Kevin Jepsen traded to Twins for Chih-Wei Hu and Alexis Tapia

Kevin Jepsen has been the most popular name associated with possible Rays trades leading up to the deadline, and around 2:00 PM eastern time, Ken Rosenthal reported that Jepsen had been dealt to the Minnesota Twins. Moments later, Chris Cotillo confirmed the report. Cotillo also reported that two minor league arms will be heading back to the Rays.

Now, according to LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, those two pitchers are Chih-Wei Hu, a 21-year-old from Taiwan who's spent most of this season in high-A but was briefly promoted up to triple-A, and Alexis Tapia, a 19-year-old who's spent most of the season in rookie ball, but made a cameo in high-A.

Both Hu and Tapia have put up strong numbers in the minor leagues this season, but Minnesota likely figured that they needed relief help right now, with both the Toronoto Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles gearing up to come after them in the wild card race.

Twins will send Rays Chin-Wei Hu and Alexis Tapia

— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) July 31, 2015

Jepsen was acquired this past offseason for Matt Joyce, a trade that the Rays have clearly won as Joyce has been displaced in Anaheim. Jepsen's peripherals haven't been amazing, but in terms of not allowing runs, he's been a quality late inning arm for Kevin Cash.

So far this year in 46 games with the Rays, Jepsen is 2-5 with a 2.81 ERA and a 4.13 FIP to go along with a 19.3 K% and a 11.4 BB% over the course of 41 plus innings on the mound.

Earlier in the offseason, we suggested that Jepsen could bring back a return similar to what Tyler Clippard brought the Athletics (Casey Meisner, a minor league pitcher, ranked 22nd in the Mets sytem). Neither of these relievers has been ranked quite as high as Meisner, but they're both young, and the Rays did get two of them, so this return sounds about right.

Hu has appeared twice in Carson Cistulli's series on "compelling fringe prospects," and the second time included video of him throwing a palm ball (possibly).

Side note: Bobby Wilson has been claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers, meanwhile Mikie Mahtook has been promoted from Durham.