February 11th, 2020 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Late Monday evening I received a text message from my dear friend Clyle Alt. Attached to it was an Instagram photograph and message from 31-year-old right-hander Kenta Maeda who, earlier in the day, had officially been traded from the Dodgers to the Minnesota Twins, along with minor league catcher Jair Camargo and cash considerations.
Here is that message, which needs no further explanation:
Godspeed to you Kenta, and thank you for so many wonderful Dodger memories.
Play Ball!
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This was one of those, “Tough to see you go” moments. I’m really going to miss Kenta Maeda. It’s too bad he and the team couldn’t get together on things. I wish him the best of luck, except against us. of course.
All respect back atcha, Kenta, and also to Hyun Jin. Both of you earned your cheers in LA.
Maeda was seemingly a classy guy, but it was obvious that he did not like Roberts taking him out of games early, or pitching out of the bullpen late in the season. If had accepted a switch to the bullpen and revising his contract accordingly, he would still be with the Dodgers. Graterol, 67th pick in June 2020, and old friend Luke Raley in return for Maeda, catching prospect Jair Camargo, and $10,000,000 seems a little of an overpay.
So many trades are influenced by salary. Maeda’s contract even at 10 mil is not easy to move for quality.
Then realizing that most teams by now don’t want to add payroll it’s even harder to get good value. If we had signed Cole early on and back in Dec tried to trade Maeda we may have received more for him.
Such a classy goodbye. Being in Montana and having some MN roots (maternal Grandfather was a Twins fan) makes it easy to root for the Twins too! It’d be a great World Series! Rematch of 1965 if I have my facts right. Good luck Kenya! I love his samurai/warrior mentality
Your facts are correct.
Thanks Ron! My Dad would have been 14 then, so I can’t say I saw it myself.
A classy goodbye message. An honorable man and a solid competitor that never let whatever misgivings he had about his use effect his performance. God speed to you, Hyun Jin, Rich Hill and Savid Freese in retirement. All good guys.
@KennJDodgerBlue I’ll miss Maeda.