Matthew Lenz

The Minnesota Twins depth took another hit today, but this time it comes on the offensive side of the ball. After missing multiple games this weekend, Mickey Gasper, has been placed on the Triple-A injured list with plantar fasciitis. An issued that has plagued All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa in previous seasons. With the Twins in a 3-13 funk, some speculated whether recalling Gasper from Triple-A St. Paul could help the big-league club. Gasper, 30, was dominating with the Saints slashing .318/.418/.609 with 10 home runs. His production has resulted in a 165 wRC+. However, the same hasn't been true in his cup of coffee with the Twins this season. In 39 plate appearances, the switch hitter has a .488 OPS with just one extra base hit - a double - good for a wRC+ of 47. If the Twins plan to change things up, they may have to look at getting slugger Carson McCusker some at-bats, though he doesn't answer the Twins need for help on the dirt. Ryan Fitzgerald may be the next man up to fill that need, who has also been very productive for the Saints. Do you think anyone currently in Triple-A could help the Twins right the ship? View full rumor

Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic is reporting that Minnesota Twins starting pitcher prospect, Andrew Morris, was placed on the 15-day IL with a right forearm strain. The news is yet another pitcher injury for the Twins, who recently lost Pablo Lopez and Zebby Matthews to injury. In addition, Bailey Ober recently mentioned a hip issue that's impacting his mechanics, though he's been able to continue pitching. Morris has been very up and down for Triple-A St. Paul with five starts of four earned runs or more and seven starts of two earned runs or less. In all, it had amounted to a 4.41 ERA across 63 1/3 innings. With all the injuries, Morris was on the short list of pitchers who could be next in line to head West down 94 to Target Field. Now, we await to learn the severity of his injury but it's safe to assume he'll be shut down for awhile. Do you think there is something to all these injuries or is it just coincidence? View full rumor

With a little over a month until the trade deadline, the hot stove is going to start heating up. Who will be sellers from the American League? Will the Twins swing any deals? View full video

Walker JenkinsLuke KeaschallDasan HillConnor PrielippKaelen CulpepperKyle DeBargeEmmanuel RodriguezCharlee SotoBrandon WinokurAndrew MorrisBilly AmickMarco RayaPayton EelesCJ CulpepperEduardo BeltreGabriel GonzalezCory LewisRicardo OlivarKhadim DiawDanny De Andrade

Walker JenkinsLuke KeaschallDasan HillConnor PrielippKaelen CulpepperKyle DeBargeEmmanuel RodriguezCharlee SotoBrandon WinokurAndrew MorrisBilly AmickMarco RayaPayton EelesCJ CulpepperEduardo BeltreGabriel GonzalezCory LewisRicardo OlivarKhadim DiawDanny De Andrade

While we are still about a month and a half away from the trade deadline, it's starting to get late early for some teams across Major League Baseball. With the trade deadline set for July 31, we are roughly a month away from the hot stove reaching its inferno. However, there are a handful of teams that we can pretty confidently say are going to be sellers around the deadline. Who are they, what do they have to offer, and how could the Minnesota Twins benefit? Let's dive in. Chicago White Sox The White Sox are 12 games below .500 and 13 games out of the playoff spot. They acknowledged a multi-year rebuild over the off-season, so it shouldn't be surprising that they are sellers once again. Potential rentals include outfielders Michael A. Taylor and Austin Slater as well as recently acquired starter Aaron Civale. Otherwise, intriguing players who are controlled beyond 2025 include infielder Josh Rojas and outfielder Mike Tauchman. However, it’s more realistic that teams aggressively kick the tires on outfielder Luis Robert Jr., who has been the subject of trade speculation for a while now. Robert Jr. signed a pre-arbitration extension that included $20 million in team options for 2026 and 2027, which can be bought out for $2 million. Once a top prospect in baseball, the 28-year-old has had a hard time staying healthy throughout his career and has struggled at the plate over the last two seasons. Athletics The Athletics are in a free fall ever since they started their season 22-20. In their last 28 games they have just four wins. While they are a young team with some exciting talent, they're obviously not ready yet and have a handful of rentals that teams could kick the tires on. Most notably are utility players Miguel Andujar and Luis Urias who have both produced above average at the plate this season. Third baseman Gio Urshela is more than two years removed from his last productive season and has a mediocre glove at the hot corner, but could be an intriguing option to handle the short side of a platoon. On the mound, Jose Leclerc and T.J. McFarland are two potential reliever rentals, though Leclerc has been sidelined with a lat strain since April and McFarland has been plain bad. It seems likely that at least one of Andujar, Urias, or Urshela are traded ahead of the deadline. Baltimore Orioles Injuries aside, it's still pretty shocking to see the Orioles struggling this much. After winning 91 games and earning a playoff berth in 2024, they are currently 13 games below .500 and 8.5 games out of a playoff spot. The difference here is that the Orioles are not in the midst of a rebuild, so it's likely they limit their moves to players on expiring deals. Those names include: pitchers Zach Eflin, Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano, and Gregory Soto as well as outfielder Cedric Mullins. Of those players, Eflin, Sugano, and Soro are having successful seasons on the mound and will draw significant trade interest. However, two names that have been the subject of trade rumors but are controllable beyond 2025 are first baseman Ryan Mountcastle and outfielder Heston Kjerstad. Mountcastle, who will miss the next 8-12 weeks with a hamstring strain, is having a down year with a .628 OPS and two home runs. Kjerstad, who was recently optioned to Triple-A Norfolk, has also struggled this season but has often found himself as the odd man out of a stacked group of young talent. Twins Needs Like the last few seasons, the offense has been inconsistent which would explain the Twins peaks and valleys as a team. Generally speaking, they don’t have one specific weakness but could benefit from an improvement in their lineup. However, it's hard to see where that might happen. Twins third baseman have one of the lowest OPS’ of any team’s third baseman in baseball, but they're surely not taking Royce Lewis out of the lineup. They don't have a solid answer at second base, but that position has produced the ninth highest OPS in baseball. Catcher has been a bit of a black hole but it's hard to see them bringing in someone without dealing one of Jeffers or Vazquez (and who's trading for one of them?). That leaves designated hitter, but the Twins roster construction isn't built for a full-time DH. They need to improve their offense but I don't see how that happens without dealing one of their regular offensive contributors. On the other side of the ball, if this were two weeks ago, the Twins would have been potentially looking to flip a starter for a hitter. Now, the Twins are one injury away from (such as a Bailey Ober hip issue) from being in a very, very bad spot. All of that said and we haven't even broached the topic of money. Ultimately, money will be the reason why the Twins are (once again) quiet at the trade deadline. Not only that, but they'll have the built in excuse of Pablo López returning from injury. Could they benefit from Zach Eflin or Miguel Andujar? I think so, but we all know how this plays out. How do you think the Twins will handle the trade deadline? Join the conversation in the comments! View full article

Yep, I think that's the perspective to take. It's not exciting but if he can eat innings that's really what the Twins need right now to tread water.

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images The Milwaukee Brewers promoted top prospect Jacob Misiorowski this week, which resulted in a shuffling of their rotation. The odd man out was right-handed starter Aaron Civale, who has made five starts for the club this season. At 30 years old, Civale isn't ready to become a bullpen arm and has formally requested a trade from the club. He hopes to land with someone who has a spot in the rotation, per The Athletic. As it turns out, their rivals just five hours east on Interstate 94 have a need in their rotation. After losing Pablo López and Zebby Matthews to injury, would it make sense for the Minnesota Twins to acquire Civale? Civale has struggled even by the standards of a back of the rotation arm. He's only pitched 22 innings total in his five starts, though the brevity of those outings isn't totally his fault. The Brewers have a tendency to use a quick hook with their starters. In those innings, he's posted a 4.91 ERA with a 5.53 FIP and a lowly 12.8% strikeout minus walk rate. While he’s shown an ability to limit hard contact, he's been susceptible to the long ball, allowing five home runs in a small body of work. As an extreme fly-ball pitcher who pitches to contact, spacious Target Field (coupled with a solid outfield defense) would actually be a good fit for Civale. The former Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians starter has seven pitches in his arsenal, with his cutter traditionally being most often used and best offering. However, that hasn't been the case thus far in 2025, as the pitch currently has a -3 run value (RV), his worst pitch, possibly due to a new shape that has less vertical drop compared to previous seasons. He also leans on a sinker (25.1% usage), 4-seam fastball (14%), and a curveball (13%) while mixing in an occasional slider, split-finger, or sweeper. Aside from his cutter in 2024, he's more than a year removed from any other pitch in his arsenal producing a positive RV. In short, there isn't a lot to be excited about with his profile, but the Twins may just be desperate enough to take a shot on a pitcher who has had success in the past. Needing to replace López and Matthews in the big-league rotation, the Twins recalled David Festa and Simeon Woods Richardson to take their places. Two weeks ago, the Twins had enough starting pitching that people started speculating whether they may turn some of their arms into big-league bats. Now, the Twins are one injury away from having to rely on an arm that either isn't ready for the majors (Andrew Morris or Cory Lewis) or one that hasn't sustained success (Randy Dobnak). While Civale may not be exciting, he may be needed more than we’d like to admit. Especially when considering the performance of our rotation of late. Woods Richardson, who’s made one start since being recalled, was roughed up by a below-average Texas Rangers offense on Tuesday. In 4 ⅔ innings of work he gave up seven hits, six earned runs, and walked three while striking out four. His ERA now sits at 5.74 after struggling to start the season. While we don't want to overreact to a small sample, more concerning than Woods Richardson may be Bailey Ober. After a solid April and May, the towering righty has allowed 11 earned runs in his last two outings. The reason for concern, though, is his diminished velocity which started in Spring Training. His fastball velocity this season is down 1.2 miles per hour from 2024 and in his most recent start it was down an additional 0.3 miles per hour. He's made it work for the most part, though after today’s start he suggested he's “struggling with hip issues and mechanics.” Definitely something to keep an eye on. On the other hand, Festa has been productive in four of his five starts with the Twins. He was knocked around by the Athletics when he was first recalled but that could possibly be chalked up to extenuating circumstances, like flying across the country on short notice to make a start. The big thing for Festa will be to consistently pitch relatively deep into ball games - something that might be challenging for someone who has never pitched more than 124 innings in any one professional season. Down on the farm, Morris has been inconsistent this season. In 11 starts with the Triple-A Saints, Morris has six with one earned or less but four starts with four earned runs or more. Lewis has been consistent in St. Paul, but not in the same way. Through nine appearances (six starts) the 25-year-old has a 9.42 ERA and 7.04 FIP. Finally, top prospect Marco Raya has also struggled with the Saints. While the Twins once were thought to have a plethora of pitching depth, that has been depleted in the matter of a week. One way or another, they're going to have to find depth externally and Civale may be just the right guy for the call. No, Civale won't move the needle with Twins fans but it's hard not to see him as an upgrade over Woods Richardson. Given his production, profile, and contract it's likely he could be had for relatively cheap and the Twins would be remiss not to kick the tires on him. Do you think the Twins should pursue the Civale? What would you give up for him? Join the conversation in the comments! View full article

As the standings currently sit, the Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Detroit Tigers are the top two teams in the American League Central. Major League Baseball and ESPN are rewarding them by flexing their Sunday matinee to Sunday night baseball on June 29 starting at 6 PM. For the Twins, this will be their first time on Sunday Night Baseball in five seasons. They last played on Sunday Night Baseball in 2020 against the Chicago Cubs. That game featured six shutout innings from then rotation ace Jose Berríos followed by three innings of dominance from the Twins bullpen. Max Kepler had himself a night going 3-for-5 with a two run blast. Also of note, Target Field has not hosted Sunday Night Baseball since its inaugural season, according to Declan Goff. Hopefully the Twins can play better in front of a national audience than they did in front of their own fans against he Texas Rangers. 😬 View full rumor

After injuries to Zebby Matthews and Pablo López, we knew the Twins were going to have to figure out how to manage the pitching staff. This led to promotions of David Festa, Simeon Woods Richardson, Travis Adams, and Danny Coulombe. Adams has since been sent back to Triple-A St. Paul and Woods Richardson is coming off an abysmal outing against a below average Texas Rangers squad. Now, the Twins have transferred López to the 60-day IL and have claimed left-handed reliever, Joey Wentz, from the Pittsburgh Pirates to help eat innings out of the bullpen. Wentz, 28, has thrown 26 innings across 19 appearances with an ERA of 4.15 (3.77 FIP) and a 9.5% strikeout minus walk rate. He's a typical Falvey-esque pitcher with an extension in the 88th percentile and a mid-to-low 90s fastball that he counters with horizontal movement (cutter). He also has a curveball as his third offering. This is just a depth move by the Twins, who have relied heavily on their bullpen in the early going, but may also spell the end of the road for the struggling Jorge Alcala. Do you think this signals the end for Alcala? How long does Wentz last with the Twins? Join the conversation in the comments! View full rumor

Should Paul Skenes become available, he would net an unprecedented return of the likes that Major League Baseball has ever seen. What would it take for the Minnesota Twins to land the generational talent? View full video

Baseball America released their June top 100 prospect rankings and it doesn't come as a surprise to see one name fall. While Luke Keaschall and Emmanuel Rodriguez saw their stocks jump two spots, Walker Jenkins saw his fall two spots despite two people ahead of him in the May rankings graduate. It's not surprising to see Jenkins drop on the list, going from #11 in May to #13 in June, as he's been out for a majority of the season. He just returned on June 3rd in the Florida Complex League. A good month could see him back in the top 10 for the July Update. On the other hand, Rodriguez has been his typical "on-base machine" self with the St. Paul Saints this year carrying a .400 OBP. Along with a high walk rate, he has a high strikeout rate due to his patient plate approach. He's annually towards the bottom of the Minor League leaderboard in swing and contact rates. More than most prospects, Rodriguez is a massive wild card as to whether the prospect pedigree will turn into production at the big-league level. Finally, Keaschall was moved to the 60-day IL and is expected to be out for the foreseeable future although should return this season. View full rumor

Tanner Schobel, the Minnesota Twins second round pick from the 2022 draft, was promoted to Triple-A St. Paul on Wednesday, per Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Schobel (who has split time at second, third, and shortstop) has a slash line of .292/.372/.465 with seven home runs in 234 plate appearances. His plate discipline has been extremely impressive with a low 14.1% strikeout rate and a high 10.7% walk rate. He's add seven stolen bases to his stat line to boot. Baseball America has the 24-year-old utility man as the Twins eighth rated prospect with mostly average to above-average tools, although below average power. View Schobel's scouting report here: Do you think there is any chance we see Schobel with the Twins in 2025? Are you planning on seeing him in-person at CHS Field? Join the conversation in the comments! View full rumor

Image courtesy of © Ken Blaze-Imagn Images After two more walkoff losses to the Cleveland Guardians last week, the Minnesota Twins are 59-76 against their divisional foe since Derek Falvey joined the organization ahead of the 2017 season. In the last two years alone, the Twins are 4-13 with five walkoff losses (and seven others by two runs or less) against Cleveland. Despite the lopsided win-loss record, these matchups are traditionally close and low scoring, with an average score of 3.6-3.2 in favor of the Guardians. It should be no surprise that Falvey, the former architect of the Guardians’ pitching pipeline, has built a similarly strong pitching prospect group for the Twins. On the other hand, like the Guardians', the Twins' offense has been mediocre for much of Falvey’s tenure, frequently coming up short to support strong pitching performances. While the Guardians have been competitive for the last decade, it’s resulted in just one American League pennant. That, paired with the Twins' inability to beat them, raises the question: is this really the blueprint the organization should be following? In one sense, the answer is clearly “yes.” While winning the World Series is always the goal, creating a sustainable product that can compete each year is a solid secondary objective. After all, the 1987 and 1991 Twins are examples of the premise that if you can get into the playoffs, anything can happen. However, as the 2000s Twins learned, continually making it to October and coming up short comes with (arguably) more frustration from fans than the times when the club hasn't been competitive. Moreover, expectations of improvement or taking the figurative “next step” come with the territory of being a consistently competitive team. That's something that the Guardians haven't been able to accomplish in their decade-long run, much as the Twins have struggled to. What makes it worse, though, is that the Twins seem to be the lite version of the Guardians—or, as John Bonnes said on the Common Man Dan Cole’s KFAN radio show on Friday, “the Twins aren't as good at being Cleveland as Cleveland is.” Not only did the pitching pipeline take a while to develop, but the Twins don't appear to have the hitting to convert all that pitching into wins. More specifically, they don't have the timely hitting required to consistently win. Unlike Cleveland, the Twins’ OPS with runners in scoring position is in the bottom half of the league since the start of last season. Over the same timeframe, the Twins have a sub-.500 record in one-run games, and in extra-inning games. This has all culminated in a team that is 15-20 this season. This has all culminated in a team that has one of the best rotations and bullpens in baseball, yet can't consistently win baseball games. This has all culminated in a team that looks lifeless at the plate and in the field. While the Guardians model has led to a sustainable product, it hasn't been enough to get over the hump. Whether it's a good model for the Twins to follow is surely up for debate. One thing that isn't up for debate is that the Twins are the lite version of the Guardians right now. View full article

Image courtesy of Varland: © David Richard-Imagn Images Duran: © Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images Jax: © Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images After a hope-infusing series-opening win Monday night, the Twins lost in walkoff fashion in the second game of their four-game set against the Cleveland Guardians Tuesday. After five solid innings from Chris Paddack, Rocco Baldelli used Brock Stewart in the sixth, then went with his two highest-leverage relievers in the seventh and eighth. Griffin Jax relieved Stewart, and was then relieved by Jhoan Duran. This led to Louis Varland getting his first ninth-inning opportunity of the season and his second career appearance in a high-leverage ninth frame. While it’s not usual for Jax to pitch in the seventh or Durán to pitch the eighth, it's usually under different circumstances. Jax is often the first high-leverage reliever out of the bullpen, whether that be in the seventh or eighth innings. However, there have also been games wherein he's been deployed after Duran, as the closer. So what made Tuesday’s game different? Baldelli deployed four righties from the bullpen, so that mutes any discussion of a potential righty/lefty matchup dynamic. Jax was brought in to face the 6-7-8 hitters in the Guardians lineup, which is not a lineup pocket that typically requires a high-leverage reliever. However, Jhonkensy Noel is a masher who has struggled with sinkers and sweepers early on in his career—two offerings that have been effective for Jax. The next two hitters, Daniel Schneeman and Bo Naylor, don't have obvious flaws that would point toward Jax getting the seventh. It's my opinion that Jax was specifically brought in to get the slugger Noel out in a tie game, when a moonshot would give the Guardians a lead. Having given up a double to Schneeman, Jax struck out Angel Martínez in the 9-hole, leaving the top of the order to lead off the eighth inning. That makes it a lot easier to understand why Duran was brought in for the top of the eighth. The flamethrower made easy work of the would-be table setters, inducing a groundout and striking out two hitters on just 13 pitches. After a low-stress inning, you might have thought Baldelli would send him back out for the ninth. However, Duran has just two multi-inning relief appearances since June of 2023. Right or wrong, it's generally not something Baldelli has done with the 27-year-old. Heading into the ninth, Baldelli had five pitchers in the bullpen—though Justin Topa and Jorge Alcala may have been unavailable, given their workload in the days leading up to Tuesday. Still, beyond them, he had Varland, Danny Coulombe, and Cole Sands at his disposal to face the heart of the Guardians lineup: José Ramírez, Kyle Manzardo, and Carlos Santana. What makes this portion of the lineup tough is that Manzardo, a left-handed hitter with non-traditional splits, is protected by switch-hitters in front of and behind him. Additionally, both Ramírez and Santana are productive hitters from both sides of the plate, making the handedness question moot. Manzardo’s success against southpaws in 33 career at-bats could maybe explain why Coulombe was left in the pen. That leaves us with Sands and Varland. While Sands arguably has the stronger track record as a reliever, to this point in the season, Varland has looked like the better pitcher—both on the surface and under the hood. Sands hasn’t quite found his 2024 self in the first month of 2025. Thus, by process of elimination, Varland got the ninth. However, that evades the real question: Why go Jax in the seventh, instead of Varland? This brings us back to Noel. While much of his swing decisions and batted-ball data leave more to be desired, there's no arguing his power potential. He’s currently in the 98th percentile in bat speed and well above average in exit velocity and hard-hit rate. Meanwhile, opponents put the ball in the air against Varland nearly two-thirds of the time and he currently is one of the worst pitchers in the league in exit velocity, barrel rate, and hard-hit rate. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Varland also doesn't have that lateral movement on his breaking ball that made Jax a good candidate to get out Noel. Hindsight being 20/20, it's easy to criticize the move by Baldelli. The game ended when Manzardo took Varland deep, in a situation when one would normally find Jax or Duran on the mound. However, if my conjectures above are correct, I think this is a matter of a good process that led to bad results. That's more than can be said for Varland’s middle-middle changeup, which was launched 363 feet over the right-field fence. What are your thoughts on Baldelli’s bullpen usage on Tuesday night? Join the conversation in the comments! View full article