The 2017-2018 offseason is here for the Minnesota Twins. Could the Boston Red Sox be a trade partner for the Twins this offseason?
Now that the Minnesota Twins have entered the offseason, they are looking to improve the roster through trades and through free agent signings. In this series, we look at how the Twins match up with teams in trade scenarios.
We will first cover the team’s 2017 and what they may be looking for this offseason and then look at whether the Twins could be a good fit for a possible trade this offseason. If there’s a fit, we’ll try to put together a feasible trade that would work for both sides. We have already covered the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, and Baltimore Orioles. Next up is the Boston Red Sox.
2017 Red Sox
By most standards, the Boston Red Sox had a successful 2017. The team went 93-69 and won the American League East crown. The season did end earlier than they wished when the Red Sox were bounced from the playoffs in the ALDS by the Houston Astros. The Red Sox apparently operate on different standards as they decided to fire manager John Farrell at season’s end.
The Red Sox are similar to the Twins in the sense that they also have a talented trio of young outfielders in Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Mookie Betts. As a rookie Benintendi hit .271/.352/.424, 20 home runs and stole 20 bases.
Dustin Pedroia turned in another excellent season with a slash line of .293/.369/.392 and was a finalist for a Gold Glove award. Unfortunately, the Red Sox will be missing Pedroia for the start of 2018 as he recently underwent knee surgery.
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The Red Sox have done a lot to bolster their pitching staff over time. David Price and Eduardo Rodriguez both struggled with injuries but when you include them in a rotation that also features Chris Sale, Rick Porcello, and Drew Pomeranz that makes most other fans green with envy. And that doesn’t even touch the bullpen headed by closer Craig Kimbrel who pitched 69 innings, 1.43 ERA, 35 saves, and 16.9 strikeouts per nine rate.
Possible Trade Interest
Red Sox may want: The Red Sox look to be going big. They want big bats and want to continue to strengthen their bullpen. The rumors are already flying about Giancarlo Stanton heading to Boston. With Pedroia’s injury, the Red Sox are also in need of some infield depth.
Twins may want: There are a lot of major league pieces the Twins would like but are the Red Sox selling them? Even though the Red Sox have seen a dip in their team prospect ranking because of a lot of young talent hitting the majors, they still have some arms at the top of their system that could be of interest to the Twins.
Trade Proposals
As stated above, the Red Sox are looking for pieces that can help push them into the World Series now. So the question becomes, who out of the Twins major league talent would the Red Sox covet.
Next: Minnesota Twins Fall and Winter League Roundup
Trade Proposal #1: Brian Dozier for Sam Travis/Tanner Houck/Alex Scherff, Tzu-Wei Lin/Jake Cosart, and a good lower-level prospect who still has question marks or a lot of growth needed. Someone similar to a Lewis Thorpe/Jermaine Palacios in the Twins system.
Trade Proposal #2: Ervin Santana for 2 out of the group of Sam Travis/Tanner Houck/Alex Scherff and Tzu-Wei Lin/Jake Cosart.