When the Minnesota Twins traded for Tyler Mahle last month, it was supposed to stabilize the starting rotation. After leaving Saturday’s start against the Chicago White Sox, it brings up the question of whether Mahle’s shoulder issues were public knowledge.
Mahle was in the midst of a solid season with the Cincinnati Reds when the Twins acquired him in exchange for four prospects on Aug. 2. While he was 5-7 with a 4.40 ERA in 19 starts for the Reds, he posted a 4-2 record with a 3.33 ERA away from the hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark.
That gap played out in the Twins’ favor when Mahle went 1-0 with a 2.51 ERA in his first three starts but he left his start on Aug. 17 after 2.1 innings with right shoulder inflammation.
For most teams, this would be a sign of bad luck. For the Twins, it shouldn’t have been a surprise.
Mahle landed on the injured list on July 6 with a right shoulder strain. Although he spent 21 days on the shelf, Mahle returned on July 24, allowing three runs over six innings in a win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Mahle would make one more start for the Reds, allowing two runs over six innings in a win over the Baltimore Orioles and that gave him a clean bill of health for the trade with the Twins.
Four starts later, Mahle began to see a drop in velocity. According to Baseball Savant, his four-seam fastball had an average velocity of 88.9 mph, down 4.4 mph from his season average of 93.3 mph. In Saturday’s start against the White Sox, Mahle’s four-seamer was down 2.2 mph before he was pulled after two innings.
Again, all of this could be a coincidence, but the Twins have a long history of acquiring lemons.
Prior to this season, the Twins acquired Chris Paddack from the San Diego Padres. The move was billed as a shrewd decision by the front office for picking up a pitcher with three years of team control, but his injury report said that his elbow was a time bomb ready to explode.
Paddack went on the injured list back on Sept. 12, 2021 with right elbow inflammation. Although he had rehabbed the injury over the offseason, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported that the New York Mets nixed a deal last spring that would have sent Paddack, Eric Hosmer and Emilio Pagan to New York for Dom Smith and cash considerations due to the condition of his elbow.
“Mets people decided that if Paddack had to miss more than a year, it wasn’t worth it,” Heyman wrote. “…The Mets’ plan was to deal Hosmer in a second trade that was being discussed simultaneously, anyway.”
The Twins swooped in and made the deal anyway, sending Taylor Rogers and Brent Rooker to the Padres in exchange for Paddack and Pagan. Paddack threw just 22.1 innings before leaving his May 8 start against the Oakland Athletics with elbow inflammation.
The Mets’ worst fears were realized a few weeks later when Paddack underwent his second Tommy John surgery.
With the Twins also accusing the San Francisco Giants of withholding injury information in a 2019 trade that sent Sam Dyson to Minnesota, it’s fair to wonder if the front office is searching for pitchers who may be discounted due to a questionable injury history.
Whatever their plan is, it isn’t working and the Twins have now dealt six players this season for a pair of pitchers that have combined for 38.2 innings this season.
