Luis Gil's domination of Twins is a reminder of Yankees, Brian Cashman trade fleece

Sit down, kids. Let us tell you a story of one of the most heinous crimes committed in baseball history: the day New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman fleeced the Minnesota Twins in what's turning out to be one of the most lopsided trades over the last decade.

Back in 2018 during spring training, the Yankees acquired a pitcher by the name of Luis Gil from the Twins in exchange for outfielder Jake Cave. Gil, who was a 21-year-old international signing, somehow became what looked to be a "throw-in" trade piece for Cave, who hadn't appeared in the big leagues yet either.

Cave, a former sixth-round pick of the Yankees, debuted that season and looked like he could become a decent piece for the Twins. In his first 91 games, he hit .265 with a .786 OPS and 111 OPS+. He hit 13 homers and 45 RBI. But it turns out that's all he was good for.

All of those marks stand as career-bests for Cave, who left the Twins after the 2022 season and has since played for the Phillies and Rockies. He finished his tenure in Minnesota with a .235/.297/.411 line (.708 OPS, 93 OPS+) with 33 homers and 118 RBI in 335 games.

On the flip side, the Yankees remained patient with Gil. The right-hander progressed nicely through the minor leagues and debuted in 2021 in historic fashion. Then, a couple months into the 2022 season, he suffered an elbow injury that knocked him out until spring training of this year.

On Tuesday night against his former team, Gil officially became the most statistically proficient starter in the American League.

Luis Gil's domination of Twins is a reminder of Yankees, Brian Cashman trade fleece

Gil now leads the AL with a 1.82 ERA. His 4.0 H/9 leads all of baseball. He's struck out 85 batters in 69 1/3 innings. He's allowed just three earned runs across his last 38 1/3 innings pitched. He could legitimately be the 2024 All-Star Game starter.

He might be the most accomplished rookie pitcher (to date) since Dodgers sensation Fernando Valenzuela, and that's not an exaggeration. Gil is coming off AL Pitcher of the Month honors for May after his dominant showing. He won all six of his starts and recorded an outing where he struck out 14 batters.

Pitchers can sometimes be viewed as fungible assets because of the great unpredictability with arm injuries, but what Gil's doing right now is as "real" as it gets. This is not "flash in the pan"-type stuff. Sure, he's due for a regression, but soaring to these heights in his first season back from reconstructive elbow surgery cannot be ignored. Whatever happens from this point forward, his season should probably be remembered by what he's accomplished across his first 12 starts (unless we're to witness the disaster of all disasters).

Thank goodness for the Twins claiming Cave off waivers back in 2018 when the Yankees designated him for assignment. If that hadn't happened, Cashman would've had to work a bit harder to pluck this diamond in the rough. After all, these are the Cashman retrospectives we like to elaborate upon, believe it or not.