Twins Could Get Creative by Shopping 3 Former Top Prospects at the MLB Trade Deadline

If you can get something for them, why not? Otherwise, if we sell off some of the other free agents, these guys get the rest of the season to play their way into the future plans, or not.

Both Miranda and Julien are out of options after this season. Come 2026 they're going to be in that unfortunate position of either being on a Major League roster or DFAd into obscurity. And unlike a bullpen arm, the churn through on poor fielding infielders is incredibly minimal. 

Essentially, their major league careers are done and they hold no value, if not negative value. 

Austin Martin at least has one more option year remaining. There's some value in that ability to send them up and down as needed. But, again, while he's technically able to play multiple positions he plays none of them well. Castro isn't a gold glover anywhere, but he at least holds his own. The same can't be said for Martin. 

Trade Julien and Miranda as part of packages to get what you can. Give Martin another shot with the big league club if you plan to move Castro. Martin might also have that role on next year’s squad if he can get on base.

I expect Martin to get another shot when Castro and Bader are dealt.

Miranda is having an awful season. I don’t know why anyone would want him. He might need to go to Japan or Korea for his next job.

Julien could return a reliever like Adams, which could be useful. Better to deal him before they lose him on waivers next season.

Bring Martin up for Castro if/when he is traded. As for the other two, like NYCTK stated above, they are both out of options going into 2026. Julien would have a little more value, so ideally trade him for a reliever or maybe another change-of-scenery candidate. As for Miranda, I know the AAA numbers are ugly, but I'd give him one last chance in the bigs, whether that is if France is gone, or filling in for an injury. It gives him a chance to possibly regain some value, or pushes it to the point where it may be necessary to DFA him unfortunately. I think there is a chance both Julien and Miranda could revitalize their MLB careers, I just don't think it will happen in Minnesota.

It is possible, but unlikely this would happen this year.  None have enough value to a buying team to expect they would help this year.  Further teams selling are not likely to sell anyone with much control and we should not be buying rentals. 

Great article, thanks.

As many above have said, none of this trio would return much in a trade.  Will agree with those who believe keeping Martin for another year makes sense.  That is unless someone offers something of value in return

Should the Twins be looking to trade some of their core, say Duran or Jax, they must be both careful in evaluating the prospects coming back and get a huge return.  Why?  This article reminds us that many top prospects can end up having zero value a couple years from now.  For example, just think about trading Duran for Miranda and Martin?

8 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

No, he is not much of a CF but he isn't bad in the other spots. I honestly don't understand the venom on this board towards him. 

That's not what we saw in the 2024. He looks like a good athlete that should be a decent fielder, but was just flat out bad. And it seems like the Twins still believe that assessment. If he were a decent fielder he would have been on the major league roster instead of keeping Clemens around. Or Keirsey lol. 

What some people think what creative is, is crazy. Trading Miranda, Julien or Martin is stupid & sad. Stupid because you won't get anything for them. Julien should have been traded when he was worth something. Sad because they had a lot of promise but were mismanaged. Miranda wasn't given the opportunity he deserved at 1B to keep him healthy & prosperous; now he's broken. Martin forced at SS, then have him learn CF & LF at the MLB level. MN needs someone fixed at 2B to stabilize the 2B/SS teamwork with Correa. Having a new 2Bman every game does nothing for the continuity there. 2B is Martin's best position & he's the best glove there. Put him there & keep him there. Put Keaschall at 1B/DH until he's 100%. There I said it, go ahead & smash the thumbs down icon.

They are all AAAA depth at this point. Get what you can (not much). 
 

They need to do a great job of trading their expiring assets. That should be their primary focus. Let’s focus on targeting the return for Castro, Coulombe, Bader and even Paddack. Let’s see if they can find a match and get a lottery ticket for Vazquez and France. I will add one more in Jax but those conversations should be short. Set a too high bar and hold your ground. Stay focused on those deals that comprise more than a quarter of the roster.  They can’t go into the frenzied trade deadline having serious conversations about 11 or 12 players. That would be a recipe for failure.

Priorities

• Take serious offers on Jax. Do the homework on the top prospects offered. Get an A+ deal or retain him.
• Work hard in the deals for Castro, Coulombe, Bader and Paddack. Identify those players outside of the top 100 that will out perform their perceived future value.
• Find a new home for Vazquez and France and give those two months to Gasper at catcher and more playing time for Clemens.

There is a lot of work to do this deadline. Let’s not distract it by trying to find a new home for the three above.

2 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

The question is what should they do with them now.....not what they did in the past. Where do you see Julien or Miranda ever getting a shot here? So, sure, complain about the past, I don't disagree (esp. on Martin), but that's not really relevant to this discussion of what to do now at all.

I did, don't trade them. Then I commented on the idea & why.

1 minute ago, Mike Sixel said:

I'm fairly sure they have enough employees to do both......

I am sure they have enough to take calls. Their leadership needs to be deeply involved in every move. We are suggesting they move more than a quarter of their roster before they even get to these three. They don’t need to trade the three above and the return would be minimal. Focus elsewhere and let’s see what they can do in the final two months when 6 or 7 roster spots open up. The quality if these trades is more important to their future than the quantity.