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You’re sitting there and thinking, “Oh, the Minnesota Twins, my favorite team, is done making surprising moves and now they’re going to be a decent team. You know, they may make a run for the playoffs this year if all holds steady.” But wait, there’s more! Falvine is doing the thing once again:
Source: #Padres, #Twins working through final details of trade: Rogers and Rooker to SDP; Pagan and Paddack to MIN. Other components could be involved. @JeffPassan, @Ken_Rosenthal and @dennistlin were first. @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) April 7, 2022
The Twins are getting more pitching, this time from the San Diego Padres, before the season officially begins. They’re also sending away the bullpen ace and a fringe major-league outfielder in return. Let’s break it down.
Emilio Pagán is entering his sixth season of major-league work as a 30-year-old. His last two seasons have been with the Friars, where he put up a 4.75 ERA/5.09 FIP in 85.1 innings. His K/BB ratio was 3.41 and K/9 at 9.7 those two years as well. The Twins acquire the right-hander with one more year of arbitration left on the books, so they will have reliever through the 2023 season.
Chris Paddack is under team control through the 2024 season via arbitration. The righty starter has started 60 games in three years, including the shortened 2020 season, with the Padres. He’s put up a 4.21 ERA/4.10 FIP in 308 innings of work. Eno Sarris of The Athletic explains his pitches:
Chris Paddack has a good changeup, & by Pitching+, pushed his curveball to an average pitch last year. By doing so, he cost his fastball ride and that pitch slipped below average, but that’s where the upside is: if he can get the ride back on his fastball, it could still click.
— Eno Sarris (@enosarris) April 6, 2022
The Twins will reportedly send bullpen ace Taylor Rogers to southern California with this trade. The southpaw has essentially been a rock in the Minnesota bullpen for the past few years, earning All-Star honors last season when he posted a 13.2 K/9 rate in 40 games and 40.1 innings of work. He earned 30 saves in 2019, the year of the Bomba Squad and was the team’s representative for the player’s association. He landed on the injured list with a finger issue before the trade deadline last season, otherwise he probably wouldn’t be on the team. This is his last season of team control, so as much as it would be nice to have one more year of Taylor Rogers in the bullpen, the return with team control is very enticing.
Outfielder Brent Rooker is also going to the Padres in this trade. He had a cup of coffee with the Twins in 2020 and spent some more significant time (58 games) with the big-league team last season. All combined, he put together a .212/.299/.413 (.713) slash line with 10 homers and 21 RBI. Rooker was set to start the season with Triple-A St Paul with Kyle Garlick getting the nod as the fourth outfielder.
It will be interesting to see how Paddack and Pagán will fit into the Twins’ pitching corps. Will Paddack slot into the rotation or will he begin the season in the bullpen? Who becomes the de facto closer now that Rogers is in San Diego?
The Twins have once again made a surprising move, and on the league’s Opening Day, to boot! What are your thoughts?
Update (942a Central): The Twins will send cash to San Diego and the Friars will send the infamous PTBNL to the Twins as part of this deal.
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