Minnesota Twins outfielder Jake Cave – potential trade chip?

Since coming over to the Minnesota Twins in a trade from the New York Yankees, Jake Cave has given the Twins some solid insurance in the outfield, with Cave recently being sent back down to Rochester, is a trade on the horizon?

Jake Cave has been a fantastic addition for the Minnesota Twins since the beginning of last season. He has performed admirably since coming over in a trade that sent young minor league pitcher Luis Gil to the New York Yankees. With the off-season additions performing extremely well thus far, Cave may have a difficult time working his way into the Minnesota Twins line-up.

In 109 games with the Twins, Cave is slashing .262/.320/.454 which is fantastic for a guy backing up arguably one of the best outfields in the game. Barring major injury to one of Kepler, Rosario, or Buxton, Cave may see limited time on the team the remainder of the year. Another big reason for this is the off-season signing of Marwin Gonzalez.

Marwin is the epitome of a utility player in the MLB. He can play any position on the field besides pitcher or catcher and has played the outfield very well so far this year. Considering he has the remainder of 2019 and 2020 under contract with the Twins, he could prove to be more valuable while guys like Rooker, Raley, Wade Jr, Kiriloff, and others work their way up to the majors.

Another player recently finding success at the big league level is “La Tortuga” aka Willians Astudillo (yes, La Tortuga was listed first). Willians has seen time all over the diamond and is another utility guy that could make finding time for Cave rather difficult.

Nelson Cruz and Mitch Garver have yet to return from injury meaning the current roster will only get more crowded. Luis Arraez is playing exceptionally well albeit in a small sample size since being called up. With the front office also needing to get looks at the pitching depth in the organization, well, you can see where this is going.

For the first time in a long time, the Twins could be “buyers” at this years trade deadline. Granted things need to keep trending in the right direction, but so far so good for this surprising club. The lineup is cranking home runs at a historic rate and show no signs of slowing down. One area an addition may be needed is the pitching staff.

The back-end of the starting rotation and the bullpen could both be targets for upgrades when looking for trade options this coming July. Another lefty out of the pen would be a big upgrade for the Twins while finding another solid starter to eat innings could work out just as well.

It would be tough to see Cave go but to be fair, I think he’s played more than solid enough to earn himself a starting role for a big league club looking to solidify their outfield. Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely not saying the Twins should get rid of the budding young outfielder but with a lineup as packed as the one in Minnesota, it may be the right thing to do, for both parties.