The Minnesota Twins played one of their worst series of the year 48 hours before the trade deadline. The Kansas City Royals were 25 games behind the Twins before sweeping them at Kauffman Stadium. Minnesota leaves KC 54-53, half a game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central.
The Twins need to make moves. They cannot rely solely on the players they have within the organization. They don’t have enough reinforcements in the minors or coming off the injured list.
One way or another, someone on the 40-man roster has to go to get what the Twins need most right now; another left-handed reliever and a right-handed hitting outfielder. And no team has the best or most realistic options than the New York Mets.
The Mets have committed to selling off their team this year after scuffling all year and haven’t had their record above .500 since June 6, in a loss to the Atlanta Braves. New York has sent Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers, indicating that they are sellers. Therefore, players who aren’t core stars and entering free agency should be easier targets for the Twins to snag without depleting top talent in their farm system.
The Twins have a strong trade history with the Mets. Often, their trades help out both teams in the long run. If the success of past trades and the outcome of players on both teams were all the Twins and Mets were considering, they’d have made a deal by now.
But that is not how the baseball business works, especially at the trade deadline. Plus these two teams have not made a trade together since 2008, many different people are now running the organizations from a front-office standpoint. Still, it’s worth looking at the team’s trade history for some context.
A few notable examples of these successful trades in the past begin with the very first trade they made on December 8, 1978. Before the Twins traded Rod Carew to the California Angels later that off-season, the Twins added Minnesota native Jerry Koosman, a top-of-the-rotation starter who would have given their best playoff chances since 1970.
The Twins sent the Mets minor leaguer Greg Field, who never reached the majors and a player to be named later. On February 7, the Twins sent Jesse Orosco to New York. Orosco has the most career relief appearances of all time and closed out the Mets’ last World Series title in 1986.
Koosman pitched for the Twins in 1979, 1980, and the first half of the 1981 season. He accumulated a bWAR of 11.0 over his two-and-a-half years with the Twins. He also led the American League in bWAR in 1979 sitting at 7.2 that season.
Orosco spent his first seven seasons in the majors with the Mets but they didn’t put him in the bullpen until 1982. His tenure with the Mets earned him a 12.3 bWAR over those seven seasons. Despite the shorter amount of time spent on these teams between Koosman and Orosco, they both provided these teams with even returns.
However, the most recent trade between these two teams is one that hasn’t been forgotten by either fanbase. On February 2, 2008, the Twins traded Johan Santana to the Mets and received four prospects in return, headlined by outfielder Carlos Gómez.
It ended up being a lopsided trade. Gómez, Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey, and Deolis Guerra generated 24.6 bWAR. Santana has a 51.1 bWAR.
While the outcomes of the players in this trade cannot be calculated in bWAR, Twins and Mets fans still remember what these players did for their teams. Santana had one dominant year with the Mets in 2008 before injuries caught up with him that eventually ended his career. He still was able to throw the first no-hitter in Mets franchise history on June 1, 2012, but only made 10 more starts in the Majors following that.
Conversely, Gómez didn’t reach his full potential until the Twins traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers for J.J. Hardy. However, Gómez hit the pivotal game-winning run in the unforgettable Game 163 against the Detroit Tigers in 2009.
These two trades are only but a couple of successful ones the Mets and Twins have had. There’s also the deal that sent Ron Gardenhire to the Twins in November 1986 for a player to be named later. Then they had the trade that sent Frank Viola to the Mets for Rick Aguilera, Kevin Tapani, David West, and more at the 1989 trade deadline.
Currently, the best way these two teams can help each other is a deal that helps the Twins to win now and the Mets to win again in a season or two. New York has players that can help the Twins limp to the finish line in this bizarre AL Central.
Pete Alonso is the only Mets player who fits Minnesota’s needs that could cost them a top-five prospect. Alonso still has a year and a half of team control and is only second in the National League in home runs with 30 behind Matt Olson, who has 34.
Alonso’s power-hitting talent will cost the Twins a name like Emmanuel Rodriguez or Marco Raya, their consensus top three and four prospects, respectively. But the Mets could send over players with more reasonable price tags, Mark Canha, Tommy Pham, Brooks Raley, and Adam Ottavino, individually or packaged, without seeing any of Minnesota’s top five prospects going away.
Dan Hayes of the Athletic has reported the Mets have an interest in Trevor Larnach as a player they want in return for any deal they make with the Twins. Larnach has limited opportunities in a Twins lineup committing to four other left-handed hitting outfielders in front of him.
The next several hours will be a whirlwind as they always are during the trade deadline, but if the Twins are to make a move simply on history, the Mets are the team they should be calling.
