Minnesota Twins: 4 players the Twins should have traded for at the deadline
By Chris Schad
Marcus Stroman
The market for starting pitching was crazy as the Milwaukee Brewers had to cough up their third-ranked prospect for Drew Pomeranz, who is 2-9 with a 5.68 ERA. That being said, the price for Marcus Stroman should have been astronomical when the Twins made a call to Toronto General Manager Ross Atkins and it was.
According to Dan Hayes of The Athletic, the Blue Jays had either asked for shortstop Royce Lewis or outfielder Alex Kirilloff in a potential deal. The Twins (as reported earlier in the trade season) weren’t too keen on giving up either, but according to Hayes, they felt they had a better offer for the Blue Jays if they called back.
Instead, the Twins apparently got ghosted by Atkins, who turned around and shipped Stroman to the New York Mets without giving Minnesota a chance to counter. The final deal involving the 28-year old involved Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson, neither of whom were listed on MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects list.
Such was life at the trade deadline for Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey and General Manager Thad Levine as their top prospects outside of Kirilloff and Lewis didn’t have as much value as some of the other team’s top prospects carried. In this case, the Twins could have gotten a solid pitcher for 2019 and 2020 had they been more aggressive.