MLB insider has a surprising take on what Twins did at trade deadline

Let’s spare hyperbole: the Minnesota Twins trade deadline was a massive letdown.

Rather than take advantage of a terrible AL Central and fortify the roster with some mid-level moves, the Twins stood pat and didn’t do a single thing ahead of the deadline. The only move Minnesota made was to punt on Jorge Lopez and admit defeat on a splashy deadline deadline from last season.

That’s it.

Needless to say, fans weren’t particularly pleased. The strategy behind standing pat didn’t hold together very long before coming apart at the seams. Falvey noted in the lead up to the deadline — and reiterated in the aftermath — that the Twins have enough talent coming back from injury that it would be better than what the team could get in a trade.

It was announced after the deadline that Brock Stewart, one of the aforementioned heroes in waiting, suffered a setback. On Friday he was taken off the 40-man roster and placed on the 60-day IL which effectively ends his season (although he could make a return for the postseason). That was the bitter chaser to the master trade deadline strategy, but it turns out not everyone is so down on what the Twins did as their fans are.

MLB insider thinks the Twins had a great trade deadline

MLB insider Jim Bowden went through his observations from the trade deadline and mentioned the Twins as part of his league-wide assessment. Rather than dog the team, Bowden noted that Minnesota had what he thinks was the best deadline among teams that stood pat.

“The Twins, whose only move was swapping relievers with the Marlins, sending Jorge López to Miami for Dylan Floro. They held onto impending free-agent starters Kenta Maeda and Sonny Gray, and watched the rest of the AL Central get weaker,” Bowden wrote.

For what it’s worth, the Yankees were Bowden’s worst team to stand pat at the deadline.

There’s logic in not having made a move, not the least of which is the Twins didn’t have to dip into the farm system like it did last season. The Lopez and Tyler Mahle trade dudding left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth, but it might have dictated what the team did at the deadline this year in terms of not giving up assets to win a division that can probably be won anyway.

Of course, that’s not a fantastic message to send — that Good Enough will get the job done — but at least in not making any moves the Twins didn’t make any missteps by default.