Report: Twins could still get Maeda in separate deal

We’ve written roughly 10,000 words this week about former newest Twins Kenta Maeda. We’ve written another 15,000 on the drama surrounding Brusdar Graterol and the dirty-dealing Red Sox. If you need a recap, click on one of the twenty-ish other articles on the home page. Bob Nightengale brought some interesting information into play a few hours ago.

Now, because this a Bob-tweet without other confirmation, I suggest you take this information with a grain of salt big enough to fill Target Field.

Update: we have another reporter suggesting the same thing:

This, however, might be the best possible outcome for the Twins. If they can get Maeda and keep a fireballing 21-year old with options as a piece of the bullpen at the same time, that only makes the 2020 that much stronger. It’s especially good if they manage to make the Dodgers slightly weaker in the process, as LA will be the favorite to represent the National League in the World Series going into spring training.

Sure, the Dodgers have enough pitching depth Maeda won’t really sting to lose (since they were willing to trade him anyway,) but sending them a prospect who’s a couple years away does take a small piece from their 2020 puzzle. If the Twins can acquire Maeda for a couple of lower-minors prospects, its a huge boost to the 2020 team.

Another relatively fair approach would be trade Graterol for Maeda straight up. I guess that depends on what LA sees in the medical report... and if they know how to use google.

Just to look at what that trade might be, I looked at the simulator over at baseballtradevalues.com. They rate Maeda at 18.4 and Graterol at 14.3—its considered a moderate overpay by the Dodgers, but with a high probability of being accepted. A couple other options, if the Dodgers needed more value would be to add either Blayne Enlow or LaMont Wade. Both of those players are rated at 4.1, putting the trade deal at exactly equal value. This also would have been a reasonable ask for Boston—certainly not asking the Twins to add another top-ten pick.

For comparison’s sake, Jhoan Duran and Jordan Balazovic are both rated just over 17. For those of you who wanted to trade Eddie Rosario for an ace pitcher this off season, he’s at 13.3, or in other words, the best-case scenario for a return would be a player like Maeda, and that’s even a slight stretch. Too bad the Dodgers really don’t need another outfielder—but I’ve never been on board with trading Rosie anyway.

If the Twins are out of the three-way trade, which we have heard conflicting reports on at this point, would you make a separate trade for Maeda? What would you be willing to give up to make it happen?