Trading Major-Leaguers for Major-Leaguers

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Introduction

The Twins' front office has said that it's going to get "creative" this offseason. Most of us have interpreted that to mean that we're going to see a bunch of trades similar to the Lopez/Arraez deal in the next couple of months. MLB player for MLB player trades are rare in today's game, but there are still plenty of examples of these trades taking place. Here are all of the examples (that I could find) of trades where each team received a player with more than a year of service time over the past three years.

 

2023-

(SEA-ARI) Paul Sewald for Dominic Canzone, Josh Rojas, and Ryan Bliss

(ATL-KC) Taylor Hearn for Nicky Lopez

(CWS-LAD) Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly for Jordan Leasure, Nick Nastrini, and Trace Thompson

(LAD-CLE) Noah Syndergaard for Ahmed Rosario

(MIN-MIA) Jorge Lopez for Dylan Floro

(MIN-MIA) Luis Arraez for Pablo Lopez, Byron Chourio, and Jose Salas

(DET-PHI) Nick Maton, Matt Vierling, and Donny Sands for Gregory Soto and Cody Clemens

2022-

(TOR-ARI) Daulton Varsho for Gabriel Moreno and Lourdes Gurriel

(OAK-MIL-ATL) Joel Payamps (to MIL) and Sean Murphy (to ATL) for Esteury Ruiz (to OAK) for Justin Yeager (to MIL), Manny Pina (to OAK), Kyle Muller (to OAK), Freddy Tarnok (to OAK), and Royber Salinas (to OAK)

(SEA-MIL) Jesse Winker and Abraham Toro for Kolten Wong and Cash ($1.75M)

(SEA-TOR) Erik Swanson and Adam Macko for Teoscar Hernandez

(NYY-STL) Jordan Montgomery for Harrison Bader

(LAA-ATL) Raisel Iglesias for Jesse Chavez and Tucker Davidson

(NYM-SF) JD Davis, Nick Zwack, Carson Seymour, and Thomas Szapucki for Darin Ruf

(SD-WSH) MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, Robert Hassell, James Wood, Jarlin Susana, and Luke Voit for Juan Soto and Josh Bell

(ATL-HOU) Will Smith for Jake Odorizzi

(BOS-CWS) Jake Diekman for Reese McGuire

(MIL-SD) Josh Hader for Taylor Rogers, Esteury Ruiz, Dinelson Lamet, and Robert Gasser

(ATL-CHC) Sean Newcomb for Jesse Chavez and Cash (unknown)

(MIN-SD) Taylor Rogers and Brent Rooker for Chris Paddack, Emilio Pagan, and Brayan Medina

(NYM-NYY) Miguel Castro for Albert Abreu

(NYY-MIN) Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela for Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Ben Rortvedt 

(TEX-MIN) Isaih Kiner-Falefa and Ronny Henriquez for Mitch Garver

2021-

(BOS-MIL) Hunter Renfroe for Jackie Bradley, David Hamilton, and Alex Binelas

(MIN-STL) JA Happ for Evan Sisk and John Gant

(PIT-BOS) Austin Davis for Michael Chavis

(CHC-CWS) Craig Kimbrel for Nick Madrigal and Codi Heuer

(ATL-CLE) Pablo Sandoval for Eddie Rosario

(CLE-HOU) Phil Maton and Yainer Diaz for Myles Straw

(OAK-MIA) Jesus Luzardo for Starling Marte

(HOU-SEA) Joe Smith and Abraham Toro for Kendal Graveman and Rafael Montero

(NYM-TB) Tommy Hunter and Matthew Dier for Rich Hill

(TOR-MIL) Rowdy Tellez for Bowden Francis and Trevor Richards

(MIA-TOR) Corey Dickerson and Adam Cimber for Joe Panik and Kevin McInvale

(NYY-SF) Mike Tauchman for Wandy Peralta and Connor Cannon

(OAK-TEX) Khris Davis, Jonah Heim, and Dane Acker for Elvis Andrus, Aramis Garcia, and cash ($13.5M)

 

Final Thoughts

-Trading for a young starter leads to high success rates (Paddack/Rogers, Marte/Luzardo, Montgomery/Bader), while salary dumps usually work out for the team dumping salary (Davis/Andrus, Donaldson/Urshela, Winker/Wong). The Twins should be on the right side of both of these trends.

-Do not sell low. The Giants fleeced JD Davis from the Mets and the Marlins fleeced Jesus Luzardo from the Athletics. Sell-low players generally don't move the needle much on big-time trades, and it's not worth the risk to let a guy like Jose Miranda go because you needed a sweetener in a deal.

-There are certain teams that are more willing to entertain these kinds of deals. Other mid-to-small-market contenders (Rays, Mariners, Brewers, etc) and some larger-market teams (Braves, Yankees, and Blue Jays) have engaged in plenty of these trades. These would be the teams that seem most likely to make a deal with the Twins.