Just over a year after trading to prospects away, the Jorge Lopez trade has officially busted in the worst possible way.
To be fair, the Lopez trade was already a total bust. It took the Minnesota Twins less than a year to punt on the acquisition, trading Lopez to the Miami Marlins ahead of this year’s trade deadline. It was already a bad look, as the Twins traded four prospects for the All-Star closer with that hopes he’d be able to serve as a missing piece in the bullpen.
Instead, Lopez flamed out. Once in Minnesota, Lopez’s ERA ballooned to 4.37 and topped out at 5.09 before he was traded. Things didn’t get much better once he landed in Miami, as his ERA is up to 9.26, but that’s almost beside the point.
Miami waived Lopez this week and he was claimed by the Baltimore Orioles. This means that the Twins essentially donated four prospects to the Orioles farm system — one of which ended up being an All-Star closer this year.
The optics of the deal are absolutely brutal.
At the time it felt like a worthy gamble. The Twins looked competitive and had hopes of being a few pieces away from truly contending. The Lopez trade was supposed to ice that intention but instead the entire team went into a deep freeze it’s still trying to get out of.
Minnesota’s bullpen has been in shambles all season and things are getting progressively worst. Watching Yennier Cano pitch to an All-Star level in place of Lopez only makes things worse, and this latest news brings things full circle.