Twins Trade Jorge Lopez to Marlins for Dylan Floro

[Ted Schwerzler]

The Minnesota Twins acquired Jorge Lopez at the trade deadline last season, and now with days to go until that point this year, he’s headed to Miami. The Marlins are sending Minnesota veteran right-handed reliever Dylan Floro.

 

Image courtesy of © Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

Per Craig Mish, the Minnesota Twins are Miami Marlins are once again trade partners. After doing a deal for Pablo Lopez over the winter, Derek Falvey is sending his other Lopez to South Beach. This time Luis Arraez isn’t involved, but Jorge Lopez is being sent out in exchange for Dylan Floro.

 

Floro is a free agent at the end of the season and is signed to a one-year deal worth $4.2 million. He has a 4.54 ERA on the year which isn’t dazzling, but it’s the 2.78 FIP that allows Minnesota something to work with. Floro is an eight-year MLB veteran, and his 9.3 K/9 this season is the second highest mark of his career.

The 32-year-old is in his third season with the Miami Marlins, and brings a fastball that sits in the low-90s. He’s a sinker and slider pitcher, which could play well with how Minnesota likes to utilize those offerings.

In shipping out Lopez, Minnesota pulls the band-aid off one of their most aggressive trades last season. Lopez was a first-time All-Star for the Baltimore Orioles, but it was just the first year in which he had been a full-time reliever, and the track record of success wasn’t there. He of course bombed in Minnesota, and dealt with mental health issues as well.

When spending time away from the team earlier this season Lopez opened up, mentioning he was dealing with things surrounding his son. His son does have health complications, and being in Miami would give him an opportunity to be closer to home. The Twins likely consulted with Lopez through this deal, and sough to find an opportunity where he could also regain his footing.

Lopez posted a 4.37 ERA with Minnesota after his acquisition last season, and that number had ballooned to 5.09 this season with a FIP near 6.00. Lopez had shown elite closer stuff a year ago, and there obviously had to be more than just what was going on between the lines that was weighing on him.

For the Twins, moving on from Lopez is even tougher considering they watched Yennier Cano become an All-Star this year for Baltimore, and it was Cade Povich who highlighted the prospect return. Lopez simply never got things going for Rocco Baldelli’s club, and the 2023 season didn’t go better than he was down the stretch last year.

It is interesting that Miami makes this deal in that Floro clearly has the better underlying numbers, but they could be intrigued by getting Lopez right and keeping him in 2024 through his final year of arbitration. The Twins will hope that Floro can be a leverage arm in their bullpen, and in making the swap, they’ll have another usable talent behind both Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax.

Floro should join Minnesota in Kansas City on Friday. The club has already announced the move.

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[Brock Beauchamp]

Huh. If the front office traded Lopez so he could be closer to his ailing son, that's pretty great of them.

But woof, last year's Baltimore trade was a disaster.

[DJL44]

A small upgrade for this year at very little cost. Good move.

[rwilfong86]

Good move and a fresh start. Wish him the absolute best and will cheer for him in Miami.

[chinmusic]

 Good luck, Jorge.

I'm speechless. What can you say?

[Brandon]

Incremental improvement with addition by subtraction move.  I like this one a lot.  But it’s a small improvement.  I just like how we are trading a problem for a bigger upside play.  

[Dman]

He needed a fresh start but man did we get taken by Baltimore.  Ouch!  Doesn't seem like a huge needle mover to me.  I suppose Lopez will be lights out in Miami that seems to be the way things have been going for us these days.

[Rod Carews Birthday]

Seems like a trade with a lot of factors involved, and many good ones.  I think we get a little bit of upside for the rest of this year, while Lopez gets to be closer to home.  I don't know that it's a big needle mover, but it's good for a lot of reasons, not just baseball. 

Good luck Jorge! Say hi to our friend Luis there!

[Major League Ready]

6 minutes ago, Dman said:

He needed a fresh start but man did we get taken by Baltimore.  Ouch!  Doesn't seem like a huge needle mover to me.  I suppose Lopez will be lights out in Miami that seems to be the way things have going for us these days.

Look at the bright side.  The Mahle trade was even worse.

[LewFordLives]

3 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

Look at the bright side.  The Mahle trade was even worse.

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at that statement.

[Don't Feed the Greed Guy]

Hopefully this will be the epitome of a trade where both sides win. As a professional who works regularly with clients suffering from mental illness, I like the "soul" of this trade. As said above, I'll be cheering for the Marlins and the Twins as this plays out.

[Nashvilletwin]

16 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

Look at the bright side.  The Mahle trade was even worse.

Yeah, last season’s trade deadline was an absolute disaster. Just a complete joke.  

Good luck Jorge.

[Nashvilletwin]

14 minutes ago, LewFordLives said:

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at that statement.

Cry.  That Mahle trade cost us a lot: two great prospects now pretty much established starting major leaguers and the trade’s failure made us move Arraez for Lopez.

I look at this trade as moving a pretty much low leverage guy (Lopez) for hopefully a medium leverage guy.

[Brett]

Did not see this coming AT ALL. I wonder what other trade candidates the front office has in mind that we have no idea about.

[Minny505]

I love this move by the Twins for everything that has nothing to do with winning baseball games. A serious class move.

Go take a look at the career of Adam Dunn. I promise I'm going somewhere with this. 

He has an atrocious season in 2011 that does not make any sense when you look at it now. A career .854 OPS hitter, he finishes under .600, with a SLG that is more than .200 points below his career numbers. 

A story starts going around late that season that sounded an awful lot like what Lopez is going thru. 

If you are not a parent, I wouldn't expect you to completely understand. I could only fake it at that stage in life.

But if you are a parent, you can empathize with how debilitating it would be to have a child with a grave illness. It would be nearly impossible to function in life in any way that was not spending time either (1)with my child or (2)to help get them better.

That Lopez has even been serviceable as a low-leverage RP speaks to the underlying talent the Twins were hoping to be benefitting from when they made that trade.

I hope Lopez gets the opportunity to spend more time with his son and comfort him as they wait for a donor. It's got to be heartbreaking to be so far from the most important people in your life when they need you most.

[mikelink45]

I have a daughter in emergency surgery for two cancers so I know the mental strain, but I really cannot comment on this trade and what it means.  Good luck to Jorge, but I do not see this moving the needle in the BP. 

[Minny505]

2 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

I have a daughter in emergency surgery for two cancers so I know the mental strain, but I really cannot comment on this trade and what it means.  Good luck to Jorge, but I do not see this moving the needle in the BP. 

[Nashvilletwin]

12 minutes ago, Minny505 said:

I love this move by the Twins for everything that has nothing to do with winning baseball games. A serious class move.

Go take a look at the career of Adam Dunn. I promise I'm going somewhere with this. 

He has an atrocious season in 2011 that does not make any sense when you look at it now. A career .854 OPS hitter, he finishes under .600, with a SLG that is more than .200 points below his career numbers. 

A story starts going around late that season that sounded an awful lot like what Lopez is going thru. 

If you are not a parent, I wouldn't expect you to completely understand. I could only fake it at that stage in life.

But if you are a parent, you can empathize with how debilitating it would be to have a child with a grave illness. It would be nearly impossible to function in life in any way that was not spending time either (1)with my child or (2)to help get them better.

That Lopez has even been serviceable as a low-leverage RP speaks to the underlying talent the Twins were hoping to be benefitting from when they made that trade.

I hope Lopez gets the opportunity to spend more time with his son and comfort him as they wait for a donor. It's got to be heartbreaking to be so far from the most important people in your life when they need you most.

Double 👍🏻👍🏻 this.  

[TNtwins85]

39 minutes ago, Nashvilletwin said:

Cry.  That Mahle trade cost us a lot: two great prospects now pretty much established starting major leaguers and the trade’s failure made us move Arraez for Lopez.

I look at this trade as moving a pretty much low leverage guy (Lopez) for hopefully a medium leverage guy.

It sucks that those 2 prospects are doing good in light of what happened to Mahle but who were the twins supposed to get? Who were they supposed to trade? What prospects would everyone here have traded? SP’s are expensive and if they would have done nothing everyone here would have been saying the opposite. “Why didn’t they get a SP?” Yeah they lost the trade. Lots of teams lose trades. This dead horse isn’t rideable any longer. Can we put the stick down yet?

[Rik19753]

I think this is a great move.

While it seems like most in this comment section see Floro as a middle or low leverage reliever with upside, that does not do him justice. It would be a shame to write him off just because of his 4.54 ERA.

He's definitely not in the Hader tier, but I would put him in the next tier, which is the "not elite but very darn good" tier.

Just looking at his underlying numbers, they are very similar to Jax. Floro has just been hurt by an enormous BABIP of .397, but his batted ball profile suggests that he has done nothing to deserve it.

Floro: 24.0 K%, 6.4 BB%, 0.45 HR/9, 55.1 GB%

Jax: 24.7 K%, 6.5 BB%, 0.43 HR/9, 57.9 GB%

I wouldn't be surprised if the FO has checked off their "acquire high leverage reliever" box off their to do list after this move.

[jorgenswest]

Being a buyer at the deadline is always a risk. Teams have to overpay to beat the offers of other teams. Pitching is particularly risky. The Twins can avoid these risks this year by going the current roster and not buying.

 

[Mike Sixel]

13 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

Being a buyer at the deadline is always a risk. Teams have to overpay to beat the offers of other teams. Pitching is particularly risky. The Twins can avoid these risks this year by going the current roster and not buying.

 

It's also a risk to keep guys.... Like Larnach, Miranda,or Martin..... Who had a lot more value as trade chips than they do now. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

1 hour ago, bap3141 said:

hopefully the Twins can actually  use Florio if they 

I think you are thinking of Mike Florio, not Dylan Floro.

Football on the brain, I get it. 🙂

(also, Wendy’s)

[nicksaviking]

Seems like a class move by the Twins. 
 

And whether it ends up being a good move, a calculated move or a bad move, don’t underestimate the message this is sending out to players currently on other teams.

[2wins87]

Was going to say it was an interesting challenge trade to swap two struggling major leaguers. It sounds like the human element for Lopez and his family might have been a bigger impetus though.

Reflects well on both the Twins and Marlins that they were able to work out a deal that can hopefully help Lopez and his family.

Floro's multi-year track record is a lot better than I first expected, much more in line with his peripherals this year. He's never quite been a dominant reliever, but actually a longer and better track record than Fulmer last year. I still think they could use one more reliever of similar or better quality, but actually he looks like a pretty good rental and they didn't have to give up any prospects, just the opportunity to try to reclaim Lopez next year.

[Linus]

If the Twins did this even in part to get Lopez closer to his family then I will give the FO a sincere accolade. 

[Vanimal46]

I’m out of the loop on a tragic diagnosis for his son reading through these comments. I was confused by the trade from a baseball standpoint. But this trade appears to be more of a personal life decision that both GMs agreed to do. Kudos to all involved. 

[Dave Borton]

Gladden is the happiest of all. Just one Lopez to remember.

[jkcarew]

Well, the FO probably couldn’t have known how things would develop with his family when they acquired him. But, they’re doing the right thing. And hope and prayers to the family.

I DO wish the FO would have known that he’d be bad. Or that Cano would be good. Or that Mahle was damaged goods. Or that Dyson was damaged goods. Or that Spencer Steer was going to be better than Miranda. Or…

[Nashvilletwin]

3 hours ago, TNtwins85 said:

It sucks that those 2 prospects are doing good in light of what happened to Mahle but who were the twins supposed to get? Who were they supposed to trade? What prospects would everyone here have traded? SP’s are expensive and if they would have done nothing everyone here would have been saying the opposite. “Why didn’t they get a SP?” Yeah they lost the trade. Lots of teams lose trades. This dead horse isn’t rideable any longer. Can we put the stick down yet?

You’re right - it’s water under the bridge.  Props though to the FO’s of the Twins and Marlins for moving Lopez closer to his son.