Minnesota Twins: Ranking the Twins’ potential targets at the trade deadline
By Chris Schad
1. RP Will Smith (San Francisco Giants)
If the Twins want the best arm available on the market, they would have to go west to find it in San Francisco’s Will Smith. The Giants closer has been dominant over the past two seasons after missing 2017 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Since then, Smith has collected 37 saves for the Giants, but his other numbers have been off the charts.
In his 90 1/3 innings since returning from injury, Smith has racked up 125 strikeouts while issuing 23 walks earning a 2.39 ERA. Break those numbers down to this season and Smith has seen increases in strikeouts per nine innings (13.0), strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.75) and has lowered his ERA to 2.17. The added bonus is that hitters have hit just .219 against Smith this year and have registered a .506 OPS.
Next. Mock trade negotiation with Around the Foghorn. dark
This performance has Joel Reuter of Around the Foghorn comparing Smith to the 2016 performance of Aroldis Chapman. That thought process will mean that acquiring the left-hander would be expensive (The Yankees would get Gleyber Torres and Billy McKinney in the deal), but a combination of Taylor Rogers and Smith at the end of games would definitely put an end to the Twins’ bullpen woes.