2019 Trade Deadline Thread

[Barkerfan23]

 

Really wow.

[jaysguy44]

 

Oh boy, but weren't they trying to deal Larnach? They probably think he's more attractive than he really is.

 

Unless Graterol or Balazovic were on the table, I'm not mad.

[DigitalRock]

Really wow.

 

Hard to defend Atkins if this is true.

[glory]

The full quote from that blurb:

 

Stroman was the first target and sources indicated the Twins were disappointed when Toronto didn’t give them a chance to match an offer they believed they could have outdone. The Blue Jays were rebuffed when they originally asked the Twins for either of their top prospects, Royce Lewis or Alex Kirilloff, and never called back before accepting a deal for two New York Mets pitching prospects.

[DigitalRock]

The full quote from that blurb:

 

Doesn't make Atkins look good Imo... Should have done more to maximize value

[jaysguy44]

Skatkins must be rock hard for SWR.

[Angrioter]

could you please post the article?

 

 

Dont want to install the app

[Farm]

Bolded the parts I found interesting below. Prices were high and stayed high (in part due to less supply, but still notable that the "low" return on Stroman didn't cause meaningful drop in selling prices.)

 

Also interesting that buyers thought we would lower prices closer to the deadline but that didn't end up happening. Obviously Lewis would have been a pipe dream, but if the Jays had internal metrics valuing Kirilloff and SWR similarly, I can see how the trade makes sense.

 

Maybe in the future teams won't try to low-ball/play games at the beginning of trade negotiations.

 

Then again, that doesn't seem to be the case looking at the trades that followed.

 

They didn’t land the trophy fish they wanted before Wednesday’s trade deadline, but the Twins aren’t about to throw back their catch, either. Although none of the blockbuster moves they pursued came to fruition, the Twins feel as if they strengthened their biggest weakness with a trade for San Francisco Giants reliever Sam Dyson.

 

Acquired for three minor leaguers, Dyson is the second high-leverage reliever acquired by the first-place Twins in the past four days as they retool a bullpen that struggled throughout July. With Dyson and Sergio Romo in the mix, the Twins, 7-4 winners over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night, believe they’re in much better shape to hold off the charging Cleveland Indians, who remain three games back in the American League Central.

 

“I felt really good about us getting two guys that can solidify our bullpen,” chief baseball officer Derek Falvey said. “That was our goal, primarily. We certainly fed into some potential opportunities outside of that across the board, across our roster, because that’s our job and we want to make sure we don’t leave any stone unturned. But I feel like adding two really quality, experienced guys who are having success this year that can help lengthen out our bullpen only adds to the group.”

 

In Dyson and Romo, the Twins added the Nos. 7 and 13 overall relievers in Win Percentage Added to their 25-man roster, according to FanGraphs. No other reliever traded this month has had a bigger impact on their team’s fortunes this season than Romo (2.07 WPA) and Dyson (1.83). By comparison, Taylor Rogers, who closed out the Twins’ victories on Tuesday and Wednesday, is ninth in WPA (1.96).

 

But the Twins had hoped to add even more to their group. They spent the better part of the last month trying to find a way to make a big splash before Wednesday’s deadline. Those efforts intensified over the past week as the Twins pursued several front-of-the-rotation starting pitchers, including Trevor Bauer, Noah Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman, and they made inquiries about Zack Greinke.

 

Stroman was the first target and sources indicated the Twins were disappointed when Toronto didn’t give them a chance to match an offer they believed they could have outdone. The Blue Jays were rebuffed when they originally asked the Twins for either of their top prospects, Royce Lewis or Alex Kirilloff, and never called back before accepting a deal for two New York Mets pitching prospects.

 

After Stroman landed in New York, the Twins moved on to Noah Syndergaard, only to learn the Mets wanted major-league help or both Lewis and Kirilloff. The Twins had no interest in parting with center fielder Byron Buxton to acquire Syndergaard and would have parted with one of their top prospects in the right package, but talks never advanced. Syndergaard was effectively pulled off the market Tuesday night.

 

That left the Twins in pursuit of Greinke and Bauer, who were traded but had difficult conditions attached.

 

Traded to the Cincinnati Reds by Cleveland on Tuesday, Bauer would only have joined the Twins via an expensive three-team deal. Greinke, who landed in Houston in a stunning last-minute trade, would have only joined the Twins after waiving a no-trade clause, which may have been a sticking point. Nobody had a chance to find out how much difficulty the clause would have caused because the Astros, who weren’t on the list, were so aggressive the Diamondbacks determined it was Houston or nobody else.

 

That the Reds and Mets, two teams who aren’t contending in 2019 but plan to make a push in 2020, acquired two of the top starting pitchers available threw a wrench into everyone’s plans and kept prices absurdly high.

 

“It was one of the most unique trade deadlines I’ve ever experienced,” Twins general manager Thad Levine said. “One error I made was assuming that early in the trade cycle that the leverage was towards the seller. I assumed that there was going to be a little bit of a shift of that see-saw back to the buyer as we got closer to the deadline. I’m not sure we ever saw the shift in the see-saw. The sellers felt pretty emboldened. They set the prices high, which is very normal in a trade deadline. But I’m not sure they moved off of those high asks at any point, and as a result, there were just a finite number of players that meaningfully changed the fortunes of playoff-contending teams.”

 

Beyond the four starting pitchers and Madison Bumgarner, who was rumored to be available but stayed put in San Francisco, the Twins weren’t enamored with any other options. They had interest in Arizona’s Robbie Ray but were concerned because he’s only made more than 30 starts once in his career. The team also lost interest in Texas Rangers All-Star Mike Minor, who had a 6.04 ERA in four starts this month.

 

That left the Twins swimming in the relief market, where they’ve long needed help. The Twins bypassed a chance to sign free agent Craig Kimbrel in June with the belief they could instead trade for a reliever in the midst of a good season. They long had interest in San Francisco’s Will Smith, who leads major-league relievers with a 3.71 WPA but wasn’t traded. San Diego’s Kirby Yates, second in WPA (3.53), and Pittsburgh’s Felipe Vázquez, fourth in WPA (2.82), were also inquired upon. But none of them were moved.

 

“There were a number of players that did have future control that were at least in discussions with us and I’m sure with a number of other clubs that ended up staying where they were,” Falvey said. “It created a little bit of a different dynamic this deadline. I would say it was certainly different than what I experienced before. But I’m just glad we were able to target two guys in the right part of our team that could help us down the stretch.”

 

Romo already made his impact felt in his second day with the club. Even though he was working in a strange spot, wearing his hat a little lower than normal as to not make eye contact with batters he only 72 hours earlier called teammates, Romo was effective as he fed the Marlins a steady diet of sliders in a 2-1 victory on Tuesday. Romo’s presence meant the Twins didn’t have to turn to Rogers for six outs, something they’ve done often in critical spots the past two months.

 

“Hopefully we can get away from Rog having to go two innings now to save a ballgame,” pitching coach Wes Johnson said. “It frees you up to really match up.”

 

The addition of Dyson offers the Twins even more experience in the back end. Dyson and Rogers have been closers and setup men, which means manager Rocco Baldelli doesn’t strictly have to rely on Rogers with the game on the line.

 

Romo has converted 126 of 154 saves in his career and has 163 career holds. Dyson has 59 saves in 80 tries and 67 holds.

 

Their presence fills the void left by the Twins’ decision to designate Blake Parker for assignment last week.

 

“(Dyson is) a guy who has a proven track record,” Romo said. “He’s been throwing a lot of strikes since he got his opportunities with the Giants. It’s a power sinker and a power arm. He pitches to contact, but also knows how to get a strikeout when he needs it. His presence, his demeanor on the mound — he’s also a quiet guy, but extremely aggressive. I think he’s going to fit.”

 

After a frustrating few days attempting to acquire starting pitching, the Twins’ efforts to secure relief help Wednesday were so quiet a mouse would have admired it.

 

Asked about packages including Lewis or Kirilloff at every turn, and in some instances both, the Twins front office entered the day with nothing certain. However, executives were optimistic they had options in place, including Dyson, whom they originally discussed with San Francisco last week.

 

That optimism extended to the coaching staff. Baldelli knew the Twins had a lot of possibilities and that the 25-man roster wouldn’t look drastically different as a result of the deadline.

 

Their confidence was rewarded about 2:15 p.m. CST when Falvey and the Giants engaged again on Dyson. The Twins suspected San Francisco would move late as it spent time determining how it could move forward and expect to contend. The two sides spent roughly 30 minutes going back and forth on names before agreeing upon a deal at 2:45 pm. At 2:50 p.m., the teams began to exchange medicals on the players involved and the deal was cleared five minutes before the deadline.

 

One staffer said he expected the Twins to end up with a reliever no matter what but was pleasantly surprised when the teams’ efforts resulted in a deal for Dyson, who isn’t eligible for free agency until after the 2020 season. A sinkerball pitcher with an outstanding cut fastball, Dyson has been outstanding since he arrived in San Francisco in a June 2017 trade. Dyson posted a 2.94 ERA and struck out 130 batters in 159 1/3 innings with the Giants.

 

The addition of Dyson allows a talented group of inexperienced Twins relievers to earn their stripes by pitching in lower-leverage situations down the stretch. The Twins are excited about the potential for a group that includes Trevor May, Tyler Duffey, Zack Littell, Lewis Thorpe and Cody Stashak. But having Dyson and Romo to lean on in key spots means those pitchers can pitch in key spots without the need to be relied upon at all times.

 

“When you’re talking about a bullpen situation, having different options, real quality options helps,” Baldelli said. “I think it also helps to push some other guys into some other very important spots. It allows you to fill up those innings in a better way.

 

“This is a very nice acquisition for us.”

 

The combination of great command from José Berríos and a strong game plan had Mitch Garver thinking no-hitter early on Wednesday. Berríos eventually surrendered an infield single to start the fifth inning but he never slowed down during an outstanding seven-inning effort in a mostly easy 7-4 victory over Miami.

 

Berríos needed only 81 pitches to complete seven scoreless innings and tied a season high with 11 strikeouts as he limited the Marlins to two hits and walked none.

 

“Some of the best stuff I’ve seen out of him,” Garver said. “The way he located his fastball both sides and being able to locate his breaking ball and changeup — we came into this game plan basically saying ‘throw everything’ because everything matches up well with this team. Throw it in situations you want to, dominate the zone, get it over the plate, and he did all of those things. It was good.

 

“It was the fourth inning and I was thinking about (a no-hitter). I knew we had to start doing some different things to different guys that second time, maybe third time through the order. Start them off with different pitches, get ahead early. He was able to throw stuff where he wanted to.”

 

Twins hitters put together a strong game plan of their own. A combination of patience from some and aggressive approaches from others helped the Twins knock talented youngster Sandy Alcantara out with two outs in the fifth inning.

 

Garver got the Twins offense going with his 20th home run of the season, driving in three runs to break a scoreless tie. The 414-foot homer also snapped an 0-for-17 streak for Garver.

 

“It feels good,” Garver said. “I needed it. I haven’t really been in a funk this year, so I was definitely in one this past week. That’s how baseball is. It’s weird. You can feel good and not get any hits and line out a few times or whatever it may be, but I was able to turn in a few good at-bats.”

 

Max Kepler hit his 29th home run in the fifth to extend the lead to four runs and also walked three times in four plate appearances. After he was robbed of extra bases earlier, Eddie Rosario smacked a two-run homer, also in the fifth, to make it 6-0. Jonathan Schoop singled in a run later in the frame to extend the lead to seven.

 

“(Garver’s numbers) are beyond impressive to this point in the season,” Baldelli said. “To expect that you ride that out without any dips at all that would be hard to expect, I think. This is what he has been doing when he gets right. He’s hit some pretty impressive home runs to the middle of the field both at home and the road and in some big ballparks. It was a good swing. He hit the ball really good to get it out where he did. Again, it helped put us in a spot where it got the ball rolling for us.”

Edited August 1, 2019 by Farm

[Thaddeus Malice]

Why on earth was Atkins in such a rush to make that deal? He had time. Again with the Cal Stevenson toss in and with not getting back to the Twins we're getting signs that he's not a good negotiator and I would say seems to be to narrowly focused. He wants Fisher, so he tosses in a decent prospect when he didn't need to. He wants SWR so he doesn't even check back with the Twins once the Mets offer is on the table.

 

That's not good.

[Jonn]

 

Jesus Christ that’s f***ing annoying.

[xposbrad]

Jesus Christ that’s f***ing annoying.

 

All we know is, scouting is pretty decent so far based on picks, just Atkins is not a good negotiator which is evident in the Grichuk signing and his trades. So why is he still here?

[JaysAllMighty]

Twins just trying to save face imo.

 

"Stroman was the first target" if true then they didn't try hard enough. If not what Jays asked for then what did they offer in return?

 

I call BS.

[metafour]

Jesus Christ that’s f***ing annoying.

 

No offense, but the fact that some you can't sniff out rival teams' BS is pretty puzzling.

 

Use some common sense. These teams are facing their own heat for NOT making moves. The Twins needed starting pitching and were after starting pitching, and they came away with nothing. It is incredibly easy for them to, after the fact, state that "we really wanted Stroman and had an even better offer that we were willing to make! We can't believe they wouldn't let us beat the offer they ended up taking!"

 

Its a horseshit attempt at spinning the narrative so that it looks like they wanted to get a deal done, but we somehow blew it by taking less. That way they absolve responsibility for not adding like they were expected to add, as if it was "out of their hands" LOL.

[DigitalRock]

No offense, but the fact that some you can't sniff out rival teams' BS is pretty puzzling.

 

Use some common sense. These teams are facing their own heat for NOT making moves. The Twins needed starting pitching and were after starting pitching, and they came away with nothing. It is incredibly easy for them to, after the fact, state that "we really wanted Stroman and had an even better offer that we were willing to make! We can't believe they wouldn't let us beat the offer they ended up taking!"

 

Its a horseshit attempt at spinning the narrative so that it looks like they wanted to get a deal done, but we somehow blew it by taking less. That way they absolve responsibility for not adding like they were expected to add, as if it was "out of their hands" LOL.

 

Lol at Atkins defenders.. Yes it's all a conspiracy.

[metafour]

Lol at Atkins defenders.. Yes it's all a conspiracy.

 

Sorry that I'm not dumb enough to buy after-the-fact claims by rivals teams that they supposedly made all these "much better" offers but are flabbergasted that we just wouldn't listen.

 

Use your brain dumbass. The Twins F.O. is facing their own scrutiny. Its called deflecting.

[DigitalRock]

Sorry that I'm not dumb enough to buy after-the-fact claims by rivals teams that they supposedly made all these "much better" offers but are flabbergasted that we just wouldn't listen.

 

Use your brain dumbass. The Twins F.O. is facing their own scrutiny. Its called deflecting.

 

Lol... Yeah the twins are an arch rival.. Lease.

[DigitalRock]

Sorry that I'm not dumb enough to buy after-the-fact claims by rivals teams that they supposedly made all these "much better" offers but are flabbergasted that we just wouldn't listen.

 

Use your brain dumbass. The Twins F.O. is facing their own scrutiny. Its called deflecting.

 

Anyone who disagrees is dumb... Great arguments bro you nearly convinced me until I thought for half a second.

[jaysguy44]

Lol at Atkins defenders.. Yes it's all a conspiracy.

 

Ah so you believe everything that other teams Executives state, but nothing the Jays Executives state?

 

Got it, makes sense.

 

Do you watch other sports? This literally happens in every league. "Oh s***, we struck out on the deal. We would have offered more than they accepted!"

 

Fo you ever stop and think that they may be recieving some heat from Twins Fans for not making a big splash?

[AintNoThang]

Jesus Christ that’s f***ing annoying.

 

Atkins stated that he went back to all the other legimatly interested teams after getting that offer and tried to get them to add more value, and they wouldn't. Who's lying?

[Barkerfan23]

Y'all gonna look stupid when we have the best 1-2 Punch in baseball. Pearson and SWR

[jaysguy44]

Atkins stated that he went back to all the other legimatly interested teams after getting that offer and tried to get them to add more value, and they wouldn't. Who's lying?

 

I mean all this talk is pretty dumb, what do the Twins consider a better package?

 

I'm sure the Twins are higher on most of there own prospects then any other team, hense why they are Twins prospects.

 

They could legitimately think that Larnoch>SWR, and with that they spew that "our offer may have been better".

[Brownie19]

What's interesting is they said sellers prices didn't drop as the deadline approached. Contrary to the reports that Atkins destroyed the market by giving away Stroman.

 

As pointed out - all of these reports are just utter ******** posturing, but the reality is - the price for the top starters wasn't very f***ing high at all. The top prospect anyone received in the Stro, Bauer, Grienke deals was Logan Allen for f*** sakes. 98th overall prospect.

[Slade]

 

This one still bothers me.

[Barkerfan23]

Barker ripping Atkins apart

[Ray]

 

This one still bothers me.

 

I’m probably the highest guy you can find on this board on Cal Stevenson, and even I can admit you’ll never be able to judge a 10th round $5000 signing until he hits well in AA.

 

Realistically, the Jays probably have the most reliable intel on Stevenson. There’s probably something in his game that they feel won’t really translate to the major league level or some other flaws that we can’t notice in the stat line.

[AintNoThang]

I mean all this talk is pretty dumb, what do the Twins consider a better package?

 

I'm sure the Twins are higher on most of there own prospects then any other team, hense why they are Twins prospects.

 

They could legitimately think that Larnoch>SWR, and with that they spew that "our offer may have been better".

 

The part that I'm referring to is where the Twins state that the Jays never gave them a chance to match or beat the offer. The Jays are saying they went back before the trade and gave other teams a chance to give more value and they wouldn't. If the Jays never gave the Twins a chance up their offer, especially since they had time before deadline to pull the trigger, than that would be a big let down.

[Jimcanuck]

The part that I'm referring to is where the Twins state that the Jays never gave them a chance to match or beat the offer. The Jays are saying they went back before the trade and gave other teams a chance to give more value and they wouldn't. If the Jays never gave the Twins a chance up their offer, especially since they had time before deadline to pull the trigger, than that would be a big let down.

 

Suspect this is ******** / sour grapes. Jays and Twinkies were likely having semi-daily communications for weeks. Whatever happened, I am sure the Twinkies are just as much to blame as the Jays, or more, or less.

[Barkerfan23]

Man baseball central took fan calls

 

Atkins is done here

[glory]

Atkins stated that he went back to all the other legimatly interested teams after getting that offer and tried to get them to add more value, and they wouldn't. Who's lying?

 

Everything is spin this time around. Atkins has to explain why he made a deal that practically everyone in and around baseball thought was too light, and teams like the Twins, Yanks, Red Sox, etc, have to explain inactivity. Depends on who you want to believe. I remember when the Raptors traded Vince Carter for absolute dog s***, a rival exec (might have been Jerry West) said he could have beat that offer easily. Considering what the actual trade was, that is easy to believe, and it is also easy to believe the Twins could have beaten the Mets offer considering what their farm looks like, but were they willing to? Again, believe whichever side you want. It's all spin.

[jaysguy44]

Man baseball central took fan calls

 

Atkins is done here

 

Couldn't be more irrelevant.

 

Not that I would mind if Atkins kick's rocks.