Minnesota Twins rumors: Could the Twins land Noah Syndergaard at the deadline?
The Minnesota Twins have been looking for pitching ahead of the trade deadline, but could they pull off a blockbuster with the New York Mets?
It’s no secret that the Minnesota Twins are looking for pitching ahead of the MLB trade deadline. Between now and July 31, the Twins are likely to be linked to several names both in the starting and relief pitching markets. While some names have already been mentioned, there are others that could pop up out of nowhere.
As the Twins target some of the names that have been tossed around all season long, one of the names that fans may not expect is New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard. In an article by ESPN’s David Schoenfield, he mentions that now is the time for the combination of Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey and General Manager Thad Levine to think big.
“Derek Falvey and Thad Levine have focused on small, cost-efficient moves during their tenure running the Twins,” Schoenfeld said. “Now it’s time to think big. If the Mets make Syndergaard available, he’s a great fit for Minnesota — for 2019 and beyond, since starters Jake Odorizzi, Kyle Gibson and Michael Pineda are all free agents at season’s end.”
Acquiring Syndergaard sounds like something that could only be done in MLB The Show, but when you think about it, it’s definitely possible. Should the Mets make Syndergaard available, he would be a hot commodity considering he wouldn’t be a free agent until after the 2021 season. Because of that, the Mets would be looking for a large haul worth of prospects especially after whiffing on an aggressive winter by General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen.
In Schoenfeld’s article, he believes that would mean the Mets would ask for Twins top prospects Royce Lewis, Alex Kirilloff and Brusdar Graterol. However, it was recently reported that those prospects are off-limits. Instead, the Twins still may be able to entice the Mets with some other enticing prospects such as 2018 first-round pick Trevor Larnach, Futures Game representative Jordan Balazovic and possibly even Triple-A standout Brent Rooker.
As mentioned in our mock trade negotiations with Joel Reuter from Around the Foghorn, the Twins also have some intriguing prospects further down MLB Pipeline’s top prospect list such as Misael Urbina or Gilberto Celestino. The one concern could be that the Twins don’t have many hot pitching prospects, which may be a deal-breaker in order to land Syndergaard from the Mets.
To dive deeper, it’s possible that Syndergaard would be a younger version of the scenario that could play out with Madison Bumgarner. The 26-year old is having a career-worst year at 7-6 with a 4.55 ERA, but a lot of that could have to do with the dumpster fire status of the Mets, who are currently employing 82-year old Phil Regan as their pitching coach.
No offense to Regan, but by adding a more analytics-based approach like the one Wes Johnson has used to coax the most out of his pitching staff, it may be enough to revive a career that was one of the most promising in the majors heading into this season.
Next. Ranking the Twins' trade deadline targets. dark
If the Twins could pull off a deal for Syndergaard, it could set them up not only for this season but down the road as they could pair him with Jose Berrios to have a young 1-2 punch for at least the next three seasons. With the Twins’ current roster, that may be enough to mortgage the future for a shot at their best pair of aces since Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano were dealing in 2006.