It has been reported the twins coveted Mahle more than any other pitcher on the market. Whether due to his lower cost or the expectation he may be as good or better than Castillo or Montas. Mahle cost quite a bit but we have the option of giving him a qualifying offer and if he does as well as we think he will that would turn into a pick at the end of the first round. Or we get him for another year. So right now we are looking at 1 year 2 months and a future end of the first round draft pick, or 2 years and 2 months for Mahle. That is a pretty good return.
I truly think the twins think he is an ACE. We will see if that comes to fruition or not. As to Lopez, this current version of him, he is a stud. 7 pitches 3 up 3 down. I was talking with my uncle yesterday and he thought I needed to know what a closers roll is since we haven't had one since Molitor left :). It was refreshing to not load the bases and hope we can get out of the inning by the skin of out teeth. Lopez for 2+ years for 1 solid prospect, and older reliever with control issues and 2 flyers seems like a very good deal for the Twins.
Fulmer for a player potential at risk in the rule V draft works out very well for the Twins. Its another reliable arm to spread out the stress and responsibilites.
If Maeda can make it back and be a solid reliever in the bullpen, the bullpen is suddenly a strength of the team.
The trades made help as much for next year as this year. The cherry on top may be that Correa seems to be really invested in this team and organization. There is more of a possibility he may be willing to either not opt out or take a team friendly deal ( I use this term loosely). This puts the ball in managements court on how they want to attack next years team, but if Correa stays, we will have likely one of the top 5-6 teams in MLB and a legit shot at the World Series.