Minnesota Sports Forum

The Yankees and Twins are finalizing a blockbuster deal that would send Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Ben Rortvedt to New York. Catcher Gary Sanchez and infielder Gio Urshela would be part of the return heading back to Minnesota.

Wow. I did not expect this, but my initial reaction is that this is a very interesting deal for the Twins. Probably not a deal I would have made straight up, but I have to imagine there are more moves to follow. Minnesota does offload the rest of Donaldson's deal, which is a plus. Perhaps they make a significant signing soon... Trevor Story, anyone?

And if Story is signed, then that would potentially make one of their top shortstop prospects more available for trade. Perhaps you package one with a young arm for Frankie Montas? I'm attempting to see the bigger picture here. If that's what eventually happened, that would be a spectacular pivot from this front office.

The Twins will also look to move Gary Sanchez, which makes sense given that they have faith in Ryan Jeffers at catcher and typically like to rotate players through the designated hitter slot.

Edit: Ken Rosenthal reports that Minnesota will keep Sanchez and he'll split time with Jeffers. Hmm.

The story I read said The Twins have no interest in Sanchez. I'm not saying he should be untouchable, but what's the problem exactly?

Camden wrote:The Yankees and Twins are finalizing a blockbuster deal that would send Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Ben Rortvedt to New York. Catcher Gary Sanchez and infielder Gio Urshela would be part of the return heading back to Minnesota.

Wow. I did not expect this, but my initial reaction is that this is a very interesting deal for the Twins. Probably not a deal I would have made straight up, but I have to imagine there are more moves to follow. Minnesota does offload the rest of Donaldson's deal, which is a plus. Perhaps they make a significant signing soon... Trevor Story, anyone?

And if Story is signed, then that would potentially make one of their top shortstop prospects more available for trade. Perhaps you package one with a young arm for Frankie Montas? I'm attempting to see the bigger picture here. If that's what eventually happened, that would be a spectacular pivot from this front office.

Idk what the fuck is going on lol Gleeman says there sitting with 40 million to spend now.

This has to mean there signing Correa or Story.

They literally could sign Castellanous and Story and trade for Montas and have enough money.

Edit: Forgot to put this but this can't be a salary dump because why would they trade for Sonny Gray today if that was the case.

Are we sure Rosas isn't consulting with the Twins now? All these moves are really something.

I agree there has to be some sort of signing after this trade. It would make no sense to trade away one half of the infield for a utility player and a catcher after trading a catcher for a SS. This is a real offseason!

Well, it's at least partially a salary dump because at the surface level this is a bad trade for Minnesota. There's no chance Derek Falvey could realistically sell to the fans that Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela are better than Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Ben Rortvedt.

However, this deal does make sense if they plan to take on more salary in the form of significant free agent signings. The current payroll sits around $95-million after this trade, which means they have around $30-40-million to play with. They could have just shed salary without a plan to do anything, but that would be odd considering they just traded last year's first-round pick for a 32-year old frontline starter.

Frankly, I don't think they pull the trigger on this unless they think they can land one of the premier players still on the market -- Carlos Correa, or more likely Trevor Story. All the top pitchers have been signed so it likely won't be an arm that they're spending money on. It leaves those two shortstops as the main targets in my mind.

And if they're successful in acquiring one of those shortstops, then I have to think that Royce Lewis or Austin Martin become trade chips to bolster the rotation. The Sonny Gray trade and a big free agent acquisition would signify that they're in win-now mode. Frankie Montas might be the most attractive starter available with team-controlled years. This seems like the preferred route, at least theoretically.

Camden wrote:Well, it's at least partially a salary dump because at the surface level this is a bad trade for Minnesota. There's no chance Derek Falvey could realistically sell to the fans that Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela are better than Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Ben Rortvedt.

However, this deal does make sense if they plan to take on more salary in the form of significant free agent signings. The current payroll sits around $95-million after this trade, which means they have around $30-40-million to play with. They could have just shed salary without a plan to do anything, but that would be odd considering they just traded last year's first-round pick for a 32-year old frontline starter.

Frankly, I don't think they pull the trigger on this unless they think they can land one of the premier players still on the market -- Carlos Correa, or more likely Trevor Story. All the top pitchers have been signed so it likely won't be an arm that they're spending money on. It leaves those two shortstops as the main targets in my mind.

And if they're successful in acquiring one of those shortstops, then I have to think that Royce Lewis or Austin Martin become trade chips to bolster the rotation. The Sonny Gray trade and a big free agent acquisition would signify that they're in win-now mode. Frankie Montas might be the most attractive starter available with team-controlled years. This seems like the preferred route, at least theoretically.

It's obviously a salary dump move as part of the deal. Donaldson can play when healthy but these moves make some sense. Basically it's:

Garver, Ben R and Donaldson for
Sanchez, Gio and Ronny H.

I guess you could say they used Garver to help them get out of Donaldson's contract. Seems like a solid move to me especially if they actually sign someone. It will be interesting to see what happens with Sanchez.

Also I just saw the they got a minor league pitcher in the Gray deal. I wonder if they are gearing up to give up some minor league pitching in a deal.

I'm not saying the 21-year old Ronny Henriquez is as valuable of a prospect as 18-year old Chase Petty is or was, but he's been rated higher or comparable to the latter as a prospect on various outlets. The Twins essentially moved Petty for the more proven pitcher in Sonny Gray and already had his spot in the farm replaced by Henriquez, who was acquired in the deal that sent Mitch Garver to the Rangers. Savvy deal-making as far as I'm concerned.

A lot of moving parts so far, but I think all three trades were wins for Minnesota with the most recent one being tethered to what they do with that available salary.

Camden wrote:I'm not saying the 21-year old Ronny Henriquez is as valuable of a prospect as 18-year old Chase Petty is or was, but he's been rated higher or comparable to the latter as a prospect on various outlets. The Twins essentially moved Petty for the more proven pitcher in Sonny Gray and already had his spot in the farm replaced by Henriquez, who was acquired in the deal that sent Mitch Garver to the Rangers. Savvy deal-making as far as I'm concerned.

A lot of moving parts so far, but I think all three trades were wins for Minnesota with the most recent one being tethered to what they do with that available salary.

Good points.

I thought the way Gleeman broke down moving Berrios for value and then making a move for Gray was pretty interesting.

I'll say this here that the Twins didn't keep any of the fringy position players on the 40 man roster spot but they signed some of the back to minor league deals (I think most of us thought that was the smarter outcome) and they did keep some of the relievers in that same vein. I think there will be some good competition for roster spots...who will actually be here to compete for them...we will see. :)

Yeah, that Jose Berrios trade last summer looked like a big win at the time and it could be argued that the Twins look like even bigger thieves now considering they got a comparably good pitcher in Sonny Gray for significantly less and under contract for this year and next below market value. Highway robbery, as the saying goes.

All of us here would trade Jose Berrios and Chase Petty for Sonny Gray, Austin Martin, and Simeon Woods Richardson. Just a masterful series of moves there.