The trade deadline has passed, and a surprising move has captured attention. The Minnesota Twins traded their ace to the Toronto Blue Jays. Now, an MLB insider has revealed that the pitcher, who was traded, was caught off guard and felt mistreated by the decision. The reliever had a significant 2.02 ERA in 49 innings with 47 strikeouts and was signed for five more seasons. He wasn’t just another piece of the bullpen; he was a key player.
Well, Louis Varland is the player we are talking about. When the Twins traded him to the Blue Jays, it raised a few eyebrows. MLB insider Bob Nightengale has now revealed how the player himself felt in the wake of the trade.
He wrote, “Varland was devastated, leaving Twins players seething and rivals GMs dumbfounded as to why the Twins would actually trade a valuable reliever (2.02 ERA, 47 strikeouts in 49 innings) with five years of control.”
Nightengale went even further, saying, “My God, he was born and raised in St. Paul, with his wife and a family coming to virtually every home game. This is the way you treat him?”
Credits: MLB.COM
Varland had a strikeout rate of 23.9% and a low walk rate of 6.6%, striking out 47 batters and walking only 13. His four-seam fastball averaged 98.1 mph, and he limited opponents to a .230/.289/.337 batting line, a major improvement from his previous 7.61 ERA. Despite these impressive stats, he was surprisingly traded to the Blue Jays.
The emotional toll became clear when Varland spoke to Toronto media after learning of his departure. He said it “kind of blindsided” him and “threw (him) for a loop.”
But what did Minnesota get in return? The Twins got two young players: rookie outfielder Alan Roden and left-handed pitcher Kendry Rojas, who is one of Toronto’s top five arms and has been doing great at Triple-A with a sub-3.50 ERA in his minor league innings.
Derek Falvey, president of baseball operations for the Twins, tried to clarify the situation. He said, “It’s difficult. We love Louis, who he is and the way he’s gone about the work,” before further adding, “Maybe you have to take something away to get really good talent.”
Falvey supported the fire sale at the trade deadline, stating it was driven by baseball, not financial, concerns. He further remarked, “By and large across the board, [these] were baseball trades, trades we felt we got real talent back, and were not geared toward the financial flexibility component to it.”
Despite all this chatter and disappointment, the Blue Jays have acquired a great pitcher, and he has impressed in his debut game.
Trade low-key, impact high: Ex‑Twin flashes in the Blue Jays debut
Even though Louis Varland was sent out of Minnesota at the deadline, he put on a Toronto uniform and made a statement from the start without showing any signs of rust. In his first game, he pitched a perfect inning and immediately looked like a reliable late-inning weapon.
Varland came in for the seventh inning on August 1, when the Jays were down. He threw 12 of 14 pitches for strikes and struck out a batter swinging in a perfect, one-up, one-down stint. It was business as usual for him—precise, sure, and polished, even though it was his first time in blue and white.
The impact was undeniable. With several pitchers in the bullpen, including Seranthony Domínguez and Yimi Garcia (who was sidelined), Varland’s calmness and control immediately added depth. He proved to be someone who could handle the pressure in the eighth inning.
Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter called it a “sneaky good” deadline pickup. He further added that Varland “joins fellow newcomer Seranthony Domínguez and incumbents Brendon Little, Yariel Rodríguez, and Jeff Hoffman to give the Blue Jays a potentially dominant late‑inning contingent.”
The Blue Jays will hope Varland keeps this impressive form going.
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