The Twins in the World Series!!

 

Uh, well, former Twins anyway. The Rays and the Twins have been mutually poaching each other's coaching ranks and bullpens in recent years, with Rocco Baldelli coming from TB to MIN, and a series of arms heading south to Tampa. Aaron Slegers was a 5th round pick by the Twins, known mostly for his height as a prospect and his high velocity. The Twins lost him on waivers to the Pirates before the 2019 season, and he was picked up by Tampa when the Pirates tried to keep him without adding him to the 40-Man roster. So far this post season he's appeared in 3 games, and held opponents to just 1 run and struck out three batters.

John Curtiss was picked by the Twins one year and one round later than Slegers, though made their MLB debut for Minnesota in 2017. Curtiss reached career highs in appearances and innings this year in Tampa. He left the Twins in 2019 in a trade with the Angels for a low A infielder prospect, Daniel Ozoria, who may or may not have continued to develop in 2020... Curtiss came to Tampa as a free agent. He had a rough time against the Yankees in the ALDS, but bounced back with 4 appearances in the ALCS, allowing just 1 run on a solo homer while striking out 4 batters in 4.1 innings. 

The Twins losing Nick Anderson hurts. The Twins signed Anderson as a minor league free agent in  2015, and he climbed the organizational ladder from Low-A Cedar Rapids up to AAA Rochester, showing impressive numbers at each stop along the way.

There was a roster crunch following the 2018 season, Anderson could have been added to the 40-Man roster but instead the Twins opted to trade the Minnesota-born reliever to the Marlins. They gave him up for another lower level prospect, like the Curtiss trade. Hard to know if the return, infielder Brian Schales, with develop the promising power from his final year in the Miami org. Schales played in three different levels for the Twins in 2019 including AAA, but appeared in just 52 total games. Nick Anderson, on the other hand, was ready to make a big league impact and was a Topps All-Star Rookie, thanks to a 110/18 K/BB rate. Anderson led the Rays in saves in 2020, and had a 0.55 ERA for the season in 19 appearances. his ERA+ was 780. That's not a typo, seven hundred eighty. 100 is league average. Anderson came to Tampa in a mid season trade with the Marlins, that sent the Rays "Opener" specialist Ryne Stanek across the state.

Just one former Twin on the L.A. side, righty fireballer Brusdar Graterol. He originally was going to Boston in a three team deal, the Red Sox were getting Graterol and Alex Verdugo for Mookie Betts and David Price, and the Twins were going to get Kenta Maeda. Instead, Boston decided there was something they didn't like in Graterol's medicals, so they opted to complete a trade with LA that left out the Twins. Lucky for everyone involved, the Twins and Dodgers did come to a separate deal, with the Twins adding Luke Raley, and the Dodgers adding Jair Camargo. Raley was making a homecoming of sorts, as the Dodgers originally drafted him in 2014. Camargo will be a 22 year old catching prospect in 2021. 

Graterol has provided one of the most entertaining highlights of the postseason. Pitching against the Padres, Brusdar avoided a big inning and celebrated the final out by launching his glove and hat at his own dugout and pointing to the heavens. This prompted some spirited debate from former Dodger Manny Machado, who had just made the final out of the inning. Graterol responded to Machado's Machismo by blowing him kisses on the way back to his dugout, and ultimately cooler heads prevailed. 

Graterol made a one appearance in each of the first 3 rounds without allowing a run, but had a little trouble in the NLCS, allowing 3 runs to score in Game 4 while recording just one out. Other than that blip, he's tossed 6.1 shutout innings for the Dodgers in the post season.

I would be sad about that trade (and maybe I still will be later), but I think Twins fans should agree that it was worth it!