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

    Cody Christie

    By Cody Christie

    Every team makes bad trades, but some trades look even worse in retrospect. Here is a ranking of the five worst trades made by the current front office. 

     

    Image courtesy of Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

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    MLB’s 2023 Trade Deadline is scheduled for August 1st, and the Twins will likely need to add pieces to keep themselves in contention. Before the deadline, looking at previous years and how this front office has approached the trading process is critical. This series will look at some of the best and worst trades made by the current front office. 

    5. Luis Arraez for Pablo Lopez, Jose Salas, and Byron Chourio
    Trade Date: January 20th, 2023
    Many fans may view the Arraez for Lopez swap as a bad deal because of Arraez’s start to his Marlins tenure. However, the Twins wanted more starting pitching depth, and the Marlins wanted a hitter. Salas was the top prospect acquired by the Twins, and he started slowly in 2023. There is still time for the Twins to gain value from the Lopez-Arraez swap, but it’s hard not to imagine what Arraez could mean to Minnesota’s offense, which has struggled to make consistent contact. 

    4. Prelander Berroa, Kai-Wei Teng, and Jaylin Davis for Sam Dyson
    Trade Date: July 31st, 2019
    Dyson was Minnesota’s key bullpen acquisition at the 2019 trade deadline, but poor performance and injury marred his Twins tenure. In 12 appearances (11 1/3 innings), he allowed nine earned runs with a 1.77 WHIP and 2.4 HR/9. Dyson eventually revealed that he had been pitching with some discomfort, and the Twins investigated what the Giants knew about the injury before the trade. There was no evidence that San Francisco had any knowledge of an injury. Dyson hasn’t pitched since his last appearance for the Twins, and MLB suspended him for the entire 2021 season for violating the league’s domestic violence policy. Overall, it was a bad trade from start to finish for the Twins. 

    3. Juan Nunez, Cade Povich, Juan Rojas, and Yennier Cano for Jorge Lopez
    Trade Date: August 2, 2022
    Last season, Lopez was an All-Star in his first year as a reliever, and he was supposed to be the missing piece from the Twins’ bullpen. Following the trade, he posted a 4.37 ERA with a 1.63 WHIP and an 18-to-14 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 22 2/3 innings. His 2023 season started strongly as he didn’t allow an earned run in the first month, but his on-field performance declined in recent weeks, and the team put him on the IL to work on his mental health. Yennier Cano has been one of the AL’s best relievers this season, while Cade Povich has pitched well and is on the cusp of making his big-league debut. This trade has looked bad so far and might only look worse in the future.   

    2. Taylor Rogers and Brent Rooker for Chris Paddack, Emilio Pagan, and Brayan Medina
    Trade Date: April 7th, 2022
    The timing of this trade will always be questionable. On the eve of Opening Day, the Twins shipped out their best late-inning reliever to the Padres in a five-person trade. Rogers was entering his final year of team control, and there was some value in the return package. Chris Paddack pitched well in five starts for the Twins, but he eventually needed Tommy John surgery. Emilio Pagan has been one of baseball’s worst relievers since the trade while posting a -1.60 WPA. Rogers and Rooker provided little value to the Padres, but it will always seem odd that the club made this move close to Opening Day. 

    1. Spencer Steer, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, and Steve Hajjar for Tyler Mahle
    Trade Date: August 2nd, 2022
    Interestingly, one of Minnesota’s best trades has been with the Reds organization, and their worst trade has been with the same club. Evaluating players is tough, and the Twins knew they were surrendering significant value to acquire a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher. Mahle struggled to stay healthy and was limited to nine starts with the Twins. He underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this summer. Spencer Steer started slowly for the Reds but has turned a corner and looks like an above-average big leaguer. Christian Encarnacion-Strand has been dominating Triple-A pitching and is on pace to make his debut later this season. This trade will only look worse in the coming years. 

    Check out the Twins Daily forums for more trade discussion from the current front office. How would you rank the above-listed trades? Would you have different trades on the list? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

    Cody Christie is a Twins writer and content contributor. His writing can be found exclusively at Twins Daily and his voice can be heard on radio stations throughout the Upper Midwest. Outside of the Twins, he is a father, high school teacher, and avid runner.
    Follow Cody Christie on Twitter: nodaktwinsfan

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    Road trip

    Road trip 1,565

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    19 hours ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

    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.

     

    Gosh, I'll just strongly disagree with any takes on here that essentially say "Arraez isn't that good" as a way to justify a trade that the Marlins would make 10 times out of 10. 

    Currently Arraez is #5 among all NL position players in bWAR.  Don't like bWAR?  He's #3 in OPS, which obviously includes slugging percentage.  Don't like OPS?  He's #2 in Adjusted OPS+.  He's not only the best 2B in the NL, this year he's one of the NL's best players at any position!  He even leads the NL in intentional walks received... so perhaps the opposition respects him even if some fans don't.  Arraez likely won't win the MVP because Acuna is otherworldly awesome and plays on the best team in the NL, but if the season ended today Arraez would almost certainly finish in the top 5.

    Will he age badly?  Sure, he might... but so might Lopez.  I'll take the "aging badly/injury" odds on a position player over a pitcher any time (see: Mahle, Tyler)...plus Arraez is a year younger.  Maybe the prospect sent along with Lopez will even things out, but right now the Marlins are laughing about the theft they pulled off.

    TwinsDr2021

    TwinsDr2021 4,463

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    1 hour ago, Road trip said:

    Gosh, I'll just strongly disagree with any takes on here that essentially say "Arraez isn't that good" as a way to justify a trade that the Marlins would make 10 times out of 10. 

    Currently Arraez is #5 among all NL position players in bWAR.  Don't like bWAR?  He's #3 in OPS, which obviously includes slugging percentage.  Don't like OPS?  He's #2 in Adjusted OPS+.  He's not only the best 2B in the NL, this year he's one of the NL's best players at any position!  He even leads the NL in intentional walks received... so perhaps the opposition respects him even if some fans don't.  Arraez likely won't win the MVP because Acuna is otherworldly awesome and plays on the best team in the NL, but if the season ended today Arraez would almost certainly finish in the top 5.

    Will he age badly?  Sure, he might... but so might Lopez.  I'll take the "aging badly/injury" odds on a position player over a pitcher any time (see: Mahle, Tyler)...plus Arraez is a year younger.  Maybe the prospect sent along with Lopez will even things out, but right now the Marlins are laughing about the theft they pulled off.

    So you took that he won't win an MVP because he doesn't hit homers as he isn't that good? I was responding to somebody else saying if he wins MVP, not if he ends up in the top 5 which you seem to be saying.

    On ESPN and baseball reference (maybe the same, not sure) he is behind Marte in WAR (3.6,3.5), In case you didn't know Marte also plays second, not saying Marte is better but there could be an argument made.

    In no way was I saying he isn't good, because obviously he is,  I was just pointing out facts, only Ichiro won an MVP with less than 10 homers and that was in 2001 before that was Rose in 1973. I could also point out how few second basemen win the award.

    If you re-read my response to somebody I didn't even comment on if the trade was good or bad, so

    Would I have made the trade, yup, Would I have made the trade knowing how the two players would play in a 1/2 season I still would. The Twins got a 27 year old pitcher with a better than average track record and this FO hasn't proved they can develop that themselves. Do I think the Marlins are laughing, I don't, I think they are happy that they went out and got a offensive player that is really good for a position that seem pretty good at developing, how this trades ends up is still yet to be determined but as of now I think the Marlins are really, really happy, and the Twins are satisfied they were able to slot in a starter that averages 6 innings a start and as of yet hasn't gotten hurt. Does it hurt not having Arraez, yes, where we hoping for more from Lopez, yes, but having Arraez and say SWR in the rotation make this a better team, I don't know that it does.

    Want to know who might be laughing right now? Toronto and Houston, they got Berrios and Pressly and the Twins have gotten, wait for it basically nothing to this point.

     

    Fire Dan Gladden

    Fire Dan Gladden 4,459

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    On 6/28/2023 at 12:54 PM, roger said:

    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.  

    Pretty much this...



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