Poll: What’s your take on the Lopez trade

[Jammer7]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

Initial reaction isn't great, but we got 4 arms for a guy who we, IIRC, picked up off waivers and rehabilitated into a good (not amazing) closer.  

I think the role of a closer is a bit overrated and I don't think Lopez was an elite one.  Also, it's not as if we don't have a guy (Bautista) who looks like he could step in and actually be elite.  

Lopez was looking amazing and he had a few hiccups right before the All-Star Break and he's blown a save after the break, too.  I think we sold high on him.  That said, for his sake I'd like to be wrong and I hope he has continued success in Minnesota because he seems like a good dude.

As far as the return we got, like I said...4 arms for a guy that, 6 months ago, no one thought anything of.  And all of a sudden people are acting like we traded prime Eckersley for spare parts.

We have to see how Lopez does in his new digs and we have to see if any of the arms we got today turn into valuable pieces.  This isn't one of those trades you can jump to conclusions on, despite the fact that that's exactly what sports message boards are for.

This is my take as well. All of it.

Last year, I wrote that I thought Lopez is too soft to be a back end guy, but the stuff is very good. I still think he walks a tightrope with his confidence and his emotions. Maybe the Twins will be able to whisper on his ear like Hyde did, IDK. 

They sold high on him, which is what you should do. Povich is interesting and has improved his stuff this year. Cano is a guy they can maybe help improve his stuff to compete at the major league level. He was pretty good in the minors. The other two, who knows. These guys are unproven talent, but Lopez was a failed talent that they reshaped. They will work to do the same with Cano and the others. I read all of the knee jerk reactions today, and O think many of our fans think Lopez was more valuable than he truly is. 

[CynBeth]

Hated it.

[Moose Milligan]

11 minutes ago, CynBeth said:

Hated it.

Ok why 

[Morgan423]

Regarding this trade, in the Redditverse, several of the more knowledgeable Twins fans I ran into today were very irked that they gave up Cade Povich.  Apparently the kid has a pretty high ceiling, like a very solid 2/3 stater, if he can figure it out.   He might be the star of this deal for us two or three years down the road.

[Flash- bd]

I voted other because I do rate López and think he'll continue to be a top reliever for a while, and I was expecting somewhat of a better return. But in principle I love the fact we went ahead and traded him at the height of his value. 

If I could vote again I might just change it to Like it-- after reading some of the takes on Povich and the younger arms. Interested to see what we can do with Cano, too. 

[Three Run Homer]

49 minutes ago, Morgan423 said:

Regarding this trade, in the Redditverse, several of the more knowledgeable Twins fans I ran into today were very irked that they gave up Cade Povich.  Apparently the kid has a pretty high ceiling, like a very solid 2/3 stater, if he can figure it out.   He might be the star of this deal for us two or three years down the road.

I've seen that reaction as well, but other than home bias I'm not sure I understand it.  At the time of the draft last year he was seen as a guy with the ceiling of a 4-5 starter.  His K/IP numbers at A+ this season look good, but he's given up 1 HR every nine innings and the bottom line is that his ERA is around 4.50.  He's now one of our better pitching prospects, but that says more about how thin our system is in terms of pitching beyond GrayRod and Hall.   

If we get glowing reports about the stuff of the guys in rookie ball, I could be persuaded to change my mind, but I feel like we got a better package for Mancini than we did for Lopez, who is having a better season than Mancini and is under team control for 2 more seasons.    If this is the best we could do, I'd just as soon have kept Lopez.  

[waynebug]

I posted this in another thread.

I don't understand why the Brewers got so much more for Hader than the O's got for Lopez.

So I object to the trade based on the return for Lopez.

[Morgan423]

20 hours ago, waynebug said:

I posted this in another thread.

I don't understand why the Brewers got so much more for Hader than the O's got for Lopez.

So I object to the trade based on the return for Lopez.

Hader has quite a solid track record of consistency compared to Lopez.  Hader has done this repeatedly for season upon season, with 300+ innings and a career ERA under 2.5 and WHIP under 0.9, and Lopez... is brand new to this level of performance, and could just be a flash in the pan due to regress badly in the near future.

That's the main difference I see here.   

[Roll Tide]

On 8/2/2022 at 6:32 PM, Moose Milligan said:

Ok why 

Can’t you hear the crickets? Another young fan wanting to be hasty and play for now with reckless abandon.

[Moose Milligan]

21 hours ago, waynebug said:

I posted this in another thread.

I don't understand why the Brewers got so much more for Hader than the O's got for Lopez.

So I object to the trade based on the return for Lopez.

Hader's been doing it better for longer.  

[wildcard]

Regrettable.

[Spy Fox]

I believe Lopez will continue to pitch well, so I do wonder if they could have gotten more if they waited for this winter or next trade deadline. 

That said, if Povich turns into any sort of MLB SP the trade is an easy win in value lost/gained. In his interview this morning Elias said they see Povich as a possible "top of the rotation starter." Whether that turns out or not, it's clear they're higher on him than some of the prospect rankings are. 

With some closers on bad teams inexplicably not getting traded (Soto, Bard) I also wonder if Elias got word that the Twins were close to acquiring one of those guys, and he believed in this return enough to pull the trigger, Povich specifically. 

Basically this trade is a bet on the O's scouting department to have identified the right guy.

[e16bball]

On 8/2/2022 at 4:55 PM, TheWall said:

He isn't going to give you what you want, but I think you can be confident that they thought this was the best move to improve the organization long-term. 

Was pleased to see that he actually did kinda give me what I was looking for:

”…particularly Cade Povich is somebody that we’re very, very high on internally, and think we’ve got a possible front-of-the-rotation starter and a guy that’s going to be in the mid-minors here before the end of the year.”

That’s what I needed to see. I trust their evals, but I just couldn’t put my finger on why THIS deal (and particularly sending cash with Lopez). Knowing that they sought out Povich specifically as a target puts me at ease — I’m pretty indifferent to where he ranks in the MLB pipeline list if Elias and Sig have him profiled as a possible TOR guy. 

[Aristotelian]

I was in support of trading him but would have liked to see guys coming back who could help us sooner rather than later. I wouldn't say I hate it but I think if this is all we got I'd have preferred keeping him for another year. 

[Hallas]

The tenor of this board regarding the Lopez trade is drastically different from nearly every other outlet I've found.  This place seems to be neutral/positive for it, and a lot of other places are panning this trade.

 

I don't like this trade much at all.  I don't think Povich is going to go any higher than FV 45 this offseason, and he's more likely FV 40+.  I expected an FV 45+ or maybe a borderline FV 50 guy for Lopez.  If we got back someone like Marco Raya in addition to the other arms we picked up, I'd be a lot happier.