Minnesota receives Fulmer from Detroit

That quote is from nobody in particular, but the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers pulled off a trade with each other in a rare move amongst division rivals, and even rarer that the teams are playing each other right now. The Twins will receive Michael Fulmer and the Tigers get Sawyer Gipson-Long.

Fulmer is 29-year-old righty that has pitched exclusively from the bullpen for Detroit this season, starting all of his games for the Tigers from 2016 through 2020 with four starts last season. The righty has been called from the bullpen 41 times this season and has posted a healthy 3.20 ERA/3.22 FIP in 39.1 innings of work. A bit concerning is his walk rate, which has ballooned from 2.6 BB/9 last season to 4.6 BB/9 this season. His K/9 has dropped only by 0.5 between last year and this year. However, his hits-per-nine and homers-per-nine stats have dropped significantly from 2021 as well. He’s allowed only one homer this season and will figure to be a great addition to the bullpen. He is a free agent after the 2022 season concludes.

For a rental player, the Twins gave up Sawyer Gipson-Long. The righty hurler was a sixth-round selection in 2019 by the Twins. He posted a 1.99 ERA in 10 starts for High-A Cedar Rapids, striking out batters at a 9.4 K/9 clip and putting up a sub-1.000 WHIP. The numbers in Double-A Wichita are not the same (7.17 ERA, eight games, seven starts, 37.2 innings, 1.381 WHIP, 8.4 K/9), but his walk rate is down to 1.2 BB/9 and the Tigers obviously saw something they liked about the guy, so why not?

Welcome to the Twins, Michael Fulmer!