Minnesota Twins 2018-2019 Offseason Trade Partner Profile: Oakland Athletics

The Minnesota Twins 2018-2019 offseason is here. Here we explore who could be their trade partners as they look to return to the playoffs.

The Minnesota Twins need to make some moves with the offseason now upon us. Free agents will attract a lot of the attention over the next several weeks as there are several big name free agents potentially looking for a new team and new big and shiny deal.

The Twins should very much be able to be in the conversation with many free agent names, but what will be just as if not more important for the Twins is the trade market. The Twins front office has pointed to the Twins minor league assets as a strength to help them acquire some additions to their roster. We will attempt to work through each team in baseball and find some trades that work for both sides.

We have already explored possibilities with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies. Next up is the Oakland Athletics

Athletics 2018

In a division with the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels, and even the Seattle Mariners it wasn’t expected that the Athletics would be as competitive as they were in 2018. That is exactly why we play the games and after the games were played the A’s finished the season 97-65, 2nd in the AL West, and were a Wild Card team.

Matt Chapman was one of the team leaders as he held down third base and hit .278/.356/.508 along with 24 home runs. At age 34 Jed Lowrie was another offensive force in the A’s lineup as he hit .267/.353/.448 and 23 home runs. Matt Olson also hit .247/.335/.453 and 29 home runs.

On the pitching end, Sean Manaea lead the A’s starters with 160.2 innings pitched and a 3.59 ERA until he went down with injury. The real spotlight of the team was its bullpen lead by closer Blake Treinen who had an incredible 0.78 ERA, 38 saves, and an 11.2 K/9.

Possible Trade Interest

Athletics may want: The Athletics have always assembled their roster in a non conventional manner. That makes it somewhat difficult to know exactly what they would like to do. With a lot of question marks across their rotation a starting pitcher would make sense. They could also look to add an outfielder potentially.

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Twins may want: The Twins may be intrigued by some of the A’s prospects. The hard thing is evaluating just how good the farm system is since different prospect rankings have the entire system ranked from the high teens all the way up to top-10.

 Trade Proposals

Trade Proposal #1: LHP Adalberto Mejia for LHP Dalton Sawyer and maybe a second low-level prospect

In a struggle to find true trade fits for these two clubs this looks like something that could come to be especially as we get closer to spring training. If the Twins add another starter or decide they would like to go with one of the other young starters Mejia is out of options and available in a trade.

Mejia fits with the Athletics who are a little depleted along the starting rotation. At the same time, even if Mejia cannot become a true starter the Athletics are very willing to use openers and stacked pitchers. Something that I believe Mejia would be very well suited for. The Athletics are a team that may certainly be able to unlock his talent.

Dalton Sawyer got noticed by pro clubs as a member of the University of Minnesota Gophers. He is a left-hander who seems to have the floor of an effective lefty specialist but could still continue to develop into a starter as well if he becomes more effective at getting right-handed hitters out.

Trade Proposal #2: RHP Kyle Gibson for RHP Daulton Jefferies and 1B Alfonso Rivas

This trade would be a bit more aggressive for Oakland to make. It would signal they think they are going to make a run this year which there are all the reasons in the world for them to think that. Gibson does only have one year remaining on his contract but has been a very good pitcher over the last season and a half. A season of Gibson could be very valuable for a team like the A’s potentially looking for the final boosts to get through the playoffs.

Jefferies is a right-handed pitcher who is able to play with the speed on his fastball a bit and is the No. 13 prospect in the A’s system according to MLB.com. He has had some injury struggles but if healthy could be a good pitching addition. Rivas could be too strong of an ask as a secondary piece in this trade. With pitching at a premium it could also work. Rivas represents what seems to be the type of bat the Twins front office has coveted in the past.