Twins trade Josh Donaldson, new shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa to Yankees for Gary Sanchez, Gio Urshela

The Twins ended the first day of spring training with a five-player trade that sent Josh Donaldson and just-acquired shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa to New York after acquiring veteran starter Sonny Gray earlier in the day.

By Phil Miller Star Tribune

March 14, 2022 — 9:04am

FORT MYERS, FLA. – Josh Donaldson and Sonny Gray were teammates and rising stars on the 2013 Athletics, a 96-win division champion. They were reunited as Twins on Sunday — for about eight hours.

Or roughly about half as long as Isiah Kiner-Falefa's entire Twins career.

Gray arrived in Sunday's early blockbuster, and Donaldson and Kiner-Falefa departed in the wheel-and-deal nightcap, a blitzkrieg roster makeover that seemed to hint at still more changes in the works. Yankees castoffs Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez are now Twins, too, presenting myriad options for who plays where.

First, the play-by-play: Minnesota filled the gaping hole atop its pitching rotation Sunday afternoon, but paid a steep price to do it, trading Chase Petty, their No. 1 draft pick last summer, to Cincinnati for Gray, a two-time All-Star. The Reds also included Francis Peguero, a 24-year-old Class A righthander, to complete the risky-but-aggressive deal.

About an hour before midnight, the Twins pulled off the real stunner, sending Donaldson, the biggest free-agent signing in franchise history; Kiner-Falefa, who reported to camp Sunday barely 12 hours after being acquired in a trade with Texas; and Ben Rortvedt, a defense-first catcher, to New York. The Yankees sent Urshela, a third baseman who can also play shortstop, and Sanchez, a defrocked catcher with home run power but questionable defense, to Minnesota. The Yankees also agreed to pay the remaining $51.5 million Donaldson is still owed.

The trade, the third major deal agreed to by the Twins in roughly 36 hours, overhauls their lineup and frees up payroll space that will allow them to … what, exactly? Derek Falvey, president of baseball operations, has demonstrated he has no qualms about shaking up a

roster that went 73-89 last season.

"Every year, we have a different team," Rocco Baldelli said Sunday afternoon, before the day's machinations had all been revealed, "but this is going to be a noticeably different group."

Career statistics: Gary Sanchez | Gio Urshela | Josh Donaldson | Isiah Kiner-Falefa

The moves place a trusted veteran atop the Twins' threadbare pitching rotation, open the possibility of playing rookie phenom Jose Miranda at third base, and gives catcher Ryan Jeffers a slugging partner — Sanchez has hit 138 home runs in his six major-league seasons — behind the plate. Or at designated hitter.

It also ends the Donaldson experiment, the Twins' biggest venture ever into the deep waters of free agency. Donaldson signed in January 2020 for a guaranteed $94 million over four seasons, by far the biggest contract the Twins had ever endowed on a player outside the organization, and he mostly lived up to his side of the bargain. The 2015 AL MVP hit 32 home runs in his 163 games with the Twins, and was a vocal leader off the field. But he was also limited by recurring injuries, and failed to turn the Twins into title contenders.

Kiner-Falefa goes with him to New York, just one day after being acquired from Texas for Mitch Garver.

Twins acquire pitcher Gray from Reds for 2021 first-round pick

The Twins last summer drafted teenager Chase Petty with the confidence they were acquiring a future Opening Day-caliber starting pitcher.

On Sunday, they moved that timetable way up.

Minnesota filled the gaping hole atop its pitching rotation but paid a steep price to do it, trading Petty to Cincinnati for veteran Sonny Gray, a two-time All-Star who has already started three season openers in his career. The Reds also included Francis Peguero, a 24-year-old Class A righthander, to complete the deal.

"We're excited about [Petty's] future. But the ability to access someone like Sonny Gray, who pitches at the top of the rotation for anybody, it's very unique," Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey said after refurbishing his team by pulling off his second major trade in two days. "This is a guy who really establishes an anchor in our rotation, a guy young players can look up to, and someone we think is really going to lead us. [His] makeup is off the charts, and the pitcher — what he's accomplished at the major-league level — is among the best in the game."

Sonny Gray career statistics

At his best, that's been true, though the Nashville native and Vanderbilt alum has experienced an up-and-down career. Gray posted ERAs of 2.67, 3.08 and 2.73 from 2013 to '15, his first three seasons after breaking in with the Athletics, and finished third in AL Cy Young voting in 2015. But though he has remained a consistent winner and enjoyed another All-Star season with Cincinnati in 2019, he never has regained that dominant form.

Still, the Twins have had interest in Gray for months, and were ecstatic, Falvey said, that the Reds were willing to reengage about trading the 32-year-old righthander once the lockout ended Thursday.

"Pitchers have some good outcomes, some bad outcomes, sometimes it's even just a bad stretch of time," Falvey said of Gray, who posted a 4.19 ERA for the Reds last season and struck out 155 hitters in 135 innings. "So we looked at really what he's done the last couple of years, and where his stuff is now. We think that's the pitcher he is, for sure."