Look out, Sandy Leon is coming

 A lot of weird things happened during the weekend series with the Toronto Blue Jays. There was the win on Friday that came after new closer Jorge Lopez blew a save (after the Twins had already almost already given up a 5-0 lead) that was ultimately won when Tim Beckham hit into a fielders choice, scoring Nick Gordon, but only after Jake Cave reached on a strikeout. There was Rocco Baldelli running out the same cast of pitching characters the next day for a little load testing. There was whatever the hell last night's ending was. Among the strangest things of all, though, was that I might be falling in love with new catcher Sandy Leon.

I give Minnesota fans a hard time about our attachment to first impressions, but I am just as prone to love at first sight as anyone else. And I mean, if we all loved Willians Astudillo, what's not to love about this total package?

Before the Friday game against the Blue Jays, I told my friend to watch out for Toronto catcher Alejandro Kirk, who was my favorite shaped player. Kirk is short and round. An everyman among ball players. Kirk pinch hit late in the game and stood next to Leon, who was catching, and it really brought things into perspective. Leon is an absolute unit. 5'10. 235 pounds, with 215 of those pounds (estimated) in his haunches. 

Aside from the skin deep attraction, Leon's also made a pretty decent first impression at the plate. Improbably, he came to the Twins with an OBP of .381, and it has only gone up since he arrived in town. Granted, it's only been three games, but Leon is only in town to keep Ryan Jeffers' roster spot warm. 3 games may ultimately be a good chunk of his time in the uniform.

He's been one of the studs in the games he has played. They are 3-0 when Leon starts, and he had a clutch double last Thursday, and reached base at important junctures on Saturday. He's been a good receiver throughout his career, and he hasn't disappointed yet with the Twins either.

What's not to love? 

Twins swing four trades on deadline day, silence critics for almost an hour.

 If you have listened to people on Twitter, Facebook or family gatherings for the last couple of months, it has been relentless grousing about how the Twins didn't do anything in the offseason, and they weren't going to do anything at the deadline, and ultimately, that they had missed the boat on doing things, even with a full 24 hours to the deadline. I insisted that they had done a lot of things in the offseason, and they were going to do something to address the shortcomings of the roster, but they had a tendency to wait for the last moment to do it.

I was right! 

While the Twins fan base peppered social media with hopelessness, the Twins turned around and did everything that those negative nellies said they needed to do, but couldn't or wouldn't. The team needed another starter to move towards the top of the rotation. There were three good ones available, and after Luis Castillo went to Seattle and Frankie Montas to the Yankees, the wailing and gnashing of teeth grew louder. The Twins weren't going to sacrifice the farm for Castillo and didn't have the pitchers Oakland wanted, so they added Tyler Mahle from the Reds for a price that they were comfortable with.

The Twins gave up two fast rising prospects in Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand, though neither was poised to take a spot on the Major League Roster any time soon. The line up, with Byron Buxton, Luis Arraez, Trevor Larnach, Alex Kiriloff, Jose Miranda and maybe even Royce Lewis will have spots in the lineup for a while. Stephen Hajjar, still a good prospect, is a 22 year old pitcher that is just now getting a grasp on the professional level. All of these players are good, but they don't have much of a place in the not so distant future.

Minnesota sent even more players to Baltimore for closer Jorge Lopez, a pitcher who moved to the bullpen and broker out in a big way this season, earning a trip to the All Star Game. The headliners were Cade Povich and Yennier Cano, but two pitchers from the international complex were included. Cano is a 28 year old Cuban who debuted, poorly, at the MLB level this year. Povich was a fast rising pitching prospect, but old enough and far enough down to be fully expendable.

Don't be fooled into thinking that the Twins gave up too much for Lopez. His bad numbers are from his time as a starter. Glen Perkins wasn't much of a starter either, but when he refined his offering and limited his exposure to hitters, he emerged as an all-star in the same manner as Lopez. He's under team control for another couple of years, and everyone outside of Jim Bowden believes that this was a good deal for the Twins, and a little sad for the Orioles, frankly.

The Twins also did a couple of 1 for 1 swaps with divisional rivals. The Tigers and Twins have often linked up for these little trades, and don't seem to have the reticence to do so that other divisional rivals do. In this case, the Twins added Michael Fulmer from the Tigers to work some late inning relief. This was the greatest area of concern, and the rental of Fulmer for Sawyer Gipson-Long, a prospect who has struggled at AA, made sense for both sides. 

The Twins also made a swap with the Cleveland Guardians. Minnesota has been rife with injuries, and the one that attacked the depth the most was Ryan Jeffers' injury. Caleb Hamilton isn't quite Major League capable, so Sandy Leon, acquired for a different Hamilton, Minor League reliever Ian, was acquired. Leon has plenty of playoff experience with Boston and Cleveland, and is a suitable stopgap, acquired at a reasonable fare. 

Unless your name is Jim Bowden, you were inclined to believe that the Twins nailed this deadline. They addressed all of their needs at a good price. It even quieted the Twitter masses. Well, until they lost Tuesday night. Then the pitchforks came out again.