The trade that came to be then died, is now official. On Monday, the Minnesota Twins pushed the needle into 'buyers-mode' with the MLB Trade Deadline approaching and upgraded their pitching staff. Minnesota, who sits half a game back in the American League Central, boosted its rotation depth with the acquisition of starting pitcher Jaime Garcia from the Atlanta Braves.
Garcia finds himself on the move for the second time in seven months. In half a season for the Braves, the 31-yer-old southpaw made 18 starts. While he holds a 4-7 record on the year, Garcia provided Atlanta with quality starts quite frequently and posted a 4.14 fielding independent pitching (FIP), was worth 1.4 Wins Above Replacement and walked just 41 batters across 113 innings pitched.
In Garcia, Minnesota lands a starting pitcher who can provide them stability. While Minnesota has been quite successful this season and surpassed expectations, its rotation currently sat as a ticking time bomb. Ervin Santana, the team's ace who posted a 1.75 ERA in his first 11 starts, has quickly unraveled and things are getting worse. His last six starts have shown a far more inconsistent pitcher.
In two of Santana's starts, he surrendered zero runs across 15 innings. But in his four other starts, Santana has allowed 23 earned runs in just 19 1/3 innings. Pair that with a young Jose Berrios, who will hit an innings cap late in the year, and it's clear where Minnesota's significant need for rotation stability came from.
The transition to the American League will be an interesting fit to watch unfold. His career numbers aren't great and the added aspect of the designated hitter and tougher lineups could add to the challenge, but he'll have a solid defense behind him. An impending free agent, Garcia now finds himself in a playoff race and with a chance to boost his stock in free agency if he can turn in a quality second half for the Twins.
Minnesota also lands catcher Anthony Recker from Atlanta, though Recker is a throw-in player that will likely serve as organizational depth.
For Atlanta, the move nets them a prospect and further frees up money to spend if they decide to pursue a trade for a young, cost-controlled starting pitcher. But for now, the return here is right-handed pitching prospect Huascar Ynoa.
The 19-year-old entered as Minnesota' 22nd-best prospect by MLB.com entering the season and is very much the risk/reward player that are often dealt in deals like this. Ynoa is repeating Rookie-level ball for the third season and this year has been his worst to date. Across 25 2/3 innings, Ynoa owns a 5.26 ERA, 5.41 xFIP and a 23/14 K/BB ratio. But some of his poor numbers can be directed at a .346 batting average on balls in play that should come down.
Ynoa's fastball drew a 60-grade from MLB Pipeline and his changeup drew a 50-grade with 50-control, so he is still very much a work in progress with one-plus pitch and the off-speed pitches in need of work. But he has plenty of time as a 19-year-old, the Braves received something for an impending free agent and now they have more money to add a pitcher at the trade deadline.