The Twins traded for All-Star closer Jorge López from the Orioles ahead of MLB’s trade deadline on Tuesday. In exchange, the Orioles will gain RHP Yennier Cano, LHP Cade Povich, RHP Juan Nuñez and LHP Juan Rojas.

López, 29, is having a career year. With a 1.68 ERA, the right-handed López has earned 19 saves and he’s striking out more than three batters for every one he walks. The Twins were working with a kind of closer by forced committee this season, led by Emilio Pagán and his nine saves.

The Twins solved one of their biggest needs by acquiring a controllable back-end reliever having a breakthrough campaign.

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Since mid-June, the Twins have had bullpen issues surface time and again whenever rookie fireballer Jhoan Duran has been unavailable to pitch. Given his past arm troubles, the Twins have rarely pushed Duran this season as he acclimates to a new role. Bringing López in gives manager Rocco Baldelli another trusted option to extend and close out games.

Another plus: López isn’t just a rental. The right-hander has two more seasons of team control left before becoming a free agent. That López will be around in 2023 and 2024 is key for a Twins team that likely will allow veteran reliever Tyler Duffey to test the free-agent market after this season.

I wrote about Jorge López as a reliever the #MNTwins should target, but assumed it was unlikely because of the high expected price tag. https://t.co/0yQTaZCD7p

To get 2.5 seasons of López for their #20 prospect and a couple low-minors lottery ticket arms seems like a clear win. pic.twitter.com/03ztgVz45a

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) August 2, 2022

From the Orioles’ end, this really is about the future and not about a team in the American League wild-card hunt in early August. Unlike Trey Mancini, who was traded Monday to the Houston Astros, López cannot be a free agent at season’s end. He has two-plus years of control. And he, like Mancini, is both productive on the field and beloved in the clubhouse.

Baltimore general manager Mike Elias basically said Monday that the probability of the Orioles making the playoffs isn’t high enough for them not to be sellers at this deadline. So, they are once again trolling for interesting prospects and giving up quality veterans.

GO DEEPER

Orioles trade Jorge López for lottery tickets: Deflating, frustrating, all part of the plan

Povich, 22, is a 6-foot-3, 185-pound lefty that was selected in last year’s third round out of the University of Nebraska. Keith Law rated him as Minnesota’s 14th-best prospect to begin the year (MLB Pipeline ranked him 22nd) and suggests if he fills out a little more and increases his velocity a tick above his 91-94, range, he could be a No. 4 starter.

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Nuñez, 21, is a 5-foot-11, 190-pound right-hander from the Dominican Republic, who made his U.S. debut in the Florida Complex League this year. He allowed 27 hits and 10 walks while striking out 47 batters in 29 2/3 innings. Seven of his eight games were starts. He was unranked by Law and MLB Pipeline.

Canó, 28, is a 6-foot-4, 185-pound, right-handed reliever from Cuba who debuted with the Twins on May 11. As a big leaguer, he allowed 17 hits and 11 walks while striking out 14 batters in 13 2/3 innings.

Canó posted a 9.22 ERA in 10 games for the Twins but had a 1.90 ERA and three saves in 20 games at Triple A this year. The Twins signed the hard-thrower as an international free agent in 2019 to a $750,000 bonus.

(Photo: Greg Fiume / Getty Images)

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