The Minnesota Twins' chances of winning the AL Central are low, as the team trails the division-leading Cleveland Guardians by 5 1/2 games. While there's still plenty of time for Minnesota to close the gap in the standings, it still seems unlikely, especially after catcher Ryan Jeffers suffered a fractured left hamate bone, which typically keeps players sidelined for one to two months. If Twins fans want to feel hopeful about a postseason berth, they should look at the AL Wild Card standings, where Minnesota trails the third Wild Card spot by just 1 1/2 games despite a poor 23-27 record.
Jeffers' injury doesn't just hurt the Twins' slim AL Central hopes; it likely hurts his trade value significantly if Minnesota decides to sell ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline. If Jeffers misses just about four to five weeks, the hit to his trade value shouldn't be too extreme. But if he ends up missing around eight weeks, the catcher won't have much playing time between now and the trade deadline, which would be terrible news for the Twins if they are sellers. Obviously, it would also hurt the team's playoff chances if Jeffers is sidelined for the maximum expected time.
Jeffers and center fielder Byron Buxton have clearly been the Twins' best position players this season. Buxton leads the Twins position players in fWAR with 1.8 while Jeffers, who has a .295/.408/.541 (165 wRC+) slash line this year, ranks second with 1.7. In the final year of his contract, Jeffers was well on his way to making his first All-Star appearance before suffering his injury.
Jeffers' injury could hurt his free agent market
Jeffers' unfortunate injury could also have a massive impact on his upcoming free agency. If he continues where he left off upon returning from the IL, he may receive the payday he's looking for. However, if he's slow to return to form upon being reinstated, the catcher may end up receiving a less lucrative contract than he would've gotten if he had remained healthy.
If I were general manager Jeremy Zoll, I'd do my best to extend or re-sign Jeffers, but it seems unlikely the Twins would be willing to pay him what he wants. Jeffers may also prefer to leave Minnesota for a team that consistently makes the playoffs. His injury may lower the amount he could make in free agency, which could be good for the Twins. But overall, Jeffers being sidelined is terrible for Minnesota, both for its playoff chances and potential trade-deadline sell-off.
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