Ricky Nolasco

The Minnesota Twins took a step toward improving their miserable starting rotation on Wednesday when they agreed to a deal with free agent Ricky Nolasco.

Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish broke the news first, with Jon Heyman of CBS Sports confirming the report:

The Minnesota Twins have agreed to terms with free-agent pitcher Ricky Nolasco. The deal between the club and the right-hander was first reported by Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com on Wednesday afternoon:

Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press received confirmation from Nolasco:

There are no proven No. 1 starting pitchers on MLB's free-agent market this year. Too many are signing extensions these days. Others, presumably, have simply migrated to warmer climates.

What the market does boast is a solid collection of No. 2 and No. 3 starters who can be had at fair prices. And if there's one guy who's likely to be had at a fairer price than anyone, it's Ricky Nolasco.

The Miami Marlins have agreed to a trade that would send veteran starting pitcher Ricky Nolasco to the Los Angeles Dodgers for three prospects in Steven Ames, Josh Wall and Angel Sanchez.

UPDATE: Saturday, July 6, at 9:45 p.m. ET by Ian Hanford

I'll take a wild guess and say that about 98.32 percent of rumored trades between now and July 31 won't happen. In fact, a large percentage of those probably weren't even seriously discussed by the teams mentioned.

So while we were all seriously discussing how those players would fit on their new teams and speculating on which prospects were going to be part of the trade package, the general managers involved in the rumored deal were probably working on a deal that was completely under wraps and then surprised the heck out of everybody once it was announced. 

In light of how things were going for a while there, it didn't occur to me to imagine a scenario in which there would be a huge fuss over Ricky Nolasco.

But lo and behold, such a fuss is happening now.

On Friday night, the San Francisco Giants received a first-hand look at Ricky Nolasco—a pitcher who they reportedly have interest in acquiring, according to

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