Flurry of last-minute Twins trades all but strips roster to its core

Boston Red Sox v Minnesota Twins
Boston Red Sox v Minnesota Twins | David Berding/GettyImages

If you're a frustrated Minnesota Twins fan right now, we feel your pain. If you're a Minnesota Twins player who's still in uniform ... what are you still doing here?

The trade deadline fire sale that simply would not end claimed a few more victims before the dust settled in Minneapolis on Thursday. Though reports that the Boston Red Sox had traded for Joe Ryan before the horn turned out to be erroneous (expect those talks to resurface in the winter...), the Twins did make two more deals with the AL East before the final whistle.

At least it seems Minnesota did markedly well in all the last-second chaos. They dealt stalwart first baseman Ty France and pitcher Louis Varland to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for viable outfielder Alan Roden and No. 5 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, Kendry Rojas.

Twins trade Louis Varland, Ty France, Griffin Jax to Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays

Almost concurrently, the Twins made a hugely impactful swap with the Tampa Bay Rays, who threaded the sell/buy needle brilliantly (as they always do). The Rays sent former top prospect (and someone who appeared to be a big-league stalwart last season?) Taj Bradley in exchange for Griffin Jax, the could-still-be-leveled-up setup man.

Jax's final moments in the organization - and, I'd suspect, the same can be said of many of the departing players and still-Twins today - were not pleasant. He was brought into an 8-1 game against the Red Sox in the ninth inning, surrendered three consecutive hits, watched Willi Castro get misleadingly pulled from the game (not traded), and had words with Rocco Baldelli as a position player helped inflate his ERA.

These three Twins, and everyone else who departed on Thursday, undoubtedly needs a fresh start to wash the ugliness of the last week out of their mouths. But the organization does, too. They'll get a good shot at it with the return packages they received throughout the week, but no amount of imported prospect capital will erase the hollow feeling we're all left with.

Byron Buxton emphatically declaring himself a Twin for life at the All-Star Game only hurts harder now.