The Minnesota Twins’ pursuit to upgrade their roster could take an outside-the-box approach by dealing their starting left fielder.
The Minnesota Twins continue to make the rounds at the MLB winter meetings and one day after it was reported the team would be willing to deal some of its top prospects, it appears that another trade chip could be brought to the table in outfielder Eddie Rosario.
According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the Twins are in conversations with multiple clubs about Rosario’s services. This comes after the Texas Rangers snuck Nomar Mazara to the Chicago White Sox in a four-player deal on Wednesday night and could continue Minnesota’s increased willingness to get involved in the trade market.
There have been whispers about Rosario potentially being shopped dating back toward the end of the 2019 season, where the 27-year old put up career numbers in home runs (32) and RBI (109), but logged a 46.3% chase rate (4th highest in MLB per FanGraphs) which led to his lowest on-base percentage (.300) since 2016.
With MLB Trade Rumors projecting Rosario about to get roughly $8.9 million in arbitration, the Twins could be looking for a way to upgrade their roster and also clear a path for top outfield prospect Alex Kirilloff.
One team that has surfaced as a potential suitor is the Miami Marlins, who was mentioned by Craig Mish of MLB Network Radio. In early talks, the Marlins have deemed the Twins’ asking price for Rosario “extremely high” and stuck to that same philosophy in their pursuit of Mazara before he was shipped to Chicago.
It would be interesting to note what the Twins would be asking from the Marlins in return for Rosario. Caleb Smith was their top pitcher in 2019, but his 10-11 record and 4.52 ERA isn’t going to make fans OK with dealing a fan favorite and borderline All-Star.
Instead, the Twins could look to the Marlins’ minor league system, which ranked eighth by Baseball America following last June’s MLB Draft. Right-hander Sixto Sanchez is the top pitching prospect in the organization per MLB Pipeline, but has fought through elbow injuries that limited him to 103 innings last season. Miami also has intriguing options in Edward Cabrera, Braxton Garrett and Trevor Rogers, but all three haven’t advanced past Double-A in the Marlins’ system.
Of course, Miami is just one possible destination for Rosario as the Twins could opt to deal with a team that has major league pitching to help their current dilemma as they continue to pursue Madison Bumgarner. At this point, the Twins are reaching out to try to get something done and it remains to be seen if any of these plans actually come to fruition.