Taj Bradley's dominance highlights Twins' recent history of fleecing Rays in trades

Taj Bradley is drawing national buzz after outdueling back-to-back American Cy Young Award-winner Tarik Skubal during the Minnesota Twins' 4-2 win against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.

While many Twins fans were understandably upset with Minnesota's Trade Deadline fire sale last summer, it's hard to criticize the Twins for trading a reliever in Griffin Jax for a starting pitcher who was just 24 years old at the time and had shown flashes of success in the big leagues. Jax may be among the better relievers in baseball (although he has struggled early this year), but Bradley has the potential to be way more valuable than the former Twins setup man.

On Tuesday, Bradley allowed just one earned run on six hits and no walks with 10 strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings en route to earning his second win of the season. Through three starts this year, Bradley has allowed just two earned runs and has struck out 22 batters over 16 2/3 innings.

Jax, who's allowed eight runs (five earned) in four innings this season, is under team control through 2027. Meanwhile, Bradley is under control through 2029. Even though there's still plenty of time for Jax and Bradley to change the current narrative surrounding the trade, it feels safe to say that Minnesota appears to be the winner of the deal for now.

Taj Bradley's dominance highlights Twins' recent history of fleecing Rays in trades

After Nelson Cruz posted a .907 OPS through 85 games with Minnesota in 2021, the Twins traded the designated hitter to the Rays for right-handed pitchers Joe Ryan and Drew Strotman.

The trade turned out to be an absolute steal for the Twins. Cruz posted an average .725 OPS in 55 regular-season games for the Rays, and he struggled mightily during the 2021 playoffs for Tampa Bay, going 3-for-17 as the Rays lost in the ALDS to the Boston Red Sox.

Meanwhile, Ryan went on to become one of the best starting pitchers in baseball. The righty has a career 3.80 ERA with 736 strikeouts in 655 2/3 innings dating back to his rookie season (2022). Ryan has undoubtedly been the Twins' ace over the past couple of seasons, and all the team had to give up to acquire him was half a season of Cruz.

Before the Twins fleeced the Rays by trading for Bradley and Ryan, the team acquired right-handed starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi from Tampa Bay in exchange for shortstop prospect Jermaine Palacios, who never made it to the majors with Tampa Bay and later returned to Minnesota, in Feb. 2018.

Odorizzi's first season with the Twins wasn't great, as he posted a 4.49 ERA in 164 1/3 innings. Then, he became one of the Twins' most counted-on starting pitchers during the Bomba Squad season (2019), representing Minnesota in the All-Star Game and posting 3.8 bWAR and a 3.51 ERA across 159 innings. He made just four starts during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season before signing a two-year deal with the Houston Astros.

People say to never trade with the Rays. Maybe people should start saying, "Never trade with the Rays unless you're the Minnesota Twins."