With the trade deadline occurring at 3:00 PM Central Time on Wednesday, I believe it was mission accomplished.
After trading for Sergio Romo on Saturday, they added Giants righthander Sam Dyson minutes before the 3 p.m. trade deadline Wednesday. The Twins sent San Francisco three prospects — outfielder Jaylin Davis, righthander Prelander Berroa and righthander Kai-Wei Teng — for Dyson, who saved 38 games for the Rangers in 2016.
The deal was agreed upon about five minutes before the deadline, giving the Twins a reliever who was 4-1 with 2.47 ERA and two saves for the Giants. Now, pairing Tyson with Romo, the Twins say they believe there’s a stronger bridge to the ninth inning.
“[Dyson has] pitched really well for them toward the back end of games,” Twins Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey said. “He’s a guy who has had a lot of late-game experience. So we put him on a list. As we got a little bit closer to the deadline, having conversations with the Giants ultimately led us down the path where we were talking about a few of their guys. Ultimately Sam was the one we were able to access and bring to the team, and I’m excited about that.”
While Romo is far from the clutch performer he was with the Giants' three World Series champions in 2010, 2012 and 2014, he is still very effective against right handed hitters with that funky slider. He is also an amusing, gregarious chap who will be a positive addition to the clubhouse atmosphere.
Seriously, how great is Sergio Romo?pic.twitter.com/HmHilIMOTy— Phil Mackey (@PhilMackey) July 31, 2019
Dyson is a guy that I was in on since early June. When the Giants made it known that they were willing to listen to offers for any member of their bullpen, I figured it would be a coup if the Twins could wind up with both Dyson and lefty closer Will Smith.
Not sure if there were ever any serious inquiries for Smith but I'm grateful for the acquisition of Dyson, who has good control and allows less than one base runner per inning (0.902 WHIP). Another appealing aspect of Dyson is he's under team control through 2020, so there shouldn't be as many holes to fill among next year's bullpen staff.
Alas, many Twins "fans" shrieked a variation of "CHEAP ASS POHLADS" or "ZOMG, I'M SO DONE WITH THIS TEAM" when the club failed to acquire a front line starting pitcher. But of the high profile starters available, only Zack Greinke of Arizona, Trevor Bauer of Cleveland and Marcus Stroman of Toronto ended up being traded. The Twins had no realistic shot at Greinke since they were one of 15 teams on his "no-trade" list. And the Indians (who are still well within striking distance of the Twins in the AL Central) would've rather taken Bauer out back and shot him as opposed to trading him within the division.
I will say I'm a little disappointed that more of an effort wasn't made to acquire Stroman since the price the New York Mets paid were merely their #6 and #7 prospects. Despite the Twins strongly indicating a reluctance to trade their top two prospects (Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff), I can't imagine they wouldn't have been willing to at least meet if not exceed what the Mets surrendered. However, I've also read reports where the Blue Jays seemed locked in on what the Mets were offering, so perhaps there wasn't even an opportunity for the Twins to make a counter offer.
Bottom line is the Twins not trading for a stud starting pitcher was more a function of not wanting to sacrifice potential future all stars and less about hesitance to add salary. Heck, owner Jim Pohlad supported the possibility of augmenting payroll if the right move was within reach. So for those who declare they're jumping off the Twins bandwagon because of a perceived lack of deadline activity? You're either a) lying or b) have never been that invested in the team from the get-go.
To summarize, this Twins team is markedly better as a result of its deadline moves.
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Dyson is off to a rough start, but he will be good. It's tough for small market teams; I've heard all the same bitching from Brewers fans, too. By the way, they wanted Dyson as well.
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