Minnesota Twins rumors: 5 names to watch heading into the deadline

As the final hours tick away before the MLB trading deadline on Wednesday, the Minnesota Twins are linked to several potential targets.

At the beginning of July, we here at Puckett’s Pond posted our trade deadline target rankings. The list of 11 players figured to be a good shortlist of who the Minnesota Twins may look to add to their pitching staff and when the article was written, we thought we could reference it once the Twins made a move.

But we live in a different world than we did at the beginning of July and things have continued to get crazier as the MLB trading deadline approaches at 3 p.m. CT on Wednesday.

Since that list was published, the Twins were smitten with Noah Syndergaard only to find out that New York Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen wanted to play fantasy baseball and asked for Byron Buxton in return. The Twins were also in on Marcus Stroman, but he went to the Mets for two prospects not ranked in Baseball America’s top 100 prospects list.

In fact, the one move that the Twins did make was acquiring Sergio Romo, who wasn’t even on our initial list and prospect Chris Vallimont. So, it’s safe to say that our initial list was a wash. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t smoke surrounding the Twins, however.

The Twins are still in the mix for several relief pitchers and while it seems they have no desire to upgrade the rotation after the Syndergaard trade talks fell through, they could strike an 11th-hour deal with another pitcher for an upgrade.