Monday Funday

From the perspective of disenchanted followers of the Twins searching for hope, it was easily the best day of the season thus far. It began with multiple trades that jolted excitement into a hazy Monday afternoon, and ended with one of the best games the team has played all year.

For much of this campaign, it has been hard to feel confident that this ship is moving in the right direction. For a glorious 12-hour stretch, it was impossible to feel any other way.

Let's run through Monday's developments in (somewhat) chronological order.

Twins send RP Fernando Abad to Red Sox for RP Pat Light

Things got started around lunchtime, when the Twins announced their first trade of the day.

Terry Ryan is gone, but the Abad signing will go down as one of his best final moves. The veteran lefty gave the club four very good months and now yields a decent relief prospect.

Light, who can touch 100 with his fastball but often struggles to find the zone, is far from a sure bet to become an effective MLB hurler. We have seen many such erratic fire-ballers come through this system and few have panned out. But he's a solid gamble and certainly a nice return for Abad, who was very much a non-essential piece. When it comes to lefty relievers, the Twins are just as well sticking with the likes of Taylor Rogers and Buddy Boshers.

Twins send SP Ricky Nolasco and SP Alex Meyer to Angels for SP Hector Santiago and RP Alan Busenitz.

Antony may sit in the GM chair long-term, but if not, he just cleared out one of the biggest headaches that his successor was going to inherit.

Somehow, he managed to unload Nolasco.

Since 2014, his first season in Minnesota, Nolasco ranks 113th out of 113 qualified MLB starters in ERA (5.44). Injuries marred his first two years with the Twins but this summer he has been healthy and utterly hittable. He hasn't made any case for belonging in a half-decent rotation, and is no more than an expensive innings-eater.

Any incoming GM was going to face the unfortunate situation of having to either work around Nolasco on the staff or ask his new bosses to eat $13 million in salary. But Antony, perhaps in efforts to build his own case, has removed that dilemma.

In Nolasco's place, the Twins get another established big-league starter who is – by all appearances – a massive upgrade. On the same list of 113 qualified pitchers since 2014, Santiago's ERA (3.68) ranks 60 spots higher, at 53. He's five years younger. He was an All Star last year. And he's coming off a month of July in which he went 6-0 with a 1.78 ERA.

Granted, Santiago has his warts, but even when you overlook his blatantly superior play on the field, he gives the Twins newfound flexibility. He's arbitration-eligible for a final time in 2017, so if the team desires, they can simply non-tender and move on. Antony removed the anchor that was Nolasco's contract and flipped it into a team-friendly situation.

He did so by capitalizing on the Angels' desperation to infuse any kind of upside into their drab farm system. The other part of the deal involved swapping projects, and I think most would agree that Meyer is a more interesting one than Busenitz. But Meyer is also 26, plagued by constant shoulder problems, utterly unaccomplished in the majors, and out of options next year.

This deal looks like a home run.

Speaking of home runs...

All of this frenzied action unfolded before Monday night's series opener in Cleveland. Major League Baseball made the decision this year to nudge the trade deadline back – to a weekday afternoon, when no games would take place – and Twins fans benefited from the switch. After following the trade news during the day, we were able to devote our full attention to a revelatory ballgame for the local nine.

Jose Berrios was making his anticipated return to the big-league mound, while Max Kepler was batting third against All-Star Danny Salazar. Both rookies rose to the challenge.

Max Power

Kepler has continually surprised with his long-ball proclivity since joining the team for good in June. In this game, he took things to another level entirely.

The 23-year-old homered in three of his first four at-bats. After tying for the MLB lead with eight bombs in July, he's now almost halfway to that mark in August after one day. He joins Harmon Killebrew, Justin Morneau, Tony Oliva and Bob Allison as the only hitters in Twins history to go deep three times in a game.

Kepler is already achieving legendary status.

Berrios bounces back

Watching the young righty labor through a tumultuous, 30-pitch first inning in which he coughed up an early lead, it was hard not to think, 'Here we go again.' But Berrios wasn't ready to go down that path.

Instead, he went out and retired 14 straight hitters, cruising through five more frames without allowing another run. Shaking off his previous control issues, Berrios threw 62 out of 99 pitches for strikes and didn't issue a walk.

That's what I'm talking about.

The fun didn't stop...

These two performances by future cogs were two highlights of many in a 12-5 bashing of the division leaders. Jorge Polanco hit two triples, including one with the bases juiced. Joe Mauer reached base five times, and took Andrew Miller deep to foil his Cleveland debut. Eddie Rosario homered, and took a walk in an MLB game for the first time since April 15th. Brian Dozier made two insane defensive plays.

This game felt like it included more encouraging moments than the first three months combined. Incidentally, it happened on a day where Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano were both out of the lineup. Those two obviously have been going through their struggles but no one can deny their enormous potential impact going forward.

Which brings me to my final thought:

If one is to disagree with the way Antony and the front office operated during this deadline period, it's because they didn't go all-in on a roster blowout. The Twins have the worst record in the league, the argument goes, and contention in 2017 is a pipe dream. Why not salvage whatever possible value for the likes of Ervin Santana and even someone like Brian Dozier?

I personally don't agree with this defeatist attitude. Evidently, neither does the interim GM, because while he certainly acted as a seller, he managed to stay away from any moves with negative impact extending beyond this year.

There's a rational case against that approach, but I'm glad it's not being embraced, and if the organization hires a new head of baseball ops, I hope it is not his or her mindset.

At some point, this young core is going to turn a corner together. On Monday, that inevitability felt surer and closer than it ever has before.

When that happens, it'll be a disservice to waste the opportunity by failing to surround the kids with a capable roster.