What's next for the Twins after trading for Trevor Richards?

While there were no shortage of trades at the deadline this year, the Minnesota Twins existed firmly on the fringe of the action.

The Twins made a single trade, one that barely moves the needle with the unbelievably low wattage it created. Minnesota acquired reliever Trevor Richards from the Blue Jays, sending struggling Single-A prospect Jay Harry back to Toronto.

If you haven't heard of Harry -- or Richards for that matter -- that says it all.

Once again, rather than make a meaningful addition to the roster Minnesota opted to take the cheapest and least challenging route possible. Richards is a fine addition, but he has a -1.2 WAR and a 4.65 ERA, which isn't exactly striking fear into hitters late in games.

There is some stuff to like, despite how uninteresting the trade is and the weight of disappointment it carries which isn't Richards' fault. So far this season he has held lefties to a .506 OPS, which is a positive that could end up being useful down the stretch.

Richards is essentially a MacGuffin, though, which isn't exactly what you're looking for out of a deadline acquisition.

Anger from Twins fans isn't directed at him, rather at the team for once again doing nothing to improve a roster that has proven to be competitive this year but still feels a step behind the best teams in the American League.

What's next for the Twins after acquiring Trevor Richards at the trade deadline?

It's simple: Twins fans need to hope and pray that internal options work in a meaningful way.

The Twins rolled with the 'We have that at home' strategy when it comes to upgrading the roster. Fans lived through this last year when the team stood pat and didn't make a single trade, opting instead to sell everyone the the value of returning talent.

New year, same pitch.

To be fair, the Twins do have some serious talent coming back from the IL that adds up to as much or more than what the team could have netted in a trade. Carlos Correa is still injured and will hopefully return to form once he's back, which is going to be a helpful spark on both sides of the ball.

Out in the bullpen the Twins are expected to finally see Justin Topa make his debut some time soon. He's missed the entire season so far with an injury he suffered in Spring Training, but his profile matches someone Minnesota might have traded for at the deadline had they not already done that.

Topa is the big name coming back, not only because he was the centerpiece of the Jorge Polanco salary dump trade. He's a hard throwing reliever who projects to slide in alongside Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran as key pieces in the bullpen, and could help solve some issues caused by having Caleb Thielbar and Steven Okert as options in October.

The key thing with both Correa and Topa, though, is hope. Much like last year the Twins are banking on those guys coming back fully healthy which is a major gamble. It's just as big as hoping that Pablo Lopez figures out how to be an ace again, and that injuries or poor performance doesn't creep up on guys like Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, or Simeon Woods Richardson.

A similar thing could be said about prospect options. Zebby Matthews is knocking on the door of making his MLB debut and David Festa is slowly getting his footing like a baby deer learning to walk. Those two could be viable pitching options, but neither are proven commodities. The same goes for Randy Dobnak and Louie Varland, the latter of whom has looked decent in the minors but largely struggled in the rotation.

The Twins trade deadline was another embarrassment, and running back a house of cards 'hope for the best' strategy is hardly inspiring. There's a multiverse out there where this works out for the Twins, but that wasn't the case last year when the front office and ownership made an identical bet and it's a lot to ask this year.

What's perhaps most depressing is that the Twins did make a trade, but it's hard to argue that the team got better. When the sales pitch echos that by selling everyone on internal options as solutions, it doesn't do a lot to calm a justifiably angry fan base.

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