The Minnesota Twins’ trade to acquire Kenta Maeda may be in danger as conflicting reports have the Twins establishing a Saturday deadline to find a resolution and even pulling out of the deal completely. The hangup has been caused throughout the week as the Red Sox want more in return in addition pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol, who was a part of a three-team megadeal that sent Mookie Betts and David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported on Thursday that the Red Sox were scared off by Graterol’s medical issues, which limited him to 70 2/3 innings in 2019 and ESPN’s Jeff Passan confirmed the report saying the Red Sox saw him as more of a reliever than a starter at this point of his career.
The three teams have been negotiating over the past couple days to keep the deal alive and MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported that the Red Sox wanted another top 10 prospect in addition to Graterol, which the Twins declined and offered a counteroffer involving a top-20 prospect.
Red Sox are still seeking a top-10 #MNTwins prospect in addition to Graterol. Thus far, Twins are saying no. #Mookie
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 7, 2020
Twins have floated names of top-20 prospects to try to sweeten the Graterol part of deal but so far Red Sox haven’t accepted any of the names. @LaVelleNeal suggested Twins are pulling out. No confirm on that but optimism for them and Red Sox part of deal has waned a bit.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 8, 2020
The noise intensified on Saturday afternoon as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale and the Star Tribune’s La Velle E. Neal reported the Twins had backed out, but Heyman believes that the Twins only established Saturday as a deadline to get the deal finalized.
Confirmed: Minnesota #Twins now pull out of Mookie Betts trade, as @LaVelleNeal first reported, leaving #Redsox and #Dodgers to complete trade themselves.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) February 8, 2020
Latest word: While the #MNTwins haven’t backed out quite yet, they are setting a deadline of today to resolve their part of the deal with Boston.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 8, 2020
As chaos ensued, Rosenthal took to Twitter to lay down what exactly is happening with the Twins and Red Sox and said that there is serious motivation for the Red Sox and Dodgers to get the deal done.
Not accurate to say #MNTwins are out of three-team blockbuster, but the impasse continues, sources tell me and @DanHayesMLB. #RedSox want second top 10 prospect added to Graterol. MIN will not give that much up for #Dodgers’ Maeda.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 8, 2020
Real question is what #RedSox want. #MNTwins could send Graterol and lesser prospect to #Dodgers, then LAD could flip Graterol and a better prospect to BOS. But some in talks sense that negative media reaction to Verdugo-Graterol return for Betts-Price gave BOS ownership pause.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 8, 2020
Bottom line: #RedSox and #Dodgers should be motivated to complete deal. BOS could be left with Betts, Price and all their previous financial concerns, valid or not. LAD would be left with Maeda and Pederson unsettled – and once again they would be shut out on a star.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 8, 2020
Graterol skyrocketed through the Twins system last year, 7-0 with a 1.92 ERA between Double-A and Triple-A and made his major league debut last September, throwing 9 2/3 innings for the Twins amidst their playoff run. But part of that effort was wiped out due to a shoulder impingement which added to a lengthy injury history that included Tommy John surgery back in 2016, which is why Rosenthal believes this shouldn’t have been a surprise.
More on #RedSox: They should not have been surprised Graterol might project as a reliever; that is how #MNTwins saw him. They also should not have been surprised that fans and media would react negatively to a trade of one of the game’s biggest stars, Mookie Betts.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 8, 2020
A decision to back out of the trade would return the Twins to the drawing board as their rotation has several question marks heading into the 2020 season. While the Twins have five guys slated to be on the mound, Rich Hill and Michael Pineda won’t be ready for the start of the year and the trio of Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, and Homer Bailey will need to be joined by one more arm to get through the opening weeks.
The Twins could return to the trade market in the coming weeks, but as usual, this will be a time to stay tuned and see if they can pull off an eleventh-hour deal or if they have something else up their sleeve.
