with another team. It's an opportunity for the Twins to replace Petty in their system with another high draft pick. Peguero is still in the Twins organization and pitching out of the bullpen at Double-A. Petty might develop into a strong starting pitcher, but the trade still looks good from the Twins' perspective. 

2. Eduardo Escobar for Jhoan Duran, Gabriel Maciel, and Ernie De La Trinidad
Trade Date: July 27, 2018
Escobar was a fan favorite during his time in Minnesota, so it was tough to see him traded away. However, he was on an expiring contract, and the Twins received three prospects in return. Duran has become one of the game's top relievers, and the Twins have him under team control through the 2027 season. Maciel and De La Trinidad are no longer in the Twins organization, but Duran has provided more WAR for the Twins than Escobar did in the final months of the 2018 season. Duran is arguably one of the team's top-5 most valuable players, and that's why this trade gets ranked so high. 

1. Nelson Cruz and Calvin Faucher for Joe Ryan and Drew Strotman
Trade Date: July 22, 2021
There have been some strong trades in the Twins' history, but this has the potential to be one of the best. Cruz had been the heart and soul of the Twins line-up for multiple seasons, but he was on an expiring contract, and the club wasn't in contention. The Rays had been interested in Cruz for multiple seasons but couldn't make a deal. Ryan was a highly-ranked pitching prospect in the Rays organization, but many evaluators believed his ceiling was limited because he relied on his fastball. He has continued developing his secondary pitches and is a borderline All-Star in 2023. That's not too bad of a swap for two months of an aging Cruz.  

Check out the Twins Daily forums for more trade discussions from the current front office. How would you rank the above-listed trades? Would you have different trades on the list? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. 

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[Minny505]

I loved the Donaldson signing, and now that Donaldson trade looks even better today. His performance has plummeted to the point there is a fair chance he gets DFA'd before the end of the season.

IKF is fine, but I'm happier with Castro/Farmer filling essentially the same role.

All these trades mentioned are great. 

Honorable Mentions:

• Sisk and Cruz for Taylor
• Legumina for Farmer
• Garver for Henriquez and IKF
• Happ for Gant and Sisk (who they parlayed into Taylor)
• Grateral and Raley for Maeda and Camargo
• Diaz for Romo and Vallimont
• Dozier for Fosythe, Raley and Smeltzer
• Chalmers for Rodney

Outside of the Mahle and Wade trades, the Twins have done well on the trade market, and even the Wade trade isn't terrible. It's just run-of-the-mill bad. 

The other big deals are pushes or insufficient time to judge: Lopez, Lopez/Salas, Austin/SWR.

If only Falvey's FA signings and player retention decisions looked as good they likely would'nt be treading 500.

[D.C Twins]

#1, #2, and #4 outstanding. 

#3... a little more TBD because we don't yet know where Chase's development takes him (I certainly appreciated his Moxie) 

#5... the fact that THIS is #5 demonstrates that they have NOT had more than 4 good trades during their tenure! 

[gunnarthor]

If the point of this article is to suggest that the FO is competent, then there needs to be some additional information included. For example, if the FO had managed to keep the Twins in contention in 2021, they don't make the Ryan trade. But, because the team had Total System Failure, we could make that trade. And, while Petty for Gray makes sense, it was a "win-now" trade and the team finished below .500 and 14 games out in a pretty bad division. 

[Fire Dan Gladden]

Attention Twins Daily Monitors:

I would like to report that this article is framing the Twins Front Office in a positive light.  As this does not fit the narrative that the FO is horrible and needs to be fired, I demand that this article be taken down immediately so the commentors can return to their regularly scheduled vitriol. 

[farmerguychris]

They seem to be ok at scouting other team's players, but are we as good at scouting our own young guys?  Steer, Cano, Petty?  

[Major League Ready]

2 hours ago, D.C Twins said:

#1, #2, and #4 outstanding. 

#3... a little more TBD because we don't yet know where Chase's development takes him (I certainly appreciated his Moxie) 

#5... the fact that THIS is #5 demonstrates that they have NOT had more than 4 good trades during their tenure! 

Agree completely on the first 4.  Getting value back and getting out of the Donaldson contract was a great trade.  You can make the case they should not have signed Donaldson in the first place but that was a great trade.

[Riverbrian]

I think you've nailed the 5 best trades. I'd change the order a little bit.

I'd rank #5 much higher. 

Getting out from the Donaldson deal was huge. I don't believe Correa winds up in Minnesota without that trade. We would probably still IKF at SS. 

I'd go 

1. Ryan Trade

2. Donaldson Trade

3. Escobar Trade 

3. Gray Trade

5.  Odorizzi 

 

[Rod Carews Birthday]

1 hour ago, farmerguychris said:

They seem to be ok at scouting other team's players, but are we as good at scouting our own young guys?  Steer, Cano, Petty?  

There are always going to be choices to make when trading.  Steer. . . sounds like he is a slightly less good Julien clone.  Should they have traded Julien instead?  Cano. . . they gave him plenty of frustrating chances last year and he couldn't make it.  Sometimes the change of scenery makes all the difference.  It would have been nice if we had figured him out rather than someone else.   Petty. . . . we only lose that trade if he becomes a big star and he is a long ways away from that at this point.  The Twins got will have gotten two very good years out of Gray, plus either a QO third year or a QO similar draft pick to the one they gave up in Petty.