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The whole has always been a bit less than the sum of the parts for Griffin Jax. Now, that's the problem of the team who loves great parts (and summing them) more than anyone else: the Tampa Bay Rays.
Jax, 30, was the Twins’ 3rd-round pick in the 2016 MLB Draft. He scaled the ladder of the system as a starting pitcher, but his stuff never popped in that role. After debuting as an extremely forgettable starter in 2021, he converted to the bullpen in 2022—and almost immediately, he flashed dominant stuff. His results and his situation management have been inconsistent ever since, but his combination of plus control and newfound, high-end movement has turned him into one of the game’s most exciting and (occasionally) dominant relief arms. He’s under team control through 2027, and is making $2.3 million as a first-year arbitration-eligible arm this year. As a non-closer, he’s unlikely to hit the jackpot during his arbitration-eligible years, which has made him even more appealing than his extraordinary strikeout and walk rates already did.
In exchange for their co-relief ace, the Twins acquired starting pitcher Taj Bradley, whom the Rays recently optioned to Triple-A Durham—but who has spent significant portions of the last two seasons in the rotation for Tampa.
Bradley, 24, has four more years of team control remaining after 2025, two more than Jax. He's an intriguing arm, who has shown good velocity but too often found the heart of the plate with it in his brief time in the majors. Minnesota will try to unlock an arsenal that appears to hold real promise, but which has never translated to consistent success for Bradley. They've had good luck doing this with former Rays hurlers a time or two, but getting only Bradley for the relatively accomplished and metrically beloved Jax is a surprise.
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- David HK and mikelink45
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