You don't have to make headline-grabbing deals to be successful at the trade deadline. That's how the Twins operated last week, and it could set them up nicely in the near future.
And the Twins did it by going away from their philosophy in recent trade deadline years in which they sold low on underperforming players and received little in return.
This time, the Twins sold high. Infielder Eduardo Nunez was having a career year, and interim General Manager Rob Antony moved him to San Francisco for Class AAA lefthander Adalberto Mejia, a decent prospect. There are two things worth noting here. One, Mejia is close to the majors. Two, he's from an organization that knows how to develop starters (Madison Bumgarner, Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum).
Antony then pulled off the unthinkable, moving righthander Rick Nolasco to the Angels. The Twins sent along underperforming prospect Alex Meyer and some cash to complete the deal, in which they also picked up lefthander Hector Santiago and reliever Alan Busenitz. Santiago is five years younger than Nolasco and under control one more season.
Santiago is better than Nolasco, although his career 3.70 ERA is dampened by a walk rate of 4.0 batters per nine innings. The deal comes down to whether Meyer, who will be 27 in January, ever reaches his potential.
So the 2017 rotation looks to be Santiago, Ervin Santana, Phil Hughes, Kyle Gibson and Jose Berrios. Mejia, Tyler Duffey and possibly Tommy Milone could be options if there are injuries or struggles. And the Twins won't have to rush prospects Kohl Stewart, Stephen Gonsalves and Tyler Jay, who are all at Class AA Chattanooga (although Jay just landed on the disabled list).
The Twins also sold high on reliever Fernando Abad, getting relief prospect Pat Light, who hit 100 miles per hour a few times on Wednesday in his Class AAA Rochester debut.
"We believe that these guys, with their age and where they're at, we believe they can be part of a core moving forward," Antony said.
The Twins weren't the only sellers eyeing the future during the deadline. The Yankees traded Andrew Miller, Aroldis Chapman and Carlos Beltran and received 11 prospects in return. That haul included top prospects in infielder Gleyber Torres, outfielder Clint Frazier and pitcher Dillon Tate. The Yankees are set up to build their own core that could lead them back to the World Series in a few years.
