We're two months away from the MLB Trade Deadline, but already folks are getting a head start on trying to predict what might happen.
It's admittedly one of the most exciting times on the baseball calendar, and Trade Rumors SZN leading up to the July 30th deadline is always good conversation. Each year there's always a top seller on the market and this season that seems to be a tie between the Miami Marlins and the Toronto Blue Jays.
Not exactly the two teams you'd expect to be joined at the hip in the rumor mill.
Miami has already traded Luis Arraez to San Diego and has valuable pieces like Jesus Luzardo left to flip. Toronto is a potential treasure chest for buyers on the market, boasting more star talent that will attract a ton of interest if a fire sale ends up happening.
Toronto being this close to sellers has all eyes on their star players and where they might get traded, and the Minnesota Twins keep coming up each time a new rumor is discussed.
Twins named a trade destination for Bo Bichette at the expense of Edouard Julien
Bleacher Report first linked the Twins to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., naming them a Top 5 landing spot, and have done it again with another Blue Jays star. This time the Twins were named as a potential trade destination for Bo Bichette but with some questionable logic.
" Correa is likewise doing just fine at shortstop, but Edouard Julien has lately been tanking at second base. He's only hitting .176 since April 28. If he wears out the Twins' patience, there could be sense in trading for Bichette and moving him to the keystone," B/R's Zachary D. Rymer wrote.
The trade idea for Guerrero made a little sense, as it would help solve a problem at first base while adding a superstar slugger for the cost of Gabriel Gonzalez and some cash. One hangup there is that the Twins were unwilling to add to the payroll this winter, and slashing $30 million seems a pretty clear indicator that the team wouldn't want to take on a $19 million contract.
Bichette makes even less sense but not for budgetary reasons. Minnesota already has such a logjam of infielders that it made All-Star second baseman Jorge Polanco expendable. Brooks Lee is expected to be called up this year, the resurgence of Jose Miranda has earned him a spot on the roster, and Royce Lewis is set to return from the IL in the coming weeks.
Julien hasn't been outstanding this year, but it's a tough sell for the Twins to cut bait on him and replace him with Bichette. It all comes back to Minnesota's reluctance to add to the payroll, as Julien is making under $1 million while Bichette signed a $33.6 million extension with the Blue Jays.
He's under team control until 2026, which is an attractive element but there's also no danger of losing Julien before then either and his ceiling offensively could be higher. If the Twins did lose patience with Eddy, it's far more likely they'd turn to Lee, Yunior Severino, or another internal candidate before blowing things up to get Bichette.
Should the Twins make a splashy deadline trade, which seems unlikely, it won't be for an infielder.
Once again, though, it's at least notable that the Twins are being mentioned in these national conversations about big time trades. It's extremely unlikely that they pull off a deal for Vlad Jr., and it makes next to no sense for them to blow things up for Bichette.
It's nice to have a seat at the table, though.
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