Tyler Mahle reunites with former Reds teammate Sonny Gray after trade deadline deal with Twins

The Cincinnati Reds continue to wheel and deal as the MLB trade deadline is nearly upon us. After trading Sonny Gray to the Twins earlier this year, it now appears that Tyler Mahle will be joining him in Minnesota.

Mahle's name has mentioned in trade rumors for the last several weeks, and after Cincinnati dealt Luis Castillo to the Seattle Mariners last week, it felt as though it was only a matter of time before the Reds decided to trade their other highly-coveted starting pitcher.

Mahle was Cincinnati's Opening Day starter this season, mainly because Castillo opened the year on the Injured List. The right-hander struggled during the early-going but really picked it up over his last several starts.

Reds trade RHP Tyler Mahle to the Twins for 3 prospects.

Tyler Mahle is 5-7 on the year with a 4.40 ERA and 114 punch outs over 114 innings of work. Mahle was sidelined recently with an injury, but has since returned to the mound for two starts, striking out 12 batters over 12 innings while allowing just five earned runs. Mahle's last seven starts have yielded a 3.02 ERA.

So what did the Reds receive in return? According to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, Cincinnati will receive infield prospects Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand, and left-handed pitcher Steve Hajjar. All three are ranked in the Top 30 of the Minnesota Twins farm system according to MLB Pipeline with Steer ranked as the team's No. 7 prospect.

With Tyler Mahle off to Minnesota, the Cincinnati Reds starting rotation will be undergoing somewhat of a rebuild itself. Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Graham Ashcraft, and Mike Minor remain, and it's a good bet that Justin Dunn will be activated from the 60-day IL very soon.

While it's no quite the return that Cincinnati received in return for Luis Castillo, the Reds still received three young prospects to help build the roster for the future. Time will tell whether or not this was a good trade on the part of Reds GM Nick Krall.