Tommy Nance...

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/07/twins-acquire-tommy-nance-from-blue-jays.html

[Mike Sixel]

The definition of meh. Maybe they can unlock something?

[Cory Engelhardt]

10 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

The definition of meh. Maybe they can unlock something?

He had a 1.99 era for Toronto in 2025, his savant page looks fairly good. Sprock was killing it, so we will see

[clone52]

8th round 21 year old crushing in Low A for a relief pitcher with decent history and international bonus pool money?  Seems like a great trade.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

I said it before - the Twins' biggest issue isn't payroll or cheapness - it's just making weird or questionable moves. This is one of those trades that can absolutely come back to bite you in the butt. Very low ROI with someone like Nance.

[clone52]

2 minutes ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

I said it before - the Twins' biggest issue isn't payroll or cheapness - it's just making weird or questionable moves. This is one of those trades that can absolutely come back to bite you in the butt. Very low ROI with someone like Nance.

Seriously?  An 8th round pick crushing a league he is pretty old for and not a top 30 organizational prospect for a relief pitcher who is instantly #3 in the bullpen?  

[Colbeh]

Not a horrible trade if we're trying to be competitive this year. 

He's given up atleast 1 run in 9 out of 32 apperances this year, just 1-2 runs in all besides a 4 run dud vs the Dodgers.

As is he is probably a slightly above average reliever right now and should atleast help our bullpen out.

[darin617]

36 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

The definition of meh. Maybe they can unlock something?

I'll take it. It's a start. He has to be probably in the top 3 of the bullpen at the moment.

[Permanent Twins Fan]

Love the trade. Nance will likely slide right behind Morris and Gomez in the bullpen pecking order. I was getting a bit excited about Ryan Sprock, but getting this for him is well worth it. Nance is also under team control to 2029. This is the kind of move the Twins need to make to get middle of the bullpen arms. Below is the Diamond Centric write-up in their top 40 trade prospects thread. (he was 40)

 

RHP  Age: 35 FA: Nov 2029 Sal: $810k

He’s far from a household name and won’t step into any playoff hopeful’s closer role, but Nance has quietly been solidly above-average for the last two years. A late bloomer whose career has also been ravaged by injuries, he has a mid-90s sinker, but that’s not the pitch that makes him good. Increasingly, he shows excellent feel for a slider and curveball that each work along the same line and seem to come from the same tunnel as the sinker, making for lots of swing-and-miss on those secondary offerings. Toronto has no financial incentive to trade him, but this kind of reliever is often moved despite having multiple years of control remaining. The reality of the aging curve and the volatility of the role Nance fills mean that he’s unlikely ever to be in a position to have a greater impact or fetch more in return than he could right now. It’ll be a low-wattage move, but some team can benefit significantly from adding Nance to its relief depth.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

11 minutes ago, clone52 said:

Seriously?  An 8th round pick crushing a league he is pretty old for and not a top 30 organizational prospect for a relief pitcher who is instantly #3 in the bullpen?  

That speaks to how bad the bullpen is more than it speaks to how good Nance is. Hopefully this works but it is far from a sure thing type of trade, and I'd prefer for them to keep Sprock if this is the return. But, is what it is.

[ashbury]

15 minutes ago, clone52 said:

Seriously?  An 8th round pick crushing a league he is pretty old for and not a top 30 organizational prospect for a relief pitcher who is instantly #3 in the bullpen?  

Nance is 35 years old and this will be his fifth organization.  It's the first time a team has traded another player for him.  Last year he split time between AAA and the majors, and his AAA numbers were a lot worse than against major leaguers so it's hard to tell from that just who the "real" Nance is.  This season Toronto seems to have used him in low-leverage situations as much as possible, judging by his game log and the outcomes - only 1 blown save and 1 hold because they typically don't bring him in with a lead.

If he steps in as #3 by default for us it speaks volumes (that we already knew) about the state of the Twins bullpen.

[Colbeh]

18 minutes ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

I said it before - the Twins' biggest issue isn't payroll or cheapness - it's just making weird or questionable moves. This is one of those trades that can absolutely come back to bite you in the butt. Very low ROI with someone like Nance.

I have to disagree.

Their biggest issue is that they wont spend money to make this team better. Cheapness can be a smart move when you operate as a small market team but you need to make some questionable trades from time to time.

But I dont see how trading an 8th round pick from last year is going to destroy this franchise. Sure maybe theres a 10% chance he becomes a utility guy or plays a couple years in the majors 

[strumdatjag]

Ryan Sprock had.good numbers Dow at low A DT Myers.  

[Mike Sixel]

16 minutes ago, Permanent Twins Fan said:

Love the trade. Nance will likely slide right behind Morris and Gomez in the bullpen pecking order. I was getting a bit excited about Ryan Sprock, but getting this for him is well worth it. Nance is also under team control to 2029. This is the kind of move the Twins need to make to get middle of the bullpen arms. Below is the Diamond Centric write-up in their top 40 trade prospects thread. (he was 40)

 

RHP  Age: 35 FA: Nov 2029 Sal: $810k

He’s far from a household name and won’t step into any playoff hopeful’s closer role, but Nance has quietly been solidly above-average for the last two years. A late bloomer whose career has also been ravaged by injuries, he has a mid-90s sinker, but that’s not the pitch that makes him good. Increasingly, he shows excellent feel for a slider and curveball that each work along the same line and seem to come from the same tunnel as the sinker, making for lots of swing-and-miss on those secondary offerings. Toronto has no financial incentive to trade him, but this kind of reliever is often moved despite having multiple years of control remaining. The reality of the aging curve and the volatility of the role Nance fills mean that he’s unlikely ever to be in a position to have a greater impact or fetch more in return than he could right now. It’ll be a low-wattage move, but some team can benefit significantly from adding Nance to its relief depth.

He's 35? So I'm not sure we should count on him pitching that long....

 

[ashbury]

14 minutes ago, Colbeh said:

But I dont see how trading an 8th round pick from last year is going to destroy this franchise. 

That isn't the point, for me anyway.  It's the FO's use of tangible assets.  "Mind the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves."  Sprock's not worth a ton, but he's no longer a trade chip that might be used toward something bigger.

Do you think the Twins could turn around and flip Nance for a prospect?  Looking at the pitcher's record, I'd very much doubt it.  They would have to DFA him if they wanted to try someone else from AAA.

Could the Jays flip Sprock for something?  I imagine so.

That kind of thought-experiment is nothing but opinion, but I still think to be useful.  It doesn't mean the Twins "lost" the trade, but they invested an asset toward contending this season, and in my mind it's pretty weak tea - but the trade deadline isn't over by a long shot.

 

[HarmonK03]

1 hour ago, Colbeh said:

I have to disagree.

Their biggest issue is that they wont spend money to make this team better. Cheapness can be a smart move when you operate as a small market team but you need to make some questionable trades from time to time.

But I dont see how trading an 8th round pick from last year is going to destroy this franchise. Sure maybe theres a 10% chance he becomes a utility guy or plays a couple years in the majors 

How much money do you want them to spend, it's easy to say they won't spend money,  Falvey had at least $14m to spend this offseason and he chose to spend it on Bell and Caratini and no help for the bullpen.  Both of these signings at the time were head scratchers, Bell was signed to play 1B, we have seen how that works out.  Caratini was signed after we signed Jackson.  So how about holding Falvey accountable for once, it isn't always about the amount of money but how you allocate the money.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

12 minutes ago, Colbeh said:

I have to disagree.

Their biggest issue is that they wont spend money to make this team better. Cheapness can be a smart move when you operate as a small market team but you need to make some questionable trades from time to time.

But I dont see how trading an 8th round pick from last year is going to destroy this franchise. Sure maybe theres a 10% chance he becomes a utility guy or plays a couple years in the majors 

Well, I certainly don't think it will destroy the franchise.

It's just that to me, Nance is a journeyman and they've been loading up on this type of pitcher since the start of spring training and to no avail.

I'd rather hang onto minor league assets and see what else shakes loose between now and the trade deadline.

From what I've read on Nance, he's injury prone and slots more as depth piece than a true high leverage arm...but the Twins will be using him as a high leverage arm. Always reluctant to trade for an older player, even if it's an A ball prospect going out, that is going to have to project to be more than what he's been his entire career.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

If you look at the game logs, he tends to pitch more in the middle innings of games where Toronto's losing. He hasn't sniffed a high-leverage situation within the last 15 games or so and for the season, the high-leverage spots are a handful. If you lined up most teams in MLB, they'd prefer to have a 2025 8th round pick right now than they would Nance. 

[Mike Sixel]

I like this less and less the longer we go. Old. Mediocre. This team refuses to actually TRY. All half measures. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

1 minute ago, Mike Sixel said:

I like this less and less the longer we go. Old. Mediocre. This team refuses to actually TRY. All half measures. 

Yeah, this one has a Trevor Richards vibe to it. If Nance is the type of pitcher you're looking for, just put Bowman on the 40 man roster.

[nicksaviking]

27 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

He's 35? So I'm not sure we should count on him pitching that long....

 

Oh, the Twins will own his rights until he's 39 though!

This looks like Justin Topa with a minimally longer track record.

 

[Colbeh]

Tbf to Nance about being used as a low leverage reliever, the Blue Jays do have a very good bullpen

Going through Varland, Hoffman, Rogers, Fluharty, and Miles is a tough ask. 

Im not worried about an 8th round pick, we have to trade something of value and the Blue Jays didnt want cash considerations. 

This is pretty similar to the Sergio Romo trade we made a few years ago. Sent 22 year old Lewin Diaz who was hitting .300 with 19 homers at the time and i believe hes out of the league now. Romo pitched pretty good down the stretch for us that year and was a solid trade

[ashbury]

7 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Oh, the Twins will own his rights until he's 39 though!

Go Big or Go Home!  This is just the opening salvo, I'm sure!

[ashbury]

6 minutes ago, Colbeh said:

Going through Varland, Hoffman, Rogers, Fluharty, and Miles is a tough ask. 

Yeah, any critiques of this trade amount to a broader critique of this FO's roster construction after last year's sell-off.  Your list of Jays is well-taken, and also galling.  😁

[nicksaviking]

4 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Yeah, any critiques of this trade amount to a broader critique of this FO's roster construction after last year's sell-off.

I reserve my right to critique this trade both broadly and down to the most inconsequential and inane details possible.

I mean, for Pete's sake, this guy has a career OPS+ of -100.

[Rigby]

13 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Go Big or Go Home!  This is just the opening salvo, I'm sure!

Nance is 6'6". Perhaps that's our go big move.....

[ashbury]

6 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I reserve my right to critique this trade both broadly and down to the most inconsequential and inane details possible.

Go to the Trademark Office and protect your IP rights, before the TD staff grabs it to use as their site motto.

[Western SD Fan]

I thought the goal from Zoll during trade season was to improve the bullpen?  We are not trading for relief help like Chapman or any of the high-end relievers which would have to give up a bunch of trade value.  These trades are the type that we need to improve the floor.  The hope is that Nance is better than the likes of Adams, Orze, Rojas, Rogers, or Funderburk.  The likely corresponding move would be to move Adams.  Is Nance all of a sudden going to elevate the bullpen to a shut-down pen?  Not likely.  Is Nance not going to cost us games like some of the others on the roster?  More likely than not.  

[nicksaviking]

1 minute ago, Western SD Fan said:

I thought the goal from Zoll during trade season was to improve the bullpen?  We are not trading for relief help like Chapman or any of the high-end relievers which would have to give up a bunch of trade value.  These trades are the type that we need to improve the floor.  The hope is that Nance is better than the likes of Adams, Orze, Rojas, Rogers, or Funderburk.  The likely corresponding move would be to move Adams.  Is Nance all of a sudden going to elevate the bullpen to a shut-down pen?  Not likely.  Is Nance not going to cost us games like some of the others on the roster?  More likely than not.  

I don't think there is any such thing as a floor for a reliever. Particularly not a 35-year-old journeyman.

The problem with relievers in particular is that it really is just hope. I'd bet if someone compared trades of non-elite relievers to waiver wire pick up relievers, one would find that the overall success rate would be negligible. Too small of sample sizes and too many variables about when and how they are used to reliably make any guesses as to whether they'll be good or blow up in your face.

[Western SD Fan]

At least we are having a civilized conversation over here, unlike over at Jays Centre.  I checked over there to see the other side of this trade.  Some just want to sell outright and there's a few comments over there that would have been given warnings and/or timeouts here.  Just wanted to point out the thoughtfulness of our community.