Jorge Lopez traded to Twins for pitching prospects (edit)

[NCRaven]

I’m underwhelmed but not disgusted.  But Elias is obviously not Buying and Selling.  For now he’s just selling.

[vab]

1 minute ago, Surhoffan17 said:

Well, I think Santander will be traded.  Even though Bautista can certainly close, it's one less set up guy.  Maybe Baumann will come up and be solid in middle relief.  Clearly, Elias isn't believers in us for this year.  

I think they think they can turn Cano into what Lopez was this year. Can they? We shall see but they have a guy who was getting obliterated in Washington and another guy who was about as run of the mill triple A as you can get and turned them into our best two SPs right now. 

[oriole]

Considering Lopez was a non tender candidate last year, it’s good to see that he was able to have a half year of success as a reliever and get at least one interesting prospect in return. This type of trade makes me think that everyone expects Lopez to drop off at some point, which wouldn’t be that surprising. We’ve already seen glimpses of that. 
 

This also shows that Elias is not going take any consideration whatsoever into actually improving the team for a chance at the wild card this season. I wouldn’t say he is “punting” but Elias is certainly indifferent to the potential of a few play off games. That means we’re unlikely to see any controllable major league talent targeted or aggressive call ups. 

[DJHJR86]

9 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Do you want depth or do you want to win?

You don't think they can use Bautista in the closer role and still win?  

[Ohfan67]

I'm a little surprised at the deal. Surprised that it happened and at the return. In the long term, most of these minor to medium deadline deals end up being meh. But the up front meh of this deal definitely puts the focus on Elias' ability to find and development nuggets. Hope the analytics and development parts of the organization can make some good things happen with these players. 

 

But boy does this deal highlight that Elias doesn't care at all what the fans, media, etc., think. Seems like the do the math associated with their plan and don't really cave in to outside pressures. This is definitely not the sentimental approach that often resulted in players not getting traded, dumb extensions, etc. 

 

Lopez in general is a big success story for Elias and team. They found the guy and helped him become a valuable major league pitcher. Kudos for that. 

[RZNJ]

14 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Funny how when folks approve of a deal/decision made by Elias no one says anything but when someone questions a deal/decision we suddenly don't have enough information to judge.

Newsflash, we never have enough information but we're still allowed to have opinions based off the information we have.

Not true.  We knew more about the players coming back last night than the players coming back today.  Nothing at all is known about the 2 FCL pitchers.

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, billw76 said:

It's an underwhelming trade, but there is definitely reason to think Lopez won't fall off a cliff. His track record before this season isn't good, even though that was mostly as a starter.

I would have liked to have gotten more for him but if this is all we could get after an all star appearance, I can't see his value getting much higher unfortunately.

His track before this year means nothing.  He was an awful starter but his role as a short, late inning reliever is completely different.  

Its like saying Mullins is the same player he was a few years ago when he was still switch hitting. 

[LookinUp]

For the record, I don’t think Lopez will stop being good. I think the Twins got a good arm there.

[oriolediehard]

I am disappointed in the trade, no blue chippers in return. Quantity is not quality or improvement.

How about the experience we have in 2022 on winning and team confidence going forward.

You can't trade for confidence on winning.

[e16bball]

Hard to shake the feeling that Juan Rojas may have been a key piece to this.

Povich seems like a good pitchability bet, I’m guessing they feel they can spice up the fastball a bit and develop a solid back-end starter. Cano seems like a guy with talent — 95 to 97, effective splitter, unusual arm angle — that they think they might be able to polish up. Nunez is 21 in the DSL and let’s just say he doesn’t have the Felix Bautista frame to dream on. There’s not a ton there to be overwhelmingly excited about.

Yet Elias gave up cash in order to get this deal done. He obviously wanted this deal. The only guy who seems to show a combo of age/production to envision as a potential future star is Juan Rojas, with his 38:4 K/BB ratio in the Dominican at age 18. I can’t seem to find a single meaningful thing out there about this kid — aside from his throwing a combined no-hitter — but the way the rest of this deal shaped up, it just feels like the “missing piece” that isn’t adding up for all of us might well be that this anonymous kid has an arm that Elias and Sig have identified as a potential gem. 

[baltfan]

1 minute ago, DJHJR86 said:

You don't think they can use Bautista in the closer role and still win?  

Our relievers are going to start to run on fumes.  They are going to need the depth that Lopez was providing.  

[Sydnor]

1 minute ago, DJHJR86 said:

You don't think they can use Bautista in the closer role and still win?  

That’s not the equation. Bautista probably can close, but you’re replacing your first or second best reliever with your eighth best reliever.

[NashLumber]

1 hour ago, osravensfan78 said:

Wonder who the “and prospects” are. Lol 

It's like the "and the rest" on Gilligan's Island Theme?

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, DJHJR86 said:

You don't think they can use Bautista in the closer role and still win?  

What difference does this make?  You could have/have had both of them.

We don’t need middling depth.  We need to win.  Lopez was a key guy in helping that happen and likely would have been in 2023 as well.

[VICIOUS]

Fair trade for a setup guy, Because that's what he'd have been with Felix Bautista next year.