Minnesota Twins: Ranking the 5 Most Valuable Trade Chips to Move

Minnesota Twins Trade Chip No. 1: Michael Pineda

Return: Two Top 10 organizational prospects

The Twins have the rare opportunity of having a very strong pitcher entering free agency while the team appears out of the playoff hunt. Michael Pineda is arguably one of the best rentals available on the market at a position everyone needs: Starting pitcher.

Pineda’s best season in Minnesota came last year, but he has followed up 2021 with a rock-solid 2022, posting a 3.46 ERA (4.29 FIP), 50/14 K/BB ratio, and a 8.7 K/9 rate. No one will confuse that with an ace, but that’s at the very least a Top 3 starter in just about any rotation.

For any team that has dealt with injuries or just needs a starter for the third game of the playoff series, Pineda could be a great rental. It will hurt the Twins to lose their second most productive pitcher, but it will allow for even more arms to see a spot in the rotation.

Pineda has never pitched in a playoff game before, but that won’t mean he can’t and a team in need of starting pitching would gladly scoop him up to have him start meaningful games for them. This will mean the Twins will have the choice of offers.

I wouldn’t expect any elite prospects, as a year of Francisco Lindor didn’t net a single Top-100 prospect, but I would think the Twins could land at least one, possibly two organizational Top-10 prospects, giving the rapidly thinning farm system a needed jolt.