The Minnesota Twins Are Active In the Trade Market

[Matthew Lenz]

Unsurprisingly, it's been a quiet offseason for the Minnesota Twins coming off an 82-win season. While pitchers and catchers report in under a month, multiple sources are indicating the Twins have been active in the trade market.

On January 16th, Jeff Passan stated ($$) "Minnesota has entertained plenty but consummated nothing" in response to a question regarding any remaining "big trades" this offseason. Then, a day later, Dan Hayes quoted Derek Falvey ($$) who stated "...I can tell you we’ve had more active conversations in the last couple of weeks than we’ve had prior..."

While specifics names and teams weren't mentioned, it's clear that the Twins are doing their diligence whether it's on bigger names like Carlos Correa and Pablo Lopez or salary dump candidates in Willi Castro, Chris Paddack, and Christian Vazquez.

Are there any Twins on the current roster you'd like to see moved? Any players on other teams you'd like to see added? Let us know in the comments!

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[farmerguychris]

I mean.....define active.

Most of us have possibly told our doctors we're a bit more 'active' than we really are also right?

[JesusisLord7]

I think the Twins should only sell on Lopez or Correa if they are really selling high on prospects that are highly touted. Someone like Vazquez I'd trade him for any 16 year old that has high upside just to move the contract. I might do the same with Buxton because he is hurt a lot. Let's move on. Maybe trade him to the Braves so he can move back home to Georgia. He's good at times but it's a bad contract. It's time to make space for Rodriquez at the big league level and I think Kiersey deserves a back up role. 

 

[RpR]

IF the Twins are actively looking at trades, they are looking too improve the team, not to make it a lackadasical bottom dweller.

[Big City]

The Red Sox appear motivated to trade Triston Casas and the Mariners could use guys like Julien and Miranda.  Can we start gassing up a 3-way trade where:

M’s get Julien, Miranda

Red Sox get Luis Castillo, Harry Ford

Twins get Triston Casas

[tony&rodney]

8 hours ago, farmerguychris said:

I mean.....define active.

Most of us have possibly told our doctors we're a bit more 'active' than we really are also right?

..... or that I only have one beer .... now and then .....  on special occasions.

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, Big City said:

The Red Sox appear motivated to trade Triston Casas and the Mariners could use guys like Julien and Miranda.  Can we start gassing up a 3-way trade where:

M’s get Julien, Miranda

Red Sox get Luis Castillo, Harry Ford

Twins get Triston Casas

While some people are really tired of trade talk and/or suggestions, I find it mildly entertaining chatter that keeps me far away from the dire state of other affairs.

I like this idea. The question is whether the Mariners prefer Casas, which leaves the Twins on the sideline. Either way i think Ford is more my personal target than Casas. Casas goes to Seattle for Castillo and Ford goes to Minnesota for Miranda and Julien, which may be a stiff cost. The Mariners need bats, that is for sure.

Good start for ideas Big City.

I will add a somewhat risky proposition of sending Brooks Lee to Milwaukee for Jeferson Quero.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Are they 'active' the same way they were the alleged 'mystery' team that was closing in on Yu Darvish a few years back...

[gmwannabe]

Castro and Duran for Dalton Rushing. Get catcher position solidified. 

[Whitey333]

Show me concrete results and improvement.  Quit with the constant hype and hope.  Twins have been doing that way too much.

[tony&rodney]

We often hear from both the writers for this site and in comments about players (example-Yandy Diaz) or types of players (example-RH OF/1B) that the Twins should acquire somehow. It would be much more interesting to see more suggestions of actual ideas, similar to what Big City proposed. In all cases, it is realistic to put yourself as a fan/GM of both sides of a suggestion. Occasionally I will peruse BTV and find 90%+ of the suggestions have zero of the needs or financial realities of individual teams. One cannot just unload fodder for a top ten prospect or an All Star player.

[USAFChief]

"Active in trade market" is the rough equivalent of "in on free agent X."

 

[tony&rodney]

7 hours ago, gmwannabe said:

Castro and Duran for Dalton Rushing. Get catcher position solidified. 

Rushing projects, mostly, as a corner outfielder or DH. He hits from the left side, and his bat looks pretty good.

If the Dodgers aren't using him often as a catcher and they could use a good hitting backup to push Austin Barnes (good field/no hit) away, why do the Twins add him.

If Rushing can catch I might be interested. I watched him catch a couple of games (milb.com) last year and he looked bad behind the plate. Yes, super small sample.

Duran for Jeferson Quero i can get behind perhaps.

[twinstalker]

You're hard pressed to define active as picking up the phone.  My guess is the Twins are actually the least active team this whole offseason.  And last trade deadline.

[ddubbl1]

For the love of Kirby, please trade Eddie Julian to anybody for anything. that dude cost us at least 5 games last year.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Dan Hayes in the Athletic reporting that trade talks with the Padres are focused on Vazquez.  And also that the Twins are interested in Dylan Cease.

[tony&rodney]

58 minutes ago, AlwaysinModeration said:

Dan Hayes in the Athletic reporting that trade talks with the Padres are focused on Vazquez.  And also that the Twins are interested in Dylan Cease.

Reading the article it seems like San Diego has some interest and Minnesota is interested in Cease. The comments are typically insane because they take it as a rumor of a one to one trade, which is absurd.

Riffing a little off of this article, perhaps San Diego wants Woods Richardson and Vazquez for Cease. The Padres need to drop their payroll and they are going to have a hard time making deals, just like the Twins.

[twinstalker]

1 minute ago, tony&rodney said:

Reading the article it seems like San Diego has some interest and Minnesota is interested in Cease. The comments are typically insane because they take it as a rumor of a one to one trade, which is absurd.

Riffing a little off of this article, perhaps San Diego wants Woods Richardson and Vazquez for Cease. The Padres need to drop their payroll and they are going to have a hard time making deals, just like the Twins.

Guessing SWR isn't the guy they're looking at.  

[tony&rodney]

37 minutes ago, twinstalker said:

Guessing SWR isn't the guy they're looking at.  

Wondering who? What do you think?

[tony&rodney]

Cease is not worth any of EmRod, Keaschall, or Jenkins included in any way. I'm not inclined to include Festa or Matthews in a deal either. 

[Brandon]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

Wondering who? What do you think?

If not SWR then likely Festa.  That would make sense to me as Festa has a high ceiling.

[UK Twin]

I would be open to Vazquez plus Matthews for Cease. I would not include Festa (who I assume SD would be asking for). 

But if we could get Cease for a reasonable price we should go for it. A rotation of Lopez, Cease, Ryan, Ober and SWR/Festa would be right up there with the best rotations in the AL, it not MLB.

[jorgenswest]

Should any trade for Cease be thought of as a trade for Cease and a comp pick?

[LambchoP]

Maybe Vasquez, Paddack and someone like Raya or Cory Lewis for Cease? Is Cease under control for just this year? I'm drooling over a MN rotation of Lopez, Cease, Ryan, Ober and SWR/Festa/Mathews! I'll believe it when I see it though. Highly unlikely would be my guess.

[chpettit19]

Cease would be a nice add, but giving up anything of real value for 1 year of Cease with all the question marks on this offense is not something I'd be interested in at all. Seattle showed last year that being able to pitch really well isn't an automatic ticket to the postseason if your offense can't score.

No way I'd trade 6 years of Festa for 1 year of Cease.

[Cory Engelhardt]

5 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Cease would be a nice add, but giving up anything of real value for 1 year of Cease with all the question marks on this offense is not something I'd be interested in at all. Seattle showed last year that being able to pitch really well isn't an automatic ticket to the postseason if your offense can't score.

No way I'd trade 6 years of Festa for 1 year of Cease.

Would you do something like Festa and Vazquez for Cease and a prospect arm they like? With that, they could also plan on giving Cease the QO 8 months from now and probably recoup a decent comp pick at minimum no?

Now, with all that, IF they were to do a deal like this, I'd imagine an actual 1B via trade would also be in play for another move right?

 

[chpettit19]

1 minute ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

Would you do something like Festa and Vazquez for Cease and a prospect arm they like? With that, they could also plan on giving Cease the QO 8 months from now and probably recoup a decent comp pick at minimum no?

Now, with all that, IF they were to do a deal like this, I'd imagine an actual 1B via trade would also be in play for another move right?

 

I don't think San Diego would do that. That's the challenge of trading Vazquez. This whole scenario is pretty complicated unless the FO has the green light to add some significant money. The Padres are trying to cut payroll so the Twins likely have to pay all of Cease's 13+ mil plus they'd have to eat a large chunk of Vazquez's deal. The Padres would, in my opinion, see Festa as balancing out the deal with no extra prospect being needed on their side. Let's say the Twins have to eat 5 mil of the Vazquez deal which is what most people seem to think, they're adding 8 mil to the payroll on this deal which would push them over 140 mil. Do they have that in the budget? Or would Paddack and/or Castro deals also be required? A lot of moving pieces here.

I'd be a much bigger fan of a deal including Festa if they were also getting a prospect arm back, but I don't think that'd be likely. The comp pick is part of why I don't think it's likely they'd add another prospect. Will be interesting to see if they can get something done and what the deal looks like. I just don't think this team is 1 starter away from a serious WS run and would prefer to keep the MLB ready arm they have than have a comp pick after the year.

[big dog]

On 1/21/2025 at 1:24 PM, USAFChief said:

"Active in trade market" is the rough equivalent of "in on free agent X."

 

Or "thinking of asking to prom".

[ashbury]

4 minutes ago, big dog said:

Or "thinking of asking to prom".

Or if you read Rex Morgan in the funny papers this morning: "my novel", one word of which has yet to be written.

[tony&rodney]

27 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

I don't think San Diego would do that. That's the challenge of trading Vazquez. This whole scenario is pretty complicated unless the FO has the green light to add some significant money. The Padres are trying to cut payroll so the Twins likely have to pay all of Cease's 13+ mil plus they'd have to eat a large chunk of Vazquez's deal. The Padres would, in my opinion, see Festa as balancing out the deal with no extra prospect being needed on their side. Let's say the Twins have to eat 5 mil of the Vazquez deal which is what most people seem to think, they're adding 8 mil to the payroll on this deal which would push them over 140 mil. Do they have that in the budget? Or would Paddack and/or Castro deals also be required? A lot of moving pieces here.

I'd be a much bigger fan of a deal including Festa if they were also getting a prospect arm back, but I don't think that'd be likely. The comp pick is part of why I don't think it's likely they'd add another prospect. Will be interesting to see if they can get something done and what the deal looks like. I just don't think this team is 1 starter away from a serious WS run and would prefer to keep the MLB ready arm they have than have a comp pick after the year.

The "self-imposed" was a creation of writers disgusted by the payroll being clipped last offseason. We all were disappointed. While I'm not expecting any major additions, there would be room for adding Cease if Falvey worked out a favorable deal.

I don't believe Paddack will still be a Twin in May. While my take is that Paddack could be good in the bullpen and useful as a spot starter 4-6 times in 2025 his salary doesn't fit that role in Minnesota. The return might not be much but if it clears some dough for Cease it makes sense. 

On a different note, Willi Castro likely has wide appeal for a number of teams. Yes, Castro also has value to the Twins but if the Twins have any faith at all in Keaschall, Rodriguez, and Lee providing value this season, Castro becomes very useful as a player to trade and has the ancillary benefit of reducing payroll. 

Both Vazquez and Castro are gone by 2026 and Cease will be a free agent as well. Can a deal get finished?

The Twins could take on all of Cease's money and half of Vazquez's contract if Paddack and Castro are up for discussion. The difficulty is getting Preller to agree on a return of young players. Perhaps a deal involves two of C. J. Culpepper, Marco Raya, Cory Lewis, and Kaelen Culpepper plus SWR. I don't know what Preller is looking for but I'm not listening on Festa, Matthews, Keaschall, Jenkins, or EmRod. The Twins don't need Cease.  Heck, Preller may like one of Larnach, Miranda, or Julien for that matter.