Minnesota Twins: Making Sense of the Trade Deadline Nonsense

The 2021 season has officially crashed like a runaway train into a commuter bus. No one saw this level of carnage coming for the Minnesota Twins, with horrendous pitching and a lineup that struggles in crunch time leading the team to a lost season.

The trade deadline has come and gone, and the Twins were active sellers. The team’s trades have been graded out and broken down, but I’m going to do some more sorting out of the sensible and nonsensical moves Minnesota made.

Minnesota Twins moves that made a Lot of Sense

J.A. Happ: I’ll stop short of calling this a fleecing, but to get 2 power arm prospects in Evan Sisk and John Gant for the shell of J.A. Happ was just tremendous. I’m sure neither will be in the Hall of Fame but any productivity will be easy to match what Happ produced or, more accurately, failed to produce. This made the most sense out of all of the Twins’ moves

Nelson Cruz: We all loved Nelly and the joy he brought Minnesota fans while hitting in a Twins uniform. Unfortunately, an expiring contract on a losing team meant that a trade was best for both parties. On top of that, Joe Ryan and Drew Strotman are 2 legit prospects that may develop into quality MLB players.

Minnesota Twins moves that made a Little Sense

Hansel Robles: Call this one an even swap. Both pitchers flash productivity, and it’s possible a change of scenery will help keep Robles’ career going and get Schreff’s started. If Schreff plays a year or two in the Twins’ bullpen, the Twins got the better of this deal as he has youth on his side.

Byron Buxton: It made some sense to hold on to Buck for now. He’s injured, and I still like the idea of signing him or seeing if he can increase his trade value. The timing just wasn’t right for him to be moved, so holding him made sense.

Minnesota Twins moves that were complete Nonsense

Michael Pineda: I can’t make out a good reason as to why Big Mike is still a Twin. He has legit trade value as a solid starter in a week market. For the Twins, he’s on an expiring contract, and they may lose him for nothing this offseason. It’s really nonsense he’s still around.

Minnesota Twins Move that needs making Sense of Sense and Nonsense

Jose Berrios: Berrios made it clear he was going to test the free agent waters after next season, likely commanding a large deal. That put the Twins behind the 8 ball as they can’t, or refuse to, compete in a bidding war. Jose’s trade value was about as high as it was going to get.

In addition to that, the trade brought in a lot of talent in prospects Austin Martin and Simeon Woods-Richardson. Martin looks like an outstanding hitter and runner, while SWR has high potential, so the return makes this a good trade. Lots of sense on both sides.

What’s utter nonsense however, is the Twins front office refusing again to invest in a top of the rotation pitcher for the future. The Twins kept this tradition alive with trading for value rather than investing big money for the future. History seems to repeat itself and such is the case with the Twins.

As Twins fans, we seemed doomed to perils of being a mid-market team. When we do make the playoffs the talents not there to win big games. We’re stuck in MLB purgatory, what a tough place to be. In a sense, is pure nonsense.