The Minnesota Twins traded another reliever for cash considerations

One day after the Minnesota Twins created a small firestorm by trading a reliever for cash, they did it again by sending Matt Magill to Seattle.

Saturday was not a good day for the Minnesota Twins. With their fans in DEFCON 1 mode anticipating a move to bolster their bullpen, the team opened the day by trading Mike Morin to the Philadelphia Phillies for cash considerations. The move prompted an interesting tweet from Jose Berrios and the bullpen turned around and blew a game that was down to its final strike in a loss to the Oakland Athletics.

But Sunday was a new day in Twins Territory and as the front office looked to seize the day, they started it by making a move that sent another reliever away for cash. Wait a second…seriously?

As the Twins continued their mini-makeover of their bullpen that began with designating three relievers for assignment, Minnesota traded away Matt Magill to the Seattle Mariners for cash considerations on Sunday morning. Much like in the scenario of the Morin move, the Twins were toward the end of the 10-day window to either release, trade or put Morin on waivers and instead of getting nothing, they opted to get the possibility of receiving some money in return.

Now, although this move is relatively meaningless, it still will look like a bad public relations move in the eyes of some. After Trevor May had another rocky performance before Max Kepler walked off on the Athletics on Sunday afternoon, the bullpen has become a touchy subject. With each reliever that walks out and has a bad night, the pressure intensifies to add an impact arm that will save the day.

Unfortunately, neither Magill or Morin were not good enough to even get a low-level prospect in return. In fact, the Twins are probably thankful they were able to get something for Morin, who’s 4.45 ERA would look even worse had his six runs allowed during the July 17 loss to the New York Mets been charged as earned runs.

This won’t stop some fans from seeing the words “cash considerations” and envision Jim Pohlad throwing a couple more coins into his Scrooge McDuck sized vault, but at its core, it’s another meaningless move. The Twins still have four empty spots on their 40-man roster and with nine days remaining before the July 31 trade deadline, that could go a long way toward adding someone via trade.

Until then, fans will hold their breath while the bullpen blows another game and wonder what the Twins are going to do with all that cash that they might not even receive.