The Minnesota Twins and San Diego Padres have agreed to a trade that will send right-handed starter Chris Paddack to the Twins and left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers to the Padres.
#MNTwins acquire RHP Chris Paddack and RHP Emilio Pagán from the Padres in exchange for Taylor Rogers and Brent Rooker pic.twitter.com/p9KrnPrpyH
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) April 7, 2022
Right-handed reliever Emilio Pagan is also heading to the Twins. Pagan, 30, has a 3.73 career ERA but had inflated earned-run averages of 4.83 in 2021 and 4.50 in the shortened 2020 season. But in 2019, while with the Tampa Bay Rays, Pagan made 66 appearances out of the bullpen and struck out 96 batters in 70 innings while posting a 2.31 ERA and 20 saves.
The Twins are also sending outfielder Brent Rooker and cash considerations to the Padres. Rooker hit just .201 with 9 homers in 58 MLB games last season, but he’s crushed minor-league pitching, hitting 74 homers with an .874 OPS in his minor-league career, including 20 homers with the St. Paul Saints last summer.
Rogers, earning a salary of $7.3 million this season, is a free agent next year. Paddack, meanwhile, is earning $2.25 million and is under team control for three more years. Pagan has two years of team control remaining on his deal, which will pay him $2.3 million this season.
Paddack is clearly the centerpiece of the deal for the Twins. He’s only 26 years old and despite some struggles last season (5.07 ERA) and during the shortened 2020 COVID season, he was a standout rookie in 2019, when he posted a 3.33 ERA and a fantastic 0.981 WHIP.
Minnesota’s starting staff now features Opening Day starter Joe Ryan, along with Sonny Gray, Bailey Ober, Dylan Bundy, Chris Archer and Paddack. One of them will have to go to make room for Paddack, so the Twins might not be done adjusting the roster just yet.
