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  • Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

    The latest Minnesota Twins free agent and trade rumors, along with notes and tidbits about the team.
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    Brock Beauchamp
    This has been an interesting question to pose over the past month as the Pittsburgh Pirates - who started the season strong but then stumbled badly - approached the trade deadline: what are they going to do with veteran outfielder and feel-good story Andrew McCutchen?
    It was reported that during last offseason, McCutchen turned down an equal offer from the Twins and a superior offer from the New York Mets to return to PIttsburgh, the city he became a star player an won an MVP award.
    The 36-year-old is having a revival season with the Pirates, posting a 117 OPS+ and fills the exact need the Twins have on the roster right now: a capable corner player who hits right-handed and is strongest against left-handed pitching.
    But it appears McCutchen may not be available at all. 
     
    Brock Beauchamp
    The Cardinals recently announced they will be sellers at the deadline and it appears they have a looming outfield logjam that may interest the Minnesota Twins.
    It takes only a cursory glance to see that the Twins badly need a right-handed corner outfielder to take some of the burden from left-handers Max Kepler, Joey Gallo, Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner... am I forgetting anyone? It's a long list.
    At the corner spots and utility positions, the Cardinals have a slew of players: Tyler O'Neill, Dylan Carlson, Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson, Brendan Donovan, and even more on top of that.
    Unfortunately for the Twins, many of those players hit from the left side of the plate but Tyler O'Neill bats right-handed and Dylan Carlson is a switch-hitter.
    It feels like there's an easy match between the Twins and Cardinals and I haven't even mentioned Paul Goldschmidt.
    Brock Beauchamp
    In an early trade deadline roundup, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic wrote a few paragraphs on the Twins and how unusual their path to "contention" has been.
    The Twins' positional fWAR leaders are Donovan Solano, Willi Castro, and Ryan Jeffers The Twins' positional fWAR leaders (the three listed above) have only 1.2 fWAR apiece, the lowest in MLB Yet the Twins have the most positive fWAR position players in baseball at 16 Those three leaders in fWAR were not intended to be every day starters on Opening Day. This makes the deadline something of a paradox for the Twins. None of their position players are below replacement level yet none of them are actually "good", either.
    Who do you replace first at the deadline?
    Brock Beauchamp
    This shouldn't be news but remember, we're talking about the Colorado Rockies here. This franchise has seen multiple trade deadlines come and go without moving key pieces that are approaching free agency, including last year when they made no trades and instead extended reliever Daniel Bard despite being well out of contention by the beginning of July.
    Unfortunately, and in a very Rockies-esque move, the quotes about activity did not come from General Manager Bill Schmidt but instead were from dugout manager Bud Black, speaking to the hosts of Power Alley on SiriusXM Radio.
    The most obvious and easy fit for the Twins is to target old friend CJ Cron, who has suffered injuries in 2023 and is performing well under his career norms. The 33-year-old is a free agent at season's end and could likely be had for a reasonable price and given how he swings from the not-devil's side of the plate, could easily slide into the Twins lineup and provide competency against devil's-handed pitchers.
    Brock Beauchamp
    Cardinals President of Baseball Operations, John Mozeliak, said in an interview that the Cardinals will be sellers at the 2023 trade deadline with hopes of retooling for a 2024 and 2025 return to competitiveness.
    Their focus will be on returns of young pitching, either cost-controlled MLB players or prospects in the upper minors.
    The Cardinals have a slew of players on expiring deals, along with players under contract for longer including superstar sluggers Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. It is unclear how interested St Louis is in moving long-term contracts but given their collapse this season, the right deal may be able to land anyone on the roster.
    Who interests you from the St Louis roster and what would you be willing to give up in return?
    Brock Beauchamp
    As Twins fans, this is a situation worth monitoring closely. With Shane Bieber out for at least a few weeks (ie. past the trade deadline), it's possible the Guardians will pivot and trade Aaron Civale. Civale is still under team control for 2.5 more seasons but now that he has become arbitration eligible, it's possible Cleveland attempts to move him to either shore up their farm system or - probably more likely - to bolster their anemic offense that makes the 2023 Minnesota Twins look like Murderer's Row.
    Once again, this is only a possibility because the Guardians churn out young, cost-controlled starters at a rate unlike any other team in baseball.
    Brock Beauchamp
    Well, it's happening. The Angels, fringe contenders for an American League Wild Card berth who saw Mike Trout go down with an injury a couple of weeks ago, are now reportedly considering trading Shohei "The Best Baseball Player on the Planet" Ohtani.
    This isn't terribly surprising, as the Angels' postseason hopes largely rode on the health of Ohtani and Trout as a duo. And the Angels will be loathe to let Ohtani walk into free agency without getting something in return... or at least that should be their mindset right now.
    It's unlikely the Twins will enter this mix, as they likely have neither the prospect horses nor the intestinal fortitude to pay the price of acquiring a couple of months of Shohei Ohtani.
    But merely putting Ohtani on the market up-ends it like no other player. This will have far-reaching ramifications across the trade market should Shohei end up being traded.
    Vanimal46
    In this interesting article from Do-Hyoung Park, Sonny Gray talks about his future in baseball and doesn't have immediate answers. That may seem strange given that Gray is having perhaps the best season of his career but he mentions how ten years is a long time and what he sometimes felt was an endpoint to his MLB career.
    Poised to make tens of millions of dollars in an extension this offseason, any talk of retirement seems shocking.
    A quote from Sonny himself:
    “Wouldn't shock me. Do I want to? Do I think I can? Absolutely. And I can at a very, very high level. It's not about the money. It's whether you still enjoy it, and does your family still enjoy it."
     
    Brock Beauchamp
    Nolan Arenado seems like a perfectly reasonable chap who was kinda done dirty by the Colorado Rockies (though being forcibly booted out of that organization is something of a blessing). Jon Heyman asked him a few questions the other day and Arenado says he isn't expecting a trade but wouldn't be surprised by one, either.
    Things are bleak in St Louis. The Cardinals aren't used to losing like this and it appears no one really knows how to handle their current struggles. Things were obviously very wrong when Marmol heaved Willson Contreras under the bus and while the Cards have put together a couple of small winning streaks, they've gone right back to losing again afterward.
    Truth be told, I hadn't even considered an Arenado trade. While he's aging toward his mid-30s, he's still very productive with the bat and his contract is quite reasonable through 2027, given that the Rockies are on the hook for $5 million per year for the next three years.
    It's quite obvious the Cardinals will be selling but to what extent? And given the Twins' offensive woes, can they simultaneously afford and not afford to pursue an expensive-but-good player with loads of control remaining?
    Brock Beauchamp
    For the first time most of us can remember, the Twins are both in contention and do not need any starting rotation help at the deadline. That leaves Twins fans treading into unknown waters: if you don't need a starter at the deadline, what do you do?
    Well, MLB Trade Rumors compiled their first list of top 50 trade candidates.
    The Twins are a middling team that is middling largely because of veteran underperformance through the first(ish) half of the season. It's a roster that has soft spots but no gaping holes. The lowest-hanging fruit is pursuit of a high leverage reliever but past that, the door is open to improve the team around the margins.
    What positions do you target first and which players do you pursue?
    chpettit19
    The Athletic reports that a team looking to acquire Aroldis Chapman now, instead of waiting 2 months til the deadline, would either have to part with "a better prospect package to gain control of Chapman for nearly four months...rather than two months," or "accept Chapman as part of a package deal...enabling KC to shed payroll."
    Salvador Perez and Scott Barlow are the players mentioned in the piece as possible players they'd want to package with Chapman. I don't know what kind of package they'd want for Chapman and Barlow, but that'd be a way to instantly transform the Twins pen, and Barlow has 1 more year of arbitration to help next year as well. I'd think it's worth a call to the Royals to see what they'd want for those 2.
    CoasterProductions
    Per MLB Trade Rumors, Tyler Mahle will undergo Tommy John surgery and is expected to miss all of this year and part of next year.
    Do the Twins re-sign him to an extension in hopes he'll take the free rehab facilities in trade for a year of pitching in 2025?
    https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/05/tyler-mahle-tommy-john-surgery-twins.html
    CoasterProductions
    Corbin Burnes is upset with Brewers per MLB Trade Rumors. A trade could be incoming, should the Twins jump in on the opportunity? Here is my proposal (it will probably take a lot to get a deal done)
    Brewers get: Lewis, Rodriguez, Winder, Julien, and Maeda
    Twins get: Corbin Burnes 
    This trade was listed as a moderate overpay on BTV. However I feel like because of the high level hitting prospects that are being given up could get the deal done. We have a logjam in the infield and corner outfield spots so it makes sense and I would rather have Lee over Lewis or Julien.
     
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