The Minnesota Twins are entering one of their most important stretches of the season and they got off on the right foot by taking two of three games from the New York Yankees last weekend. The series win was Minnesota’s first series win in Yankee Stadium since 2014, but while it may create some intrigue, it may not have been enough to keep some from what could happen ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
The Athletic’s Jim Bowden ran down the case for each team to buy or sell ahead of the deadline and while he made the case for the Twins to sell, he drove the point home, implying that the Twins should have a second version of the fire sale that went down at last year’s deadline.
“The Twins see a wild-card berth within striking distance and are searching for bullpen help,” Bowden wrote. “I don’t think they have a strong chance for a wild card, and if I were them, I would see what I could get for Joe Ryan, Taylor Rogers, Kody Clemens, Royce Lewis, Tristan Gray, Victor Caratini and Josh Bell. I would even talk to Byron Buxton to see if he would waive his no trade clause if I could deal him to either the Braves or the Yankees.”
Twins “paper contender” status could complicate trade deadline approach
In the minds of Twins fans, this escalated quickly. Minnesota has won six of its past seven series and the loss came against the two-time reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. They entered Monday 1.5 games behind the Texas Rangers for the final wild card spot in the American League and four games behind the Chicago White Sox for first place in the AL Central.
A July stretch that includes seven games against the Cleveland Guardians could also help the Twins vault into contention, and they own the best offense in the AL at 4.92 runs per game. Still, analysts believe Minnesota’s best path forward is to sell and continue the rebuild they had at last year’s deadline, and there are a few reasons why that makes sense.
The first begins with who the Twins have played during their hot stretch. It began with a St. Louis Cardinals team that is hanging on to the final Wild Card spot in the National League, and a sweep against a Rangers team the Twins are chasing for a playoff berth. But they also took two of three from an Arizona Diamondbacks team that’s fading from contention and a Colorado Rockies team that owns the third-worst record in baseball entering Monday.
Even the series win over the Yankees came with a catch. While seeing the Twins pummel the Yankees may have generated some good feelings, New York was without several of their key players including Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Cam Schlittler and Max Fried. The Twins also still own a 9-16 record against teams over .500 and while the lackluster landscape in the AL contributes to that, it’s also something to consider when this team gets to the final months of the season.
With the need for a starter and perhaps two or more relievers to get out of the wild card round, analysts like Bowden may see the juice not being worth the squeeze. But it also may be a stretch to suggest the Twins conduct a fire sale for the second straight year.
If the Twins sell, Ryan Jeffers and Ryan will be the most likely to go. It would also be a good idea to look into dealing veterans on a one-year contract, such as Rogers and Bell, and perhaps Clemens, who is having a career year at age 30. But trading anyone with a pulse could do more harm than good and send Minnesota into a bigger pit of despair.
It also continues the fantasy that national reporters have about Buxton waiving his no-trade clause. Buxton has repeatedly said he’s not waiving it to go to another city and Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll also said that Twins have no intention of trading him. Of course, similar things were said about Carlos Correa before he was traded to the Houston Astros ahead of last year’s deadline, but it could be different considering Buxton is a lifelong Twin and has made it clear he intends to keep it that way.
This doesn’t mean the Twins should go wild at the deadline, and they could still make the playoffs if they choose to sell a piece or two like they did in 2017. But trading anyone with a pulse may not be the payoff everyone is imagining, and they should leave everyone to let it play out over the next few weeks to see what kind of team they can become.
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