The Twins Could Look Completely Different After the Trade Deadline

[Mike Sixel]

14 minutes ago, Bodie said:

In re Wallner:

Just because you were willing to date Raquel Welsh did nothing to increase those odds.

 

Wallner gets released. That is his end.  A trade is just as likely as that date at the Copacabana with Ms. Welsh because you are willing!

No chance they release him. Why would they? 

[mark allen]

I don't give up on this year, but still trade Ryan Ober Jeffers Bell, 

 

[MMBoys93]

2 hours ago, Motherhen said:

They nabbed Clemens from Philly.

But he started his career in Detroit. That was my point 

[terrydactyls]

Buy- Buy - Buy.

The Twins till have a small chance to be a wildcard team and get bounced in the first round.

 

[gman]

I'd do the same as last year and trade our top 5 bullpen arms.🤫 Anybody know who that is? Winning a division by 2 games over 500(at best) doesn't exactly thrill me much, unless you enjoy watching the team getting its teeth kicked in.

I'd trade or attempt to trade the same players already addressed by others here. Although with Wallner if he can't hit anything over 95 any more, I might plan on cutting him after the season. No reason to give away players for nothing, if the offers just aren't there.

I've been watching bad baseball long enough, I'd prefer to see the team try to improve as much as possible by deadline trades and bringing in rookies the last 2 months of the year. Another year of just scraping by doesn't really do it for me.

[ashbury]

2 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

The Twins have no choice but to keep picking up waiver wire relievers and rolling the dice on them.

(I think this is correct. All the guys we think of were actually minor trades or "cash considerations".)

[DJL44]

I actually want them to go for it in 2027. Pablo will be back - Ryan, Lopez and Bradley is a great start to a rotation. Prielipp, Matthews, Rojas round it out. 

I think Lee, Culpepper, Clemens and Lewis is a decent infield. Caratini is a decent C. There are outfield bats in AAA who could be really good next season (Roden, Rodriguez, Jenkins, Gonzalez and even Mendez). 

They need a bullpen and they could have one for about $20M. They have plenty of payroll room to make that happen.

I’m selling Jeffers, Larnach, Ober, Bell, Banda, and Rogers. Everyone else they had better make a stupid offer to obtain.

[old nurse]

54 minutes ago, ashbury said:

(I think this is correct. All the guys we think of were actually minor trades or "cash considerations".)

Lawrence was a waiver wire pickup from the Nationals. He was also picked back up from the waiver wire pile from the twins DFAing him . There are pitchers signed as free agents who were DFA, nobody picked them up, they elected free agency, and then they signed as a free agent with twins.  I think the correct term might be scrap heap. 

[Mike Sixel]

48 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I actually want them to go for it in 2027. Pablo will be back - Ryan, Lopez and Bradley is a great start to a rotation. Prielipp, Matthews, Rojas round it out. 

I think Lee, Culpepper, Clemens and Lewis is a decent infield. Caratini is a decent C. There are outfield bats in AAA who could be really good next season (Roden, Rodriguez, Jenkins, Gonzalez and even Mendez). 

They need a bullpen and they could have one for about $20M. They have plenty of payroll room to make that happen.

I’m selling Jeffers, Larnach, Ober, Bell, Banda, and Rogers. Everyone else they had better make a stupid offer to obtain.

I certainly understand this, and wouldn't be totally opposed to keeping Ryan. I'd deal him, but I'd be OK if they tried to win next year(i have zero confidence the Pohlads will ever try to win, though).

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, old nurse said:

Lawrence was a waiver wire pickup from the Nationals. He was also picked back up from the waiver wire pile from the twins DFAing him . There are pitchers signed as free agents who were DFA, nobody picked them up, they elected free agency, and then they signed as a free agent with twins.  I think the correct term might be scrap heap. 

Interesting but not relevant.  I'll ask again, what pitcher on the current 40-man is a waiver wire pickup?

Not that I think it's super important.  If anything, it's a bit more damning, to pay cash to jump out in front before a player of the caliber they wind up with is exposed to waivers, or trade a prospect of any value for one of them.  

Still, for all the roster churn and the gnashing of teeth here on TD, the current state of the roster is that none of the waiver wire pickups is responsible for the continuing weakness of the bullpen (or back end of the rotation).  I just thought it was an interesting datapoint / factoid.

Don't blame the waiver wire pickups.  Blame the fact that more significant pickups haven't been made.

[Dman]

8 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Unless I'm blown away, I keep Clemens. I also keep Gomez unless there is a ridiculous offer. 

I agree on Clemens.  I get that he is older as people point out, but he is so good in so many places I think he is harder to replace than others realize.  He also appears to be a great locker room guy\leader.  For what he brings just keep him IMO.  

Gomez too much control left and would take a huge offer to move.  I don't see another team taking that risk and with the pen in shambles they need arms for high leverage.  I'd keep him.

[Dman]

6 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Me and others have said this for many months. This season was already decided on July 31, 2025 when they decimated the bullpen. The roster needs to be turned over because a bad bullpen and bad defense won’t win squat. 

I’ve been waiting for this organization to turn it over to the next wave of prospects. As soon as Culpepper is healthy get him up here. Walker Jenkins and Alan Roden. 

The Twins have no choice but to keep picking up waiver wire relievers and rolling the dice on them. I’d just prefer they’re under 28 with an option or 3 left. 

I would just add that look what better athletes and defense has done for the White Sox.  They are a good team now.  We need to match that with guys better than Larnach and Wallner in the outfield.  As well as  better infield defense.  Saving runs is important just like creating runs.  I don't know if our young players will work out or not, but we need to try as it is the best way for this team to move forward and compete with better teams. 

[TheLeviathan]

[killercarewoliva]

9 hours ago, MMBoys93 said:

14-23 vs teams better than .500, good for 24th in baseball, 13th in the AL and worst among the division.

Comes out to a 61-101 pace against winning baseball teams.

Aggressively buying would be a giant mistake. Hope the Pohlad’s don’t force that because they finally realized they made a giant mistake 3 years ago by dropping payroll by 30m.

Trade expiring contracts like Jeffers and Bell

Trade Clemens and Larnach

Jeffers hasn’t played in weeks and the Twins can replace the other 3 internally without losing much offensive ability.

If they play decent baseball before the deadline, they can add 2-3 cheap expiring contract decent relievers and you’ll still come out ahead on the farm system while giving a chance at a wild card spot allowing everyone to be happy.

if this team is going to serve up home runs to one guy Goodman by placing the ball in exactly the same spot, three consecutive times at back. that's his home run spot and we just gave it to him three straight times. don't they talk about this stuff in The dugout? he hit a home run from right there. don't put it there again. I don't know when I've seen it that bad. you're not going to win ball games if you do stuff like that so you might as well sell players off at the trade deadline but hopefully that won't be the approach.

[GNess]

Yes, trading away current assets at the MLB level for prospects who might be productive MLB players is what teams do. The success rate of. doing this is spotty and often leads to multiple losing seasons.

The Twins have a bunch of prospects already - trading for more is just a sign that the club doesn't trust they'll be able to count on them to become productive, winning players.

Of course, standing pat and holding on to players that are playing significant roles for a losing team likely doesn't seem wise either.

Many agreed with the strip mining like trade off at last year's deadline, Where did that get the Twins? 

The bullpen was a strength and is now an unreliable, morale-killing mess. And building bullpens was posited by many on TD that bullpens can be stocked rather easily.

Many suggest the Twins have a surplus of corner OF. Of those on the roster only Larnach is really producing. The much heralded group at St Paul are underperforming (Gonzalez) and/or are injured and stalled. (Jenkins, Rodriguez) I see that Keaschall played in RF. Martin's hot start has faded.

On the infield we have witnessed an absurd array of position shifting in a few short months: Lee from SS - 3B, Lewis from 3B -1B, Keaschall from 2B - RF. Gray UTL- 3B - SS, Kriedler from Tigers cast off to SS/CF. Clemens was the 1B now he is UTL / OF.

The Twins actually have only 3 players who would likely bring back prospects that might be upper end prospects. (Buxton, Ryan and Jeffers.) These three basically. constitute the Twins' core assets.

Trading any of these three while seeming prudent to some is a symptom of organizational failure on a grand scale. 

The Twins aren't likely going to be able to trade their way to competitive relevance by surrendering their best players leaving behind a depleted MLB roster  that can't compete and a slew of unproven hopefuls in the minors.

But I guess we can focus on trading as the primary instrument the Twins have for improving their roster when their general non-participation in meaningful free agency is the real missing  component. 

[GNess]

I didn't mean to rant.

[TL]

16 hours ago, MMBoys93 said:

I love what Clemens has brought to the team but he’s 30 and players typically start the decline at 32, he has control which other teams would like and Kreidler has absolutely shown he can take his super utility spot. Absolutely hilarious that this marks the 3rd really good super utility guy the twins have nabbed from Detroit in the last 5 years for nothing 🤣🤣🤣

Martin could even be the super utility guy down the road as well. 
As for Wallner I’m definitely super down on the guy as well but I’m of the opinion that you don’t trade guys when their value has never been lower.

Give him the rest of the season and then make your decision in the offseason. 

Kreidler can take the utility spot, but I would not call it “super” if you include a productive bat in that equation. No utility man the Twins have gotten in my memory (including Escobar or Castro) have hit like Clemens has this year while being able to play what appears to be an above average CF along with the right side of the infield. I love having Kreidler for his SS play and ability to also play the OF, but not instead of Clemens.

Those two make Martin and any other 4th outfield very expendable. 

[weitz41]

11 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I actually want them to go for it in 2027. Pablo will be back - Ryan, Lopez and Bradley is a great start to a rotation. Prielipp, Matthews, Rojas round it out. 

I think Lee, Culpepper, Clemens and Lewis is a decent infield. Caratini is a decent C. There are outfield bats in AAA who could be really good next season (Roden, Rodriguez, Jenkins, Gonzalez and even Mendez). 

They need a bullpen and they could have one for about $20M. They have plenty of payroll room to make that happen.

I’m selling Jeffers, Larnach, Ober, Bell, Banda, and Rogers. Everyone else they had better make a stupid offer to obtain.

This

I would think Jeffers, Larnach and Ober would bring back 2-3 BP arms and prospects in the A-AA range. The others won't bring back much. A Ball to Outman types.

Fill out the roster with the guys already on the 40-man and maybe a couple of the guys you picked up. The odds of getting a WC spot drop, but probably not that much. 2027 (assuming there is a season) depending on the young guys should be a step forward.

[Czelgert]

15 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

They won't offer Jeffers the QO. Zero chance. It night not even exist. 

The QO framework for free agency this year would still fit under the current CBA that goes until the end of the calendar year rather than the season.  I agree that it likely won’t be a part of the next CBA but it is part of the current CBA, which will apply to Jeffers.

[ToddlerHarmon]

12 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I actually want them to go for it in 2027. Pablo will be back - Ryan, Lopez and Bradley is a great start to a rotation. Prielipp, Matthews, Rojas round it out. 

I think Lee, Culpepper, Clemens and Lewis is a decent infield. Caratini is a decent C. There are outfield bats in AAA who could be really good next season (Roden, Rodriguez, Jenkins, Gonzalez and even Mendez). 

They need a bullpen and they could have one for about $20M. They have plenty of payroll room to make that happen.

I’m selling Jeffers, Larnach, Ober, Bell, Banda, and Rogers. Everyone else they had better make a stupid offer to obtain.

Almost with you. Two issues:

- Those AAA players will probably take longer than mid-27 to be leading a playoff charge. Just sorting wheat from chaff may take longer.

- I think everyone is betting too heavy on Jackson and Caratini and thus undervaluing Jeffers. But I have no magic wand to make the Twins extend Jeffers or make the rest of the league value him below the QO, so your point stands. Sigh.

[Coach JT]

Larnach, Jeffers, Clemons, Martin, Rogers all can be shipped for prospects. Time to get young guys up before work stoppage. 

[HarmonK03]

13 hours ago, ashbury said:

(I think this is correct. All the guys we think of were actually minor trades or "cash considerations".)

The cash considerations were just guys put on the waiver wire and we jumped the line by giving cash considerations.  So maybe technically correct but not in spirit.

[ToddlerHarmon]

The Twins need a compelling vision. I don't think they have the resources for that vision to be going for it this year or next. They could make the playoffs either year, and maybe even surprise if their starters are clicking. I wouldn't mind buying a few cheap lotto tickets with that hope, but that is not a vision.

They do have Jenkins, Houston, and Tait as up the middle, almost ready, VERY young, two-way prospects. If the pitching pipeline can keep churning, *that* is what you build your vision around. Get them all up as quickly as is reasonable (IMO before next year's All-Star break), and *be patient* while they figure it out. There is enough youth and quality around them (Erod, Culpepper, Mendez, Gonzalez; even Keaschall and Lee are still young) to maybe make 2028 the breakout. On that timeline, you still have Buxton, Lopez, and most of the current rotation.

And if they don't make it happen quickly, that is a core that will get a lot of bites at the apple, or provide the resources to keep tuning and reloading.

BUT, that vision requires step one: bring prospects up and jettison hope for this season.

[DJL44]

7 hours ago, GNess said:

The Twins actually have only 3 players who would likely bring back prospects that might be upper end prospects. (Buxton, Ryan and Jeffers.) These three basically. constitute the Twins' core assets.

Trading any of these three while seeming prudent to some is a symptom of organizational failure on a grand scale. 

The organizational failure with Jeffers is not extending his contract two years ago.
Unfortunately, he will be a free agent in a couple months and will command more in salary than he is worth to the Twins. They have to trade him now, especially with the Yankees desperate for a RH hitting catcher. The rumors are Carlos Lagrange plus another arm. That’s the Nelson Cruz for Joe Ryan trade all over again.

[DJL44]

25 minutes ago, ToddlerHarmon said:

Almost with you. Two issues:

- Those AAA players will probably take longer than mid-27 to be leading a playoff charge. Just sorting wheat from chaff may take longer.

Which is why they need to get Roden and Rodriguez up and on the team ASAP. They need to be working through their sophomore slump adjustments (see Keaschall) next May and not next September.

[DJL44]

8 minutes ago, ToddlerHarmon said:

On that timeline, you still have Buxton, Lopez, and most of the current rotation.

Lopez is only signed through 2027.

[GopherMike]

A targeted sell is completely appropriate.

A second sell--off in two years sounds more like fan logic because you're annoyed with the roster. 

Bell? Absolutely.
Jeffers? Yes. But only if healthy enough to get value.
Rogers? Yes. If we truly fall back and there's an offer. Not automatic if we're alive.
Selling Larnach "regardless"? Illogical. 

Larnach has a 126 wRC+ and a .377 OBP and has been one of the actual stabilizers in the lineup. He is not Bell. He is not a short-term dead-end rental. He is useful now, and the Twins are not overflowing with proven MLB corner bats.

The “too many young corner outfielders knocking on the door” argument sounds good, until you remember one of those is Wallner, who is obviously very risky, and the rest are guys who have yet to prove anything at the major league level. 

Yes--sell Bell. Create opportunities. Fire sell "regardless"? Dumb, honestly. 

Clemens? From a value standpoint.....maybe. If we get a good offer. I would agree he has peaked. But I don't see it happening.

Gomez? ......what? We have an absolutely terrible bullpen and you want to sell our best reliever that is controllable for years to come? What?


We have enough upper-minor bats to move Bell and Jeffers, I agree. Everything else comes with a lot of risk that saying things like "regardless" is how we made the mistakes we made last year. That's trading Louis Varland logic. 

[ToddlerHarmon]

16 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Which is why they need to get Roden and Rodriguez up and on the team ASAP. They need to be working through their sophomore slump adjustments (see Keaschall) next May and not next September.

What I'm saying is do so with eyes open: that move would be aimed at the long term vision. If it pays off earlier, great, but don't let Bell and Larnach block them

[LeatherAntenna]

Twins will look different after deadline?  What shocking news.  Every year, let’s develop players until they have trade potential. Really makes you want to watch the Twins in April and May, after that not so much.

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, Czelgert said:

The QO framework for free agency this year would still fit under the current CBA that goes until the end of the calendar year rather than the season.  I agree that it likely won’t be a part of the next CBA but it is part of the current CBA, which will apply to Jeffers.

I'll be more clear..... There is a zero percent chance they offer him 23 million dollars for one year. Imo.