As the dust settles on the trade deadline, we're starting to learn more about what happened behind closed doors as teams tried to wheel and deal. There wasn't much of that for the Minnesota Twins but it turns out it wasn't for a lack of trying.
Trevor Richards, a right handed change-up specialist, was acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays as the lone move Minnesota made. It's hardly inspiring, but the cost of doing business was merely Jay Harry, a struggling Single-A prospect to fell out of the Twins’ Top 30 ranking earlier this season.
It wasn't just that the Twins failed to do anything to meaningfully add to a competitive roster, it's that all of the rumors leading up to the deadline didn't amount to the type of action we were expecting. Minnesota's front office typically operates in the shadows, so it's not surprising that we didn't see the Richards trade coming but the amount of chatter suggested we'd see more than we did.
While it's no doubt frustrating that nothing materialized, it turns out part of the problem was AL Central rivals essentially punking them as the deadline neared.
Tigers and White Sox wanted Brooks Lee and Walker Jenkins as return in trade packages
Erick Fedde and Jack Flaherty both made perfect sense as fits in Minnesota, but the problem was they each played for division rivals. As the deadline passed there was some sense of frustration among fans that the Twins weren't able to beat what was a pretty meager trade package from the Dodgers in exchange for Flaherty, but now we know why a deal didn't happen.
The Athletic's Dan Hayes reported that each team started their asking price in a trade at prospects like Brooks Lee and Walker Jenkins.
Details on Twins Erick Fedde trade talks from @DanHayesMLB:
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) August 1, 2024
• White Sox wanted to start convo w/Walker Jenkins, Brooks Lee or Emmanuel Rodriguez. Twins said no.
• Twins were willing to trade Luke Keaschall but White Sox talks never advanced. Didn't want to trade in division. pic.twitter.com/OguMpNl7T7
Hayes wrote:
Another issue facing the Twins, team sources said, was the lofty asks of in-division foes. The Twins engaged the Tigers for Flaherty and the White Sox on Fedde. But both rival clubs centered their demands on packages that began with one of prospects Brooks Lee, Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez, a price point that the Twins considered a non-starter.
Who among us would expect either team, currently racing to the bottom of the AL Central, to take the trade deadline seriously. Detroit certainly didn't, ultimately flipping Flaherty for mid-tier Dodgers prospects and basically giving Andrew Chafin away for free.
Chicago did much better, but sold off almost the entire roster to land prospects for the future.
Credit where it's due, though. Rather than be adults and potentially dipping into the Twins deeply talented farm system, the Tigers and White Sox decided to throw up double birds while laughing in Minnesota's face. It's nice to know that even in a year where Chicago and Detroit are truly terrible, the spirit of the rivaly is as strong as ever.
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