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Entering Friday, the Twins were one of six teams that hadn't yet made a deal since the Scott Kazmir trade that kicked off the trade frenzy. They can take themselves off that list as they have acquired Kevin Jepsen from the Rays, according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. The Rays are getting Chih-Wei Hu and Alexis Tapia in the deal.
Source: Kevin Jepsen to #Twins.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 31, 2015
Earlier today, our own Chris Cotillo reported that the Twins were interested in Jespen and were having discussions with the Rays about acquiring him.
The Twins have been looking for a bullpen piece to join Glen Perkins, who has had an outstanding 2015 season with a 2.36 ERA and 29 saves. Blaine Boyer has also been good for the Twins. Further down the list, they haven't gotten a lot from Casey Fien, Brian Duensing and Aaron Thompson, all of who have an ERA above 4.
Jepsen brings a veteran presence to this bullpen, having pitched in the postseason with the Angels during his stint with them. In his first year with the Rays this season, he has been good. Over the course of 41.2 innings, Jepsen has pitched to a 2.81 ERA. His 4.3 BB/9 ratio is a bit of a worry, but that is around his career average of 3.6 BB/9.
In return, the Rays are getting Hu and Tapia from the Twins. Hu was ranked as the team's 20th best prospect, while Tapia was not ranked in the top 30 by MLB.com.
Hu is a 21 year old right hander that was just recently promoted from High-A ball to Triple-A Rochester by the Twins. With Fort Myers, their High-A affiliate, he pitch to a 2.44 ERA and a 5-3 record in 84.2 innings this season.
Tapia is another young righty, at age 19, and started his year at Rookie ball, where he pitched for 33 innings, sporting a 3.82 ERA in six starts. With High-A Fort Myers, he has pitched in two games, not giving up a run in two innings.