It’s not officially the offseason until we start getting absolutely wild rumors and speculation tossed onto the Hot Stove.
That’s what happened this weekend, when St. Louis Cardinals reporter John Denton suggested that the Minnesota Twins might be a landing spot for Steven Matz this winter.
Landing Matz isn’t the crazy part. Denton hyped up Matz’s value and suggested that a reasonable and fair deal would be flipping him for Pablo Lopez.
“Following a rocky start and a bullpen demotion, Matz pitched well over a seven-start stretch before injuries hit again. Could the Cards flip his relatively modest $11 million annual salary to the cost-cutting Rays (for Tyler Glasnow), to the White Sox (for Dylan Cease) or to the Twins (for long-time St. Louis target Pablo López),” Denton wrote.
Riiiiiiight.
Needless to say, this got dunked on pretty hard by Twins Twitter who couldn’t help but laugh at such a ridiculous idea.
This is one of the most annoying things I’ve ever read. https://t.co/zat9BlRN8S
— commissioner shayla (thank you Boomstick) (@shaylarz) December 2, 2023
Lmao yeah we trade him after we signed him 🤣 https://t.co/ohLCYUqeyQ
— It’s Joever (@suzakuwatzu) December 2, 2023
— That Matt Guy (@PrimePaulshawn) December 2, 2023
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA https://t.co/kQykOCmBkC
— Twins Brasil 🇧🇷⚾ (@TwinsBrasil) December 2, 2023
To be fair, part of the offseason fun is tossing out speculative ideas. No one actually knows what is going to happen until it does, and the reason we all love hot stove season is the seemingly endless possibilities that could play out. Lest we forget the journey we all went on with Carlos Correa last winter, and how Twins fans hearing that they might still be in the running weren’t as ridiculous as major market fans and media suggested.
That being said, the Twins are not trading Pablo Lopez. There’s an absolutely zero percent chance that this idea is even entertained short of Minnesota landing someone like Shohei Ohtani or Juan Soto; Steven Matz is simply not fair value.
It’s a ludicrous idea, and it’s sort of insulting. This sort of stuff furthers the trope that Minnesota sports teams are simply an afterthought in the big picture. Whether or not it’s been the case in the past, the Twins deserve a little more respect than this.