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Minnesota Twins: 5 trade targets to improve the Twins’ starting rotation

By Chris Schad

BOSTON, MA - MAY 28: David Price #10 of the Boston Red Sox pitches in the second inning of a game against the Cleveland Indians at Fenway Park on May 28, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - MAY 28: David Price #10 of the Boston Red Sox pitches in the second inning of a game against the Cleveland Indians at Fenway Park on May 28, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /
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MINNEAPOLIS, MN – AUGUST 25: Matthew Boyd #48 of the Detroit Tigers delivers a pitch against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning of the game on August 25, 2019 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Teams are wearing special color schemed uniforms with players choosing nicknames to display for Players’ Weekend. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – AUGUST 25: Matthew Boyd #48 of the Detroit Tigers delivers a pitch against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning of the game on August 25, 2019 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Teams are wearing special color schemed uniforms with players choosing nicknames to display for Players’ Weekend. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

Matthew Boyd

Trades within the division are becoming more common in Major League Baseball and while the Cleveland Indians weren’t willing to deal Corey Kluber to the Twins, a team that is further out of contention might be more willing to make a deal.

After whispers of being on the block at the trade deadline, Matthew Boyd is a pitcher that might not figure into the Tigers’ long-term plans. The left-hander will turn 29 in February and with the Tigers light-years from contending in the AL Central, it’s possible that Detroit will deal him to acquire more components for their rebuild.

This is a situation where the Twins could get a solid starter to help with the second or third spot in their rotation. Boyd has a career ERA of 4.92 but has shown signs of figuring things out in the past couple of seasons with increases in his K/BB ratio in each of the past three seasons and a massive jump in his K/9 rate from 8.4 in 2018 to 11.6 in 2019.

Boyd isn’t going to blow anyone away with his 92.1 MPH fastball but makes up for his velocity with movement by being in the 77th percentile in fastball spin rate per Baseball Savant. With a slider, changeup and curve that logged chase rates over 35% last season, Boyd has the stuff to get hitters out even if it’s not putting radar guns on tilt.

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With three more years of team control, Boyd will be attractive to the Twins. It just depends if the Tigers want to take the risk of leaving him in the division to help their own team get better.

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