Ranking the Top 5 Worst Trades Under Derek Falvey and Thad Levine

Great article.  This FO is criminally inept leading a manager who is criminally inept.  They both owe their current employment status to the baseball gods who have them in the pathetic Al Central and a fan base that is perfectly acceptable with mediocrity.  

Way to early to make a "bad trade" decision on some of these.  I find it interesting that there is very little on the players the Twins traded away.  Arraez has been insane, Cano needed a change of scenery, Steer has been good, every other player mentioned in this article moved by the Twins has done nothing.

#5 is a current loss, but Lopez has been decent, and nobody expected Arraez to hit .400.  Considering Lopez just signed a long-term contract, this trade needs time to properly evaluate.

#4 is more or of a tie.  Lose/lose on both sides.

#3 is closer to a loss, but still needs a longer view to see the results.

#2 another tie that needs more time.  Rogers was awful last year, Rooker is imminently replaceable.  Need to see if/how Paddock comes back.

#1  Steer has had a nice start, but we need to see if it continues.  Also need to see if/how Mahle comes back
 

17 minutes ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

#1  Steer has had a nice start, but we need to see if it continues.  Also need to see if/how Mahle comes back
 

Mahle is a free agent at the end of this season and is out with TJ surgery, so the Twins have already reaped all the benefits they are going to get from this trade.

If Mahle makes a comeback with the Twins, it wouldn't change the fact that this was a bad trade. 

Will agree that the Mahle trade turned out to be the worst, however, that is due to injury and lack of getting anything from Mahle.  Don't know whether or not the Twins should have had a better idea that could be the result.  

Will agree with Fire Dan that this would be a better read if you had included more information on what those players traded by the Twins have done since the trade.  On the surface I would say the Dyson trade maybe should be #1.  But if those players send out have not returned anything to the Giants, it is a wash and maybe shouldn't even be in the worst five.

Overall, several of these may work out ok for the Twins over the long haul, thus, maybe shouldn't be rated in the five worst.  

Um... Ryan Pressley says hello.

LaMont Wade was given away.  He'd be handy to have about now.

The return on Jose Berrios may end up being a zero as well, although it is too soon to know.

1 hour ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

Way to early to make a "bad trade" decision on some of these.  I find it interesting that there is very little on the players the Twins traded away.  Arraez has been insane, Cano needed a change of scenery, Steer has been good, every other player mentioned in this article moved by the Twins has done nothing.

#5 is a current loss, but Lopez has been decent, and nobody expected Arraez to hit .400.  Considering Lopez just signed a long-term contract, this trade needs time to properly evaluate.

#4 is more or of a tie.  Lose/lose on both sides.

#3 is closer to a loss, but still needs a longer view to see the results.

#2 another tie that needs more time.  Rogers was awful last year, Rooker is imminently replaceable.  Need to see if/how Paddock comes back.

#1  Steer has had a nice start, but we need to see if it continues.  Also need to see if/how Mahle comes back
 

Good comments - couple of responses:

#5. This team badly needs Arraez for many reasons. Might not have predicted 0.400, but 0.350 for sure. If he stays healthy, he’s an all-star more years than not. Lopez is a solid #3 starter with stretches as a #2 and #4. That is not a good deal.  But what makes it worse is that the FO compounded their stupidity by forcing this trade after the Mahle disaster (and their inability to develop trustworthy in house starters).

#4. Disagree.  Dyson was supposed to be a key short term cog for a late season pennant run.  It doesn’t matter that the moonshots the Giants got didn’t eventually pan out. What matters is we got less than nothing out of Dyson.

#3. Disagree. See Dyson above. Lopez did little last year and, although we are cheering hard for him, we might not get much more in the future. Baltimore sold high; we sold our assets low.

#2. Agree with your assessment more or less. But did the trade of Rooker precipitate the ridiculous signing of Gallo in even a small way? Probably not, but if it did, this trade looks worse.

#1.  No way to sugar coat this disaster.  Not only was it ill conceived, but the results are horrible.  Also,  Mahle’s complete lack of reliability entering the season was the primary factor for the FO feeling the need to replace him and ditch Arraez in doing so (as they doubled down on starter strength coupled home run production as the key planks of the ‘23 campaign).

2 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

Here's what's scary - trades 1, 3 and 5 have the potential of looking considerably worse than they do right now. If Arraez wins MVP trophies and leads Miami deep into the playoffs, this is a trade that can (and should) break a front office.

I will go out on a limb and say Arraez doesn't ever win a MVP, he is basically hitting .400 and kind of is an after thought in the MVP race (he just doesn't have the power), I mean is he even the best 2B in the National league right now?

#1 will be bad no matter what the other players do and #5 is way too early to decide on.

I think I'm gonna be sick...

1 hour ago, Road trip said:

Um... Ryan Pressley says hello.

LaMont Wade was given away.  He'd be handy to have about now.

The return on Jose Berrios may end up being a zero as well, although it is too soon to know.

How the Pressly and Berrios trades don't make the list is beyond my comprehension.

Both still could end up well, but as of now, they basically got 4 minor league players. Don't care how good Martin, Celestino, SWR and Alcala could be (I mean I do and hope they are) but as of now they haven't been good.

I don’t think the Arreaz trade is as bad as it’s been talked about here.  Pablo Lopez haz pitched solid and signed an extension.  What makes the Arreaz trade look so bad is that our offense has cratered while Arreaz has taken off.  But Solano has been a poor man’s Arreaz with over .370 OBP.  So his main skill set has mostly been replaced by a capable player.  The bigger problem is how bad the rest of the offense has been.  

I'm happy to take the heat I may deserve it but I want to argue against a few of the trades being bad ones...

Pablo for Arraez. I get the huffing and puffing about it. Today I watched Kirilloff get a single followed by a Vazquez walk and then 3 K's. How is an amazing hitter like Arraez going to fix a team wide failure? An Arraez single that drives in a run is very unlikely to offset 5 innings who? of Chris Archer. VERY UNLIKELY...MLB network is already talking about how much $ he should make when he's a FA..

Dyson, is a given but is that something the FO can find out before the trade? Seems dicey to me. Sure, it definitely is a bad trade in hindsight. At the time it was a fair trade. The Twins didn't really part with anyone to bring Dyson onboard.

Lopez...No argument here. Didn't like this trade then and REALLY don't like it now. 3 months total of great pitching in 2-4 seasons is a recipe for overpaying, and that is what happeneds..

10 time out of 10 I'd trade Roger's and Rooker for Paddack, Pagan and Medina. A set up guy and a guy you probably have to cut for three lottery tickets. There aren't too many FO's that would do that trade. if any..

And finally, the elephant in the room. Yes, definitely the Twins lost on this (Mahle) trade. No agruement here..It was a gamble from the start and the Twins are paying for it now. Not unlike the Rays trading Ryan for Cruz. We and they gave up depth for immediate returns. The Rays are MUCH better positioned to have an oops. We are definitely not. 

2 of 5 definitely bad or terrible. 

2 of 5 meh....bad to OK, IDK

1 of 5 I disagree. I may and probably am wrong.  I'll take 140-180 quality pitched innings over a .300- .350 BA with no power 7 days a week.

2 hours ago, weitz41 said:

1 of 5 I disagree. I may and probably am wrong.  I'll take 140-180 quality pitched innings over a .300- .350 BA with no power 7 days a week.

Ok, you can have the #3 starter pitching 140-180 IPs with a 4+ era pitching every five days and I’ll take the every day lead off hitter getting on base at 0.450, never striking out, winning a batting championship, an all - star and the heart of the team.  It’s easy enough to find the first - heck. Ober and Varland might have accomplished that this year or could next year.  The second is virtually a unicorn for a team and franchise like the Twins. But hey, that’s why there is a trade market - because GMs, like us, have different opinions about what’s valuable. Btw, how are the Marlins doing this year?

7 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

More likely than not, #2-4 are going to be the kinds of trades where you don't regret giving up the prospects, but you wonder who you could have gotten instead.

Exactly. I don't think the Padres are claiming the Rogers trade as their 2nd best trade in the past 5 years. 4.35 ERA, removed as the closer and traded. And Rooker had 7 AB's with them. 

Also, I'm not sure we wouldn't have lost Steer (or someone else that we pulled off, or didn't put on, the 40 man roster) in the Rule 5 draft anyway. 

Don't make me GM. I would have made trade #'s 1, 3 and 5 at the time of the trade.

I would add the Pressly trade for sure. We gave up a year and a half of a scarce commodity for essentially nothing. I think the Berrios trade is going to end badly. Should have kept him for another year and a half and gotten a comp pick. My prediction is that neither SWR or Martin do much in the big leagues. 

10 hours ago, Nashvilletwin said:

Ok, you can have the #3 starter pitching 140-180 IPs with a 4+ era pitching every five days and I’ll take the every day lead off hitter getting on base at 0.450, never striking out, winning a batting championship, an all - star and the heart of the team.  It’s easy enough to find the first - heck. Ober and Varland might have accomplished that this year or could next year.  The second is virtually a unicorn for a team and franchise like the Twins. But hey, that’s why there is a trade market - because GMs, like us, have different opinions about what’s valuable. Btw, how are the Marlins doing this year?

A batting order of Arraez, Correa, Buxton, Gallo and Kepler isn't going to produce that many more runs than putting Juilien or a healthy Polanco in his place. IMO. An example from yesterday's game. Kirilloff gets a leadoff base hit, Vazquez walks. the next three strike out. inning over...With RISP Arraez would definitely make the team a lot better at that. I just don't believe 1 player would fix this offense.

Lopez has pitched well enough to give the team a chance to win most of his games. How many starters could you say that about the past couple seasons?

The Marlins have Arraez, Soler, De La Cruz and Sanchez all playing well and hitting for average. We have none of that.

38 minutes ago, weitz41 said:

A batting order of Arraez, Correa, Buxton, Gallo and Kepler isn't going to produce that many more runs than putting Juilien or a healthy Polanco in his place. IMO. An example from yesterday's game. Kirilloff gets a leadoff base hit, Vazquez walks. the next three strike out. inning over...With RISP Arraez would definitely make the team a lot better at that. I just don't believe 1 player would fix this offense.

Lopez has pitched well enough to give the team a chance to win most of his games. How many starters could you say that about the past couple seasons?

The Marlins have Arraez, Soler, De La Cruz and Sanchez all playing well and hitting for average. We have none of that.

Ok, we’d have a trade then. You can take two games under 0.500 with the outcome of the trade and our current lineup and I’ll take whatever is behind door #2 with Arraez batting lead off every day like the Marlins.  
 

It’s what makes the world go around.  👍🏻

Not trading Kepler for that Starbucks coupon was their worst (non) trade.

The Arraez trade over time will be fine. I love Louie but he is a singles hitting DH with bad legs. That ages like three day old fish.

The Mahle trade is a Hall of Fame stinker.  Falvey is just fortunate that it happened in the same year as the Gobert swap.   

18 hours ago, CharlieDee said:

I think I'm gonna be sick...

Keep that line moving...