Dive Into the Big List of Twins Trade Ideas (Free Download!)

[Nick Nelson]

We asked our community to help with crowdsourcing realistic trades the Twins could make this offseason to address their needs. They delivered.

Explore nearly three dozen different trade scenarios suggested by Twins Daily users and writers, with reasoning and commentary.

Image courtesy of Twins Daily & Brock Beauchamp

We've spent the past two weeks diving deep on free agents and internal options for the Minnesota Twins. But if we know one thing about this front office, it's that they favor the trade as their avenue for the highest-impact acquisitions.

Trades are hard to predict. But that doesn't mean we can't try.

For our third and final installment of the 2024 Offseason Handbook, we crowdsourced 35 different trade ideas and asked submitters to explain their reasoning and verify plausibility (to some extent) with an online tool. Then we gathered them all up, categorized 'em, and added our commentary.

While previous installments of the Handbook have been exclusive for Caretakers, we're making this bountiful helping of content FREE TO ALL. Click below to download the chapter, explore the many ideas and angles for trades, and share your thoughts in the comments. (Or, create a blog and share your own idea for a realistic offseason trade that benefits the Twins!)

If you like this portion of the Offseason Handbook, we encourage you to become a Twins Daily Caretaker and access the full guide, which also includes deep dives on payroll, free agent targets, and the organization's internal talent pipeline.

 

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[Doctor Gast]

Thanks for putting something like this together. Very interesting. 

Trades are indeed very tricky. You have to line up needs of each team & even if you line-up perfectly the needs of the team, the FO might not be able to see their needs. Thinking they are strong in one area while in fact they are very fragile and putting their priority into something that isn't.

I came through this more open to Keller (PIT) as a trade target.

Most of the "out the box" ideas were ridiculous (IMO was intended to be so & TD was being nice) but those that were truly "out of the box" were interesting. Hitting on ideas that are totally foreign to this FO, like inniating a 3 way trade or hitting on areas that they are blind to. Which is the basic idea of "out of the box"

[tony&rodney]

These were fun to read. The notice of a reduced 2024 payroll was released after the trade suggestions, which most likely makes slim shots at Glasgow, Soto, or Burnes moot. Another note is the news that Jovani Moran needs Tommy John, which meant he was released by the Twins. Moran had decent value before the DFA.

Generally, the ideas were fair. Each reader will have their own reactions, some of which will strongly disagree with using certain players. For example, I might not want to give up David Festa in any trades, others may be opposed to including Emmanuel Rodriguez, and still others may become apoplectic if they see Brooks Lee going away in a transaction. It was at least interesting that (I did not see) Royce Lewis was not suggested as a piece to use to acquire a starting pitcher.

Thank you for putting this together. It will be interesting to see what transpires this offseason. The Twins could be good even if they just run back the guys they currently roster with just one or two simple additions for less than $10 million, which keeps the roster beneath $130 million.

[Dman]

I think I suffer from analysis paralysis at times.  I don't love the idea of losing Festa in a lot of the proposed deals as he is a controllable arm that projects as a mid rotation starter.  No way to know just yet if he reaches that potential but the reason he has trade value is because the odds look good that he will make it.  And yet you have to give value to receive value so I get the trade off.

While I think the time is now to trade Polanco and possibly Kepler .800 OPS bats aren't exactly easy to find and the Twins are in contention mode. That being said it looks like they need one more good veteran starter and bullpen arm.  they have been rumored to be looking for centerfield and 1st base help as well.  If they are going to better balance the roster odds are someone or sometwo have to go if payroll is moving backwards.

It is tough trying to balance short and long term goals.  Hopefully the FO finds a way to do both.

[harmony55]

Minor correction in my proposed trade of Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler to Seattle: This year infielder Jose Caballero posted an on-base percentage of .343, not .334.

[ashbury]

Now I wish I had found the time to take part when the call went out to TD membership weeks ago.  A day or two ago I applied some effort and came up with a few names to go after.  Then this was published, putting my meager ideas to shame.

My thinking was, in an environment where adding payroll is a non-starter (no pun intended since I want starting pitching), to find a few under-the-radar guys who might cost less in trade than better known assets.  My benchmark for success is to find someone who will likely perform better in 2024 than Louie Varland, who I consider a work-in-progress and not a sure thing, and also be more than a one-year bandaid.

The Trade Values site disabuses me of that notion; nobody any good is under the radar anymore.  And I'm super unwilling to trade most of the top prospect names among the hitters in the Twins system, and just about any of the pitching prospects we have.  In other words, if I'm GM, odds are against my being able to reach agreement on a trade, and almost certainly one trade will be the limit I could achieve.

Being an organization man, I also defer to my scouts, who may think too little of the pitchers I want to consider.   It's also completely likely that these players' current teams like them so well that you can't interest them except if you overpay massively.  Why would we trade Joe Ryan for someone else's lesser-tier talent package, for example?

Anyway, with apologies for repeating myself from Saturday, here is my target list, with the addition of a starting point for a package of talent to offer.

PIT: Johan Oviedo caught my eye.  I see Mitch Keller suggested in the published summary, and BTV suggests Oviedo might command less in trade, though not dirt cheap.  Does 2B/CF Austin Martin, SS Jose Salas, and SP Alejandro Hidalgo pry him loose?

LAA: Griffin Canning.  Looks like his trade value is higher than Oviedo's.  Would the addition of Polanco the above package interest the Angels?

CIN: Brandon Williamson.  Similar package of four players as for LAA/Canning?

None of these is envisioned as an ace.  They would be obtained to provide competence, start after start, while we wait for someone else in the organization to step up to fill the #1/#2 slots, and others in the Pitching Pipeline™ to emerge and fill the rotation.  I don't think it's feasible to trade for an ace without draining the farm of the top talent, and for me the economics of doing that are unappealing.  instead i want to package second-tier prospects for a lower return that still is above the Archer/Bundy tier that is way too easily available every off-season.

 

[tony&rodney]

45 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Now I wish I had found the time to take part when the call went out to TD membership weeks ago.  A day or two ago I applied some effort and came up with a few names to go after.  Then this was published, putting my meager ideas to shame.

My thinking was, in an environment where adding payroll is a non-starter (no pun intended since I want starting pitching), to find a few under-the-radar guys who might cost less in trade than better known assets.  My benchmark for success is to find someone who will likely perform better in 2024 than Louie Varland, who I consider a work-in-progress and not a sure thing, and also be more than a one-year bandaid.

The Trade Values site disabuses me of that notion; nobody any good is under the radar anymore.  And I'm super unwilling to trade most of the top prospect names among the hitters in the Twins system, and just about any of the pitching prospects we have.  In other words, if I'm GM, odds are against my being able to reach agreement on a trade, and almost certainly one trade will be the limit I could achieve.

Being an organization man, I also defer to my scouts, who may think too little of the pitchers I want to consider.   It's also completely likely that these players' current teams like them so well that you can't interest them except if you overpay massively.  Why would we trade Joe Ryan for someone else's lesser-tier talent package, for example?

Anyway, with apologies for repeating myself from Saturday, here is my target list, with the addition of a starting point for a package of talent to offer.

PIT: Johan Oviedo caught my eye.  I see Mitch Keller suggested in the published summary, and BTV suggests Oviedo might command less in trade, though not dirt cheap.  Does 2B/CF Austin Martin, SS Jose Salas, and SP Alejandro Hidalgo pry him loose?

LAA: Griffin Canning.  Looks like his trade value is higher than Oviedo's.  Would the addition of Polanco the above package interest the Angels?

CIN: Brandon Williamson.  Similar package of four players as for LAA/Canning?

None of these is envisioned as an ace.  They would be obtained to provide competence, start after start, while we wait for someone else in the organization to step up to fill the #1/#2 slots, and others in the Pitching Pipeline™ to emerge and fill the rotation.  I don't think it's feasible to trade for an ace without draining the farm of the top talent, and for me the economics of doing that are unappealing.  instead i want to package second-tier prospects for a lower return that still is above the Archer/Bundy tier that is way too easily available every off-season.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/11/pirates-rumors-johan-oviedo-tommy-john-surgery-elbow-injury.html

Oviedo may be getting Tommy John soon. All of LAA, PIT,  and CIN have stated a desire to add pitching. Each club has specifically said they are not dealing their arms but looking to add.

There are tough roads to traverse towards finding pitching. Seattle is about the only team right now and the price will be high. The payment will hurt to any team wanting to acquire pitching.

Louie Varland is definitely a work in progress. There is nothing finished about his game but he is still better than most any of the other #5 starting pitchers out there in MLB.

Consider that Lance Lynn received more than $10 million and one can see it will be difficult to acquire an arm worth talking about.

[ashbury]

5 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/11/pirates-rumors-johan-oviedo-tommy-john-surgery-elbow-injury.html

Oviedo may be getting Tommy John soon. All of LAA, PIT,  and CIN have stated a desire to add pitching.

Well.  That's very different then.  Never mind.

 

(Something, something, Brian Duensing.)

[specialiststeve]

Really like the Ideal of Edward Cabrera from Miami. We had a Win/Win last year and hopefully it motivates the teams to try it one more time. Larnach, Winder and a lower level pitcher from our system would seem to make sense for both... I would think. 

[TNtwins85]

I love the Hancock, Berroa , and Locklear trade. It shows a slight overpay. If we took Thielbar out and threw in Balazovic or someone of that caliber does it get done? I just love the idea of 2 young very projectable pitchers that have good stuff. Sheds 10M to get a platoon with Kiriloff and a CFer.