Minnesota Twins: Ranking the 1990s Top Trades in each Year

The look back at top Minnesota Twins trades continue with a look into the team’s best moves of the 1990s.

With the Minnesota Twins top moves of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s already ranked, we move into the 1990s. Despite winning a championship at the beginning of the decade, the rest of the decade wasn’t as successful, and that has to do with some trades the Twins made.

For a trade to make this list, the Twins need to come out ahead in terms of WAR. Once we’ve gone over the top deal for every year, we will rank them to find out the top trade the Twins ever made. With that in mind, let’s get these rankings started.

1990 Minnesota Twins

The Trade: Minnesota Twins trade P Mike Pomeranz (minors) to the Pittsburgh Pirates for P Orlando Lind (minors) and C Junior Ortiz.

We start of the 1990s with a trade that brought back a solid back-up catcher in Ortiz and only cost the Twins a prospect who never made the majors. Not one trade the Twins made during the year of 1990 had a major impact, so this is the best there is.

Result: +1.7 WAR after the trade, added a good backup catcher.

1991 Minnesota Twins

The Trade: Minnesota Twins trade 1B Joey Meyer to the Pittsburgh Pirates for OF Greg Sims (minors).

The best team in Minnesota Twins history made one trade the whole season, swapping prospects with the Pirates and neither player played in the MLB after the trade. Despite this, the Twins won their second title and brought the state of Minnesota to life once again.

Result: None.

1992 Minnesota Twins

The Trade: Minnesota Twins trade P Bill Krueger to the Montreal Expos for OF Darren Reed.

In 1992, the Twins executed several more trades that didn’t produce much of anything for the team. In fact, they sent out two trades that cost them negative WAR. This was the only trade where that wasn’t the case, where the Twins swapped struggling players.

Result: +0.2 WAR after the trade.

1993 Minnesota Twins

The Trade: Minnesota Twins trade P Jim Deshaies to the San Francisco Giants for a player to be named later (P Greg Brummett), INF Andres Duncan (minors) and P Aaron Fultz.

The Twins’ decade of bad trades continue, as none of the players traded brought back anything of value. It should say something that this was the best trade, as none of the players involved were worth more than 0.5 WAR combined.

Result: +0.3 WAR after the trade.

1994 Minnesota Twins

The Trade: Minnesota Twins trade OF Derek Lee to the Montreal Expos. Received P Joe Norris (minors).

More of the same. Neither of these two players played in the MLB again after this deal. This is getting hard to write about. The Twins in the mid-late 1990s were bad, and their trades throughout the decade followed suit.

At the midway point of the decade, the team wasn’t bringing in talent via trade and didn’t have a lot of talent on the roster outside of an aging Kirby Puckett and Rick Aguilera, a solid Marty Cordova, and one star in Chuck Knoblauch. Their pitching was the worst part of it all.

Result: None.

1995 Minnesota Twins

The Trade: Minnesota Twins trade P Rick Aguilera to the Boston Red Sox for a player to be named later (OF J.J. Johnson (minors)) and P Frankie Rodriguez.

Finally! Something interesting! The Twins spent 1995 shipping out some of the last pieces of their 1991 championship team. Rick Aguilera, Mark Guthrie, Kevin Tapani, and Scott Erickson were all traded to other teams. While this was the right move given the state of things, only the Aguilera ended up with a positive result.

Erickson turned his career around in Baltimore while Tapani and Guthrie brought in Ron Coomer and nothing else. Meanwhile Aguilera only lasted a season in Boston before returning to Minnesota so this is the team’s first real win since 1990.

Result: +1.1 WAR after the trade, added a decent reliever.

1996 Minnesota Twins

The Trade: Minnesota Twins trade 3B Dave Hollins to the Seattle Mariners for a player to be named later (1B David Ortiz).

After sending out a lot of the roster that led the Twins to a title and saying goodbye to Kirby Puckett, the team set off in a new direction. Once again, 1996 only had minor moves, but one of those moves was a positive one.

Despite David Ortiz’s clashing with coaching and the organization, he was a decent player with the Twins posting a 2.6 WAR in limited playing time. Hollins only played 28 games with the Mariners before leaving in free agency, so the Twins win this one.

Result: +1.5 WAR, added a solid player for an expiring contract.

1997 Minnesota Twins

The Trade: Minnesota Twins trade OF Roberto Kelly to the Seattle Mariners for players to be named later (P Joe Mays and P Jeromy Palki (minors).

FINALLY! A legitimate trade! The Twins knew they had a decent trade chip in former All-Star Roberto Kelly’s expiring contract. Kelly wouldn’t be coming back to Minnesota, so the Twins swung a deal to acquire two okay prospects. While one turned into a bust, the other became a reliable starter.

Kelly was good in Seattle before he left for the Rangers in free agency while Mays had four bad season and one All-Star year, making the trade easily the best deal the Twins made to this point in the decade.

Result: +9.6 WAR after the trade, added an All-Star starter.

1998 Minnesota Twins

The Trade: Minnesota Twins trade 2B Chuck Knoblauch to the New York Yankees for OF Brian Buchanan, SS Cristian Guzman, P Eric Milton, P Danny Mota and cash.

When Chuck Knoblauch requested to be traded, it sent the organization off its course. Trading the face of the franchise would be tough, but man did the Twins get a good deal out of it. This deal looks different if Knoblauch doesn’t get the yips, but as it stands, the Twins were big winners.

Despite Brian Buchanan and Danny Mota not amounting to much, Cristian Guzman and Eric Milton turned into All-Star franchise cornerstones of the early 2000s and the Twins gained a sizable WAR advantage. The two players were a huge part of turning the franchise around, making the Twins big winners in a tough situation.

Result: +15.0 WAR after the trade, added two All-Stars and started the franchise in the right direction.

1999 Minnesota Twins

The Trade: Minnesota Twins trade P Jared Camp (minors) to the Florida Marlins for  P Johan Santana and cash.

In 1999, the Twins traded a 37 year-old Rick Aguilera and prospect Scott Downs for Kyle Lohse and Jason Ryan, a deal that earned them 6.6 WAR and was the fourth-best trade of the decade. But that trade doesn’t hold a candle to this deal.

In December of 1999, the Twins swapped prospects with the Florida Marlins, flipping Jared Camp for a 20-year-old kid named Johan Santana. Neither team knew what would come next, but we have the benefit of hindsight.

Santana would become a two-time Cy Young winner and three time All-Star in Minnesota and go one of the most dominant three year runs ever before earning himself a spot in the Twins Hall of Fame. Jared Camp never made the majors. Wow.

Result: +35.8 WAR, added a Twins legend.

Top 5 Minnesota Twins Trades of the Decade

1. Minnesota Twins trade P Jared Camp (minors) to the Florida Marlins for  P Johan Santana and cash. The Twins’ final trade of the decade turned out to be the best. The Twins landed one of their five best starting pitchers of all-time and all it took was a prospect who never made the majors. The greatest steal in team history.
2. Minnesota Twins trade 2B Chuck Knoblauch to the New York Yankees for OF Brian Buchanan, SS Cristian Guzman, P Eric Milton, P Danny Mota and cash. Knoblauch put the Twins in a tough spot, but the team added a couple of All-Stars and helped put together a future while Knoblauch’s career fell apart away from Minnesota.
3. Minnesota Twins trade OF Roberto Kelly to the Seattle Mariners for players to be named later (P Joe Mays and P Jeromy Palki (minors). The Twins add a starter who put together six seasons (including one All-Star trip) for an expiring contract on a player who wouldn’t come back. That’s a good get.
4. Minnesota Twins trade Rick Aguilera and Scott Downs to the Chicago Cubs for Kyle Lohse and Jason Ryan. The Twins ship out a veteran and a prospect to bring in a good pitcher who would be a reliable rotation piece for six years in Minnesota.
5. Minnesota Twins trade P Mike Pomeranz (minors) to the Pittsburgh Pirates for P Orlando Lind (minors) and C Junior Ortiz. For lack of a better option, this trade lands here. Adding a good back-up catcher for a title run was good move by the Twins.