Article: 20 Twins Trades: Viola For The Broken Heart Of A Seven-year-old

[Brad Swanson]

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1979-20-Twins-Trades-Viola-for-the-broken-heart-of-a-seven-year-old

[IdahoPilgrim]

I think you do a nice job capturing both the head and the heart sides of the move - something that is often overlooked.

 

For the head side, it was a clear win for the Twins - a prime of example of selling high.

 

But that often carries a price on the heart side, as you capture well.

 

It's a rare trade when both can be satisfied.

[orangevening]

I remember this trade well. My Mom was crushed- she had a huge crush on "Frankie" . I was enough in the know with baseball that we needed to make this trade

[howieramone1406390264]

I forget which one, Savage or Drummond. Him and his father won the lottery, I believe in Kentucky, and he left baseball shortly thereafter.

[Rosterman]

Aggie was also considered a starter when the trade was made and was the main body the Twins thought they were getting. Tapani was the bonus. The Twins did feel that Dave West was going to be the pitching sensation he never was, a lefty to make us totally forget Viola.

[Rick Niedermann]

Good Article. David West was the centerpiece of the trade. Very highly touted as a prospect. And as you pointed out, Tapani and Aggie were the ones who made the trade a good trade for the Twins. But I will always remember in the 1991 Playoffs against Toronto David West came in and shut down Toronto. It was huge, as the Twins had traditionally struggled against Toronto. And the rest is history. 91 World Champs.

[John Bonnes]

I thought this was going to be about trading away Rod Carew. Now THAT was a heart-breaker.

[Pius Jefferson]

Trading Bruno for Tommy Herr of the hated Cardinals was the heart-breaker for me.

 

I think the Twins not being good when they traded Viola lessened the blow for me.

[Gernzy]

Great blog as usual.

I think we need a rant like this about the most recent worse trade in Twins history... J.J. Hardy to Baltimore.

[Brad Swanson]

Great blog as usual.

I think we need a rant like this about the most recent worse trade in Twins history... J.J. Hardy to Baltimore.

 

Thank you! I have that one on my to-do list!

[PopRiveter]

Tapani was the first starter I can remember caring about. Viola was just a guy to me when I first started watching as a kid. As such, I learned to love the affordable, better-than-average-but-not-dominant player rather than the Cy Youngs and MVPs of the world. I'm sorry young Brad felt victimized while young Reed discovered his upper middle class hero.

[Longdistancetwins]

Isn't there some suggestion that Frankie wasn't all that loved in the clubhouse? It might have just been a "pitcher thing."

[Pius Jefferson]

Isn't there some suggestion that Frankie wasn't all that loved in the clubhouse? It might have just been a "pitcher thing."

 

Outstanding pitcher, but at times he did seem like a whiner. Especially in regards to balls and strikes.