Minnesota Twins: Full 2022 Twins Trade Deadline Preview
The Trade Deadline is officially here, as the first two major dominos have fallen in Andrew Benintendi to the New York Yankees and potential Minnesota Twins Trade Target Luis Castillo to the Seattle Mariners.
With the Twins desperately needing pitching and potentially a backup catcher, they have to be active in the market if they want to hold onto their perilously small division lead after a brutal July from their rotation.
We get you ready for the most important weekend of the Minnesota Twins’ season: The Trade Deadline.
With things set to start moving very quickly over the next day, we break down buyers and sellers, what the Twins need most, the best available, what the Twins can offer, and make some predictions for what happens next. Let’s get into it, starting with the buyers and sellers.
Minnesota Twins Deadline Preview: Buyers, Sellers, and In Between
Buyers: New York Yankees, Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays, Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Guardians, Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners, New York Mets, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres
The Yankees, Astros, Blue Jays, Mariners all look like surefire locks for the playoffs in the American League and are committed to adding talent. The Rays have limitless prospect talent and will make a move despite injuries. The Twins, Guardians, and White Sox are all going to make moves to try and win the wild AL Central. No other AL teams look interested.
In the National League, the Mets, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Dodgers, Padres, and Phillies will all go hard for the seven playoff spots. Ironically, I don’t think there’s much of a race, as no other team is going to buy.
In Between: Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Miami Marlins, San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies
The Orioles and Red Sox are right on the edge of a playoff spot, and I could see both just holding on and seeing what happens. The Orioles are coming out of a rebuild, so they won’t buy, while the Red Sox are an east coast powerhouse that wants one more run with it’s core.
For the Marlins and Giants, both teams expected to be better than this and plan on being better in 2023 with strong groups of talent. All four of these teams could opt to sell a few pieces, or make a small buying addition, but none will do anything drastic. The Rockies are the worst-run organization in baseball and apparently only sell at the wrong time, so they’re here too.
Sellers: Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, Arizona Diamondbacks
All of these teams are in various points in their rebuilds and will be open for business, ready to deal anything for the right price. They all are at least twelve games back of a playoff spot, and by early August, that’s a death sentence.
Minnesota Twins Trade Deadline Preview: Needs and Potential Options
The Minnesota Twins enter the Trade Deadline with a stellar lineup and a truly atrocious bullpen, so their three needs are crystal clear: starting pitcher, relief pitcher, and a catcher who can actually help out the staff. Let’s start with the biggest need:
Starting Pitcher: The Twins’ rotation has had its ups and downs this year, but through the month of July, it’s been a disaster, posting a 7.07 ERA. Joe Ryan (despite his bad start yesterday) and Sonny Gray are good starters, but after that it’s a crapshoot.
Dylan Bundy has had moments, but he is a bad starter overall and definitely can’t be trusted to be your third starter (especially in the playoffs). Chris Archer is good for about two innings a game before becoming the worst arm in the rotation from innings 3-5. Devin Smeltzer isn’t an MLB starter. Bailey Ober is a great back of the rotation arm, but he hasn’t pitched since June first. They need an ace.
We broke down some arms for them to go after here, but with Castillo gone, the Twins need to add one of Frankie Montas, Pablo Lopez, Tyler Mahle, or even someone like Blake Snell to help improve the rotation. If they can add an arm like that PLUS a Jose Quintana, Noah Syndergaard, or Wade Miley rental, that would be a huge step forward.
Relief Pitcher: A lot has been made about the Twins’ bullpen struggles, and they’re all valid concerns. The Twins bullpen has only two legit arms in Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran, while Jovani Moran, Trevor Megill, Caleb Thielbar, and Tyler Duffey are acceptable but not great. Everyone else has to go.
There’s a lot of arms available out there, but adding a guy like David Robertson from the Cubs or Anthony Bass from Miami then a cheap guy who needs a change of scenery (Lou Trivino anyone?), the team would instantly upgrade it’s bullpen in a major way. If they can make that happen, plus add a true ace, they’re so much better off than they were even a couple days prior.
Catcher: The last need the Twins have is to find a suitable catcher. Gary Sanchez is fine offensively, but his defense has been terrible and he’s really hurting his pitchers. Ryan Jeffers was an excellent defender, but he’s likely out through August. They need another solid defender to help out.
If they are looking for a better catcher, they’re not going to go get Wilson Contreras or Sean Murphy. Jacob Stallings from the Marlins, Tucker Barnhardt of the Tigers, and Yan Gomes of the Cubs could all provide a big defensive boost.
Minnesota Twins Trade Deadline Preview: Prospects to Move
Top Available Prospects to Move: I’m writing this in the hope that the Twins can miraculously avoid losing Alex Kirilloff and Jose Miranda in a deal for an ace. I’m hopeful that a package of prospects plus Max Kepler will get a deal done. With that said, the Twins do have some valuable young talents to move.
Spencer Steer and Matt Wallner are both great players at AAA in the middle of strong seasons that will likely be moved for an arm, as neither has a path to playing time in the majors right now. Austin Martin’s value is lower in the midst of a disappointing season, but he has a ton of talent and would be worth moving for the Twins.
Simeon Woods Richardson is having a solid year and could be moved for an arm, while Marco Raya and Steve Hajjar are very intriguing options a little lower down the list. While all these are good young players, none might be enough to bring back an ace.
Minnesota Twins Trade Deadline Preview: Final Prediction
All reports indicate that the Twins have been extremely aggressive in looking for pitching talent to help their lineup out. For once, I’m inclined to believe they’ll really go all-out in what may be Carlos Correa’s only season with the team. I think the team makes two deals this offseason:
- Tyler Mahle for Simeon Woods Richardson, Spencer Steer, Matt Wallner, and Yasser Mercedes.
- David Robertson and Yan Gomes for Steve Hajjar, Misael Urbina, and Brent Headrick
These deals would cost the Twins a lot of talent, but would make the team immensely better. Hopefully they’re willing to go all out and make this a season worth remembering as the one where the postseason streak ended.
Next. Could Pablo López be a good Trade Target?. dark