ST. LOUIS — The Twins traded Jose Berrios to the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday morning for two prospects as the Major League Baseball trade deadline approached.
There are likely to be more deals before the 3 p.m. deadline by the Twins, who after winning the American League Central for two consecutive seasons are now in last place in the Central with a 43-60 record, fifth worst in the majors.
Berrios, 27, is a two-time All-Star in his sixth season with the Twins, who drafted him in the first round (32nd overall) in 2012 out of Bayamon, Puerto Rico. He is 55-43 with a 4.08 ERA in 136 games.
The Twins will get shortstop and outfielder Austin Martin and right handed pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson.
With a career-best 3.48 ERA and 1.044 WHIP this season, Berrios (7-5) has been a standout on an especially subpar pitching staff this season. The Twins (5.01) and Orioles (5.48) are the only AL teams with ERAs above 5.00.
Although Berrios cannot become a free agent until after the 2022 season, he has said he will seek a market-value contract that figures to reach more than $100 million. The Twins were unwilling to meet that price. He is making $6.1 million this season and is in his final year of arbitration eligibility in 2022.
Martin was the fifth overall choice in the 2020 draft out of Vanderbilt, where he won a College World Series championship with the Commodores in 2019. He is playing at Class AA New Hampshire and hitting .281 in 55 games. He is the 16th ranked prospect in baseball, according to MLB.com.
The 22-year-old played for the American League in the Futures Game at the All-Star Break in Denver after spending the 2020 season at the Jays' alternate training site in Rochester, N.Y., when the minor leagues were shut down.
Woods Richardson, 20, is pitching for the United States in the Olympic Games. He was a second-round choice by the Mets in 2018, but was traded to Toronto when New York acquired Marcus Stroman before the 2019 trade deadline.
Woods Richardson was on leave from the Jays' Class AA New Hampshire, where he was 2-4 with a 5.76 ERA in 11 starts, with 67 strikeouts in 45 innings; the 13.3 strikeouts per nine innings have been offset by a 5.2 walks per nine average. The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder was 17 when the Mets drafted him out of Kempner High School in Sugar Land, Texas. He also spent last season at Toronto's alternate training site.
The Twins started the season with high hopes for a rotation that included Cy Young runner-up Kenta Maeda, Berrios, Michael Pineda and free-agent signings J.A. Happ and Matt Shoemaker. But the pitching staff has struggled mightily, with free-agent relievers Alexander Colome (4.82 ERA) and Hansel Robles (4.91) hampering what was lined up to be an effective bullpen, and All-Star Taylor Rogers has an injured finger on his pitching hand and will likely be sidelined for a while.
Happ's ERA has soared to 6.77, and Shoemaker was designated for assignment after going 3-8 with an 8.06 ERA. Pineda's contract expires at the end of this season.
The Twins traded All-Star designated hitter Nelson Cruz to Tampa Bay last week for two Class AA starters, U.S. Olympian Joe Ryan and Drew Strotman. Their top starting pitching prospect in the minors is right-hander Jordan Balazovic, who has 61 strikeouts in 49 innings at Class AA Wichita this season.
The Blue Jays (51-48) are four games out of the last AL wild-card spot.
The Twins open a three-game series Friday night in St. Louis. Berrios was the scheduled starter, but Griffin Jax was recalled from St. Paul and will take the mound instead.
The Twins also claimed 24-year-old reliever Edgar Garcia from the Reds and assigned him to St. Paul. Garcia, a right-hander, pitched in five games for Cincinnati this season; he has also pitched for the Rays and Phillies.
