The Twins return to Rhino and Compass with blazing intensity

I thought that I had a whole lot to talk about when I got back from my vacation last week, after the Twins had moved swiftly out of the lockout to trade for Sonny Gray and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and then kicked it up a notch on the intensity meter hours before my flight, dealing Kiner-Falefa, Josh Donaldson and Ben Rortvedt to the Yankees for Giovany Urshela and Gary Sanchez. Wow. 

And then they signed Carlos Correa. There is a lot to talk about, so let's try to talk about all of it. 

All the moves the Twins made definitely made a good bit of sense, especially as they happened. Initially, they made a move for a shortstop they needed. Despite some sentiment about Mitch Garver and his value, he also doesn't have a long, consistent track record, thanks to some durability issues, and he is already on the wrong side of thirty. Ryan Jeffers is younger, and had a good debut, and Ben Rortvedt is a solid defensive backstop, so the Twins dealt from strength to get a need. Because of his value, Garver netted the Twins a starting shortstop and a pitching prospect who is now in the top 20 in the Twins organization. It was a solid move, and an indication that the Twins were earnest in their expectation of contention this season. Now that the teams had expressed their confidence in Jeffers at catcher, and secured a shortstop in Kiner-Falefa, it was time to grab a pitcher. 

So that they did, trading for Sonny Gray, a long time target, and now a former Cincinnati Red. They traded last year's first round pick Chase Petty for Gray and a prospect. Petty never really had the profile of a typical Falvey/Levine prospect, but he did have raw ability. It makes sense that the Twins designated him as a trade chip, as opposed to an arm for the future. They grabbed Gray, who has a similar profile to Jose Berrios, which leaves many to speculate as to why Berrios was given away in the first place. 

The move for Gray seems to illustrate what the front office said at the time Berrios was traded to Toronto. The Twins were blown away by the offer. Consider, the Twins received players who are now their #2 and #4 prospects, according to MLBPipeline. They traded away the player that became #5 for the Reds, and the Twins even pulled back a different prospect of their own. Berrios was traded because Toronto's offer was too good to refuse. The Twins replaced Berrios at a cost that was lower than what they received when he was traded away. The Twins had a pitcher and a shortstop, and they were in business

And then, like a thunderbolt, the Twins and Yankees matched up for an enormous trade, which sent away that new shortstop with the primary intent of also removing the cost commitment of Josh Donaldson. To make everything work, they also dealt Rortvedt, but received change of scenery candidate Gary Sanchez and glove forward third baseman Giovany Urshela. Sanchez is famous for his bat, and he will DH often because of that, but isn't much behind the plate. He's struggled in the last few years, but his first few seasons saw him hit over 30 home runs twice. He won't be the every day catcher in Minnesota, but at least 20 home runs should be anticipated. Sanchez is only on the books this season, but it should be noted that he is younger than Garver. 

Urshela will be here for a couple of years, barring a trade. He isn't the offensive force that a team hopes for from the hot corner, but he is competent enough to hit in the high .200s (he hit over .300 in 2019) with about a dozen home runs. He will  be good with the glove over at third as well, which is something the Twins valued about Donaldson. For the production the Twins received from Donaldson, this perhaps isn't going to end up being as big a step down as it appears at first. 

But still, Sanchez and Urshela have their obvious flaws, but the real win for the Twins was getting Donaldson's salary off the books. Everyone expected a big move was coming, and yes, it did.

Of course, everyone was thinking the Twins would add Trevor Story, but instead, they grabbed the top free agent on the board, signing Carlos Correa to a mutually beneficial three year deal with two opt out years. 

Correa was drafted one spot ahead of Byron Buxton, and has played in more playoff games than the entire Twins organization, ever. He is a highly skilled defender and a good offensive player, who, altogether, will amass about 5 wins above replacement this season. If he doesn't, then he might take another crack at it in a Twins uniform. If he does, then that is awesome. He might leave, but Royce Lewis and Austin Martin would be right there, ready to take over. 

The Twins might still want to add more pitching, but it is unlikely that there is a deal as nice as the Sonny Gray deal on the table for Minnesota for a starter. There might be some more relievers invited to camp. Even if nothing else happens, this has still been a whirlwind of roster building.