Twins back out of three-team trade with Red Sox and Dodgers

The Minnesota Twins have reportedly bowed out of the blockbuster three-team trade with the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. LEN3 was first on the report.

The deal, reported on Tuesday evening, would have originally sent starter reliever Brusdar Graterol to Boston while pitcher Kenta Maeda would be going to Minnesota. The “blockbuster” part of the trade would have been between Los Angeles and Boston; outfielder Mookie Betts and pitcher David Price would go to L.A. while the Red Sox would have received outfielder Alex Verdugo.

The Red Sox balked at the trade as reported early Thursday morning, claiming they saw something off-putting while reviewing Graterol’s medical records, even though Google is a thing and everyone and their mother knew of Graterol’s injury issues. However, many have been lead to believe that Boston halted the trade because of their fans’ displeasure with shedding payroll and moving two valuable pieces off of the team. The Boston and Minnesota front offices had lengthy discussions that were “slow-moving” according to sources, including a report that Boston asked for a top-ten prospect to join the Red Sox ranks in addition to Graterol.

On the other end of it all, the Dodgers did not seem to partake in any of the negotiations. Although the Dodgers were to receive quite a bit in the original trade scenario while not giving up a lot, it appeared that they were not offering to give up any additional players to appease the Red Sox. Of course, many Twins fans believed that Los Angeles should have had to give up more on their end as part of the trade - and rightfully so.

The talks have reportedly did not come to anything fruitful, and the Twins have decided to bow out of the trade altogether. So what does this mean on the surface?

• Flame-throwing Graterol remains with the Twins and has a good chance to make the team as a bullpen weapon.
• Maeda stays with the Dodgers, meaning that Minnesota still has two open rotation spots to fill before Opening Day
• Boston and Los Angeles can, and probably will, still complete their portion of the transaction. However, it is certain that other players or even another team will become involved before the trade is in the books.

Hopefully this past week initiated some great talks around the office water cooler. Maybe it gave you good feelings of having a more stable starting rotation going into the season. However, in relation to the Twins’ roster, we’re back to the morning of Tuesday, February 4. But hey, the Twins are still a great team.