Tom Froemming

I was doing alright for the first 15 minutes or so. ?

The Twins were very active at today's deadline... or were they? Let's walk through the deadline, trade-by-trade. The Twins moved a key piece in José Berríos to the Toronto Blue Jays and received two high-profile prospects in return. They also made two lower-profile moves, including a surprising trade of underperforming JA Happ. I break it all down for you, piece by piece. Twins Trade Deadline Recap More Videos Next Up Trade Deadline Reactions 1:16:53 Live 00:00 19:59 19:59 More Videos Close facebook twitter Email pinterest Linkhttps://twinsdaily.com/index.html/minnesota-twins-news-rumors/video-twins-trade-deadline-recap-r11132/?do=edit&d=1&id=11132&jwsource=cl Copied View full article

The Minnesota Twins had been engaged in contract extension discussions with Byron Buxton in recent weeks but The Athletic is reporting the two sides have been unable to reach an agreement. What does this mean for Buxton and how might this impact other members of the Twins? Here is the link to the original report, which comes from Dan Hayes and Ken Rosenthal. Per that report, the Twins originally brought a seven-year, $73 million offer with a “unique incentive package” but Buxton’s camp countered with an undisclosed offer. The Twins increased the guarantee up to $80 million but it still did not satisfy Buxton and his agency. Here is a video in which I offer my reaction to the news and discuss a potential domino-effect of these negotiations. It’s important to note that in the headine at The Athletic they specifically called out that this increased the chance of an offseason trade. Buxton is still not back to health, so it’s unlikely any team would target him as a trade piece between now and Friday’s trade deadline. Another item of note from the report is the likelihood of Taylor Rogers being traded was characterized as “likely” as the demand for relievers increases. Buxton is currently on the Injured List with a fractured left hand he suffered on a hit by pitch. In 110 plate appearances this season, he’s hit .369/.409/.767 (1.176 OPS). He’s making $3.075 million via arbitration this year, and with a small sample of stats to increase his case, I can’t imagine his projected salary through arbitration will escalate a great deal, depending on what else he does this season. After that, he’s set to become a free agent entering his age-29 season. I decided to get a poll going over on Twitter to see whether or not people thought this was a fair extension offer. Here it is below, you can see the results in real time after you vote. Let me know down in the comments how you feel. Joe Mauer’s eight-year, $184 million extension is (of course) the largest in team history. The biggest free agent contract the org has ever inked is Josh Donaldson’s four-year, $92 million deal. Some recent extensions signed by the club are Randy Dobnak’s five-year, $9.25 million deal from March and the deals signed in February of 2019 by Max Kepler (five-year, $35 million) and Jorge Polanco (five-year $25.75 million). MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

That site is fun but it's not very accurate, especially for prospects. They have Gilberto Celestino valued at 8.2 and Jose Miranda at 1.6.

I'll believe Birdsell is going back to school once the deadline passes. Until then it just seems like a leverage tactic. And that's fine with me, it's his only opportunity to negotiate pay for a long time. Just feels like it'd make too much sense for both sides to eventually come to an agreement. We'll see.

The Minnesota Twins are believed to have set a very high asking price for José Berríos. Though they seem inclined to keep him around, that doesn’t mean they’re not listening to offers. But is there a way to trade Berríos without completely gutting the 2022 rotation? Danny Abriano of SNY wrote an article yesterday on Berríos as a potential fit for the Mets. In it, he makes a lot of great points on how valuable José could be to that club and how the Mets are a team particularly well-suited to meet the Twins’ high asking price. The Mets are currently in first place in the NL East, but hold just a 2.5-game advantage over the Phillies, who are just a game up on Atlanta and 2.5 games up on Washington. It’s a tight race. New York was expecting to have plenty of pitching by now, but Carlos Carrasco and Noah Snydergaard have both experienced setbacks in their attempts to rehab from injuries. It doesn’t seem like either of those two are in the Mets’ long-term plans, either. Syndergaard is a free agent at the end of this year and Carrasco has a $14 million option with a $3 million buyout. That’s especially notable because Marcus Stroman is also a free agent after this season, leaving the Mets with some uncertainty in their 2022 rotation plans. That’s why Berríos seems like such a nice fit for them over someone like Jon Gray of the Rockies, who would just be a rental. So what’s in it for the Twins? Abriano suggests the package would need to be similar to what the Mets gave up for Marcus Stroman — Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods-Richardson. He packages Tylor Megill and Robert Dominguez as a similar duo but thinks it would take something more like Megill and J.T. Ginn. Maybe even more than that. If you’re looking for prospects dripping with upside, this isn’t the kind of deal that’s going to get you going. The inclusion of Megill does make this very intriguing for anyone who’s not willing to sacrifice 2022. He’s already contributing to the Mets. Well, that’s actually underselling it. Like a lot of teams in 2021, the Mets have been decimated by injuries. That’s created an opening for Megill and he’s ran with it. He started this season dominating in Double A, moved up for three starts in Triple A and has been brilliant in five starts for the Mets. Megil, a 6-foot-7 right-hander, has pitched to a 2.63 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and has averaged 10.5 K/9 in 24 innings pitched. His fastball averages 94.6 mph and he pairs that with a slider and a changeup. He’s been sort of like a savior to their rotation, so why would the Mets trade him? Uncertainty. Megill is very much a pop-up prospect. He was drafted in the eighth round back in 2018 and came into this year ranked 21st in the Mets system according to MLB Pipeline and 25th by FanGraphs. Is this breakout for real, or will Megill, who turns 26 soon, prove to be a flash in the pan? As for Ginn, he was the high-rated prospect entering this year (sixth in the Mets’ system by MLB Pipeline and seventh by FanGraphs), but is still not cracking top-100 lists. Drafted out of Mississippi State in the second round in 2020, Ginn has a 2.56 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 8.1 K/9 as a 22-year-old in Low A. This is his first year back after recovering from Tommy John, so it’s quite possible the best is yet to come. For me, just Megill and Ginn would not be enough. It’s an intriguing starting point, though. Getting a pitcher you can plug right into the MLB rotation and a prospect who grades out similarly to someone like Matt Canterino gets you listening. If you’d prefer a higher-upside package, Twins Daily’s Matthew Taylor put together a package of shortstop Ronny Mauricio and right-handed pitcher Matt Allan, both consensus top-100 prospects. There were two other Berríos trade hypotheticals offered up in that article, which you can check out here. If you’re looking to build a package of your own, Twins Daily’s Thiéres Rabelo recently took a look at the fit between the Mets and Twins in a trade deadline piece that would be a great place to start. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

The Bally Sports North broadcast captured a somewhat heated discussion between Josh Donaldson and Luis Arraez during today’s game. Rocco Baldelli was noticeably absent while the interaction was taking place. Is this something to be concerned about? In case you missed it, here's a video of what went down. With Donaldson at the plate, Arraez was slow to get his lead off of second base. This led to Donaldson calling time and shouting something to Arraez, who reacted by lifting his arms up as if to say “what?” The two appeared to be discussing that situation in the dugout between innings. According to Justin Morneau, they were also talking as they took the field and continued their conversation in the tunnel after that half inning. We don’t know the full details of what exactly was going on, and maybe never will, but this certainly feels from an outside perspective that Donaldson was making a mountain out of a molehill. Or possibly it was Arraez who was doing that. Again, there’s likely some context we’re missing. One thing we do know by what we have here is that the mediators present during the first interaction in the dugout were mainly Nelson Cruz and first base coach Tommy Watkins. Noticeably absent: Rocco Baldelli. It probably wouldn’t be fair to expect a manager to be involved in every conversation between his players, but this certainly feels like one where Baldelli should have been present. He’s a player’s manager, and apparently let’s his players police themselves, but this seems to be letting things go a bit too far. This is the kind of thing that can make you wonder what some of the clubhouse fallout of trading away Cruz will be. If he’s the veteran presence overseeing things, what happens when he’s gone? If Rocco is going to be hands off with these kinds of situations, who’s going to be around to make sure things don’t go too far? Speaking of making a mountain out of a molehill, it’s entirely possible that’s exactly what I’m doing here. Maybe this is nothing. When you’re following a team that’s 14-games under .500, swept by a bad team in an uninspiring effort and quickly approaching the trade deadline, it’s easy to be concerned when you see stuff like this. Donaldson’s edge is part of what’s made him a premiere player. That fire is likely much more valuable on a team that’s driving toward the playoffs than one that's trying to stay out of the basement. Nobody likes losing, but Donaldson may be particularly bad at it. He hasn’t had much practice. He’s been on a losing team just once (the 76-86 Toronto Blue Jays). Arraez seems plenty competitive himself, for what it's worth. What do you think? Anything about this concern you? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

Mark Contreras has gone from organizational afterthought to on the doorsteps of the big leagues in a matter of months. He got things started for the Saints tonight in a big 8-0 victory. TRANSACTIONS Twins recall RHP Beau Burrows and select Juan Minaya from St. Paul. Cedar Rapids activates Andrew Cabezas from the 7-day IL. Matt Wallner sent to FCL Twins for a rehab assignment. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 8, Columbus 0 Box Score Matt Shoemaker: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 3 K Multi-hit games: Mark Contreras (2-for-3, HR), Drew Stankiewicz (2-for-4) HR: Mark Contreras (10), Brent Rooker (19) The Twins drafted Mark Contreras as a senior out of UC Riverside and signed to a $10,000 bonus in 2017. After a poor 2019 in which he hit .186/.271/.328 (.599 OPS) in 411 plate appearances, it felt like he was among the players who could least afford a lost 2020 season. Having those numbers represent his most-recent performance for such a long time is not good for a ballplayer’s resume. Contreras, who turned 26 earlier this year, put those numbers behind him with a strong start to this season in Wichita. Now, it’s easy to wonder if this is that same guy from 2019. Did the Twins sign another Mark Contreras and I just missed it? Contreras had a six-game cameo with the St. Paul in late-May, went back down to Double-A for a single game, but returned to the Saints on June 3. From that point to coming into today, Contreras hit .265/.341/.590 (.931 OPS). Tonight, Contreras hit his 10th homer in just 34 games for St. Paul, matching the total he hit in 112 games back in 2019. What an incredible turnaround. After Matt Shoemaker delivered five clean innings (yes, he’s still around), Jonvani Moran Followed with 2 2/3 innings of shutout ball in his Triple-A debut, striking out five of the 10 batters he faced. Kyle Barraclough finished off the shutout by recording the final four outs, two of them on strikeouts. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 8, Tulsa 7 (10 innings) Box Score Chris Vallimont: 3.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 7 K Multi-hit games: BJ Boyd (3-for-4, BB, SB) HR: None And you thought the end of the Twins game was unbelievable ... Tulsa led this game 7-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning but they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, or something. Jordan Gore delivered 1-2-3 innings in both the ninth and 10th, managing to strand the extra innings bonus runner. He picked up his first-career Double-A victory. KERNELS NUGGETS South Bend 7, Cedar Rapids 3 Box Score Andrew Cabezas: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K Multi-hit games: Gabriel Maciel (2-for-2, 2 BB), Kyle Schmidt (2-for-3, BB) HR: Wander Javier (9) Tyler Watson did an amazing job stabilizing this game for the Kernels, delivering five shutout innings of two-hit ball while striking out nine batters out of the bullpen. Unfortunately, the bats couldn’t grab the lead and the rest of the bullpen stumbled, giving up five runs in the bottom of the eighth. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 7, Jupiter 5 Box Score Orlando Rodriguez: 7 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K Multi-hit games: Will Holland (2-for-3, 2B, HR, BB, SB), Charles Mack (2-for-4, 2B), Ruben Santana (2-for-2, 2 BB) HR: Will Holland (5) Speaking of good stories, Orlando Rodriguez had a successful debut in the org. He had been pitching for Schaumburg in the independent Frontier League and this was his third year in indy ball. He went seven innings and threw 62 of his 93 pitches for strikes (66.7%). Will Holland was the star of this game, hitting a two-run double and a two-out home run. He also drew a walk and stole a base, his sixth steal of the season. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Red Sox 15, FCL Twins 2 Box Score Donny Breek: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 5 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 1 K Multi-hit games: None HR: None The Twins gave up eight runs in the top of the first inning. There were three hit batsmen, three walks, an error and a grand slam. Basically an entire Twingo card worth of action. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher: Orlando Rodriguez, Fort Myers Hitter: Will Holland, Fort Myers PROSPECT SUMMARY Take note that we have finished our midseason update, so there is a new list! Here is a look at how the Twins Daily Midseason Top 20 Prospects performed: #1 – Royce Lewis (Rehab) – Out for season (torn ACL) #2 – Jhoan Duran (St. Paul) – Injured List (elbow strain) #3 – Jordan Balazovic (Wichita) – DNP #4 – Matt Canterino (Cedar Rapids) – Injured List (right elbow strain) #5 – Jose Miranda (St. Paul) – 1-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI #6 – Keoni Cavaco (Fort Myers) – DNP #7 – Gilberto Celestino (Minnesota) – DNP #8 – Josh Winder (St. Paul) – DNP #9 – Aaron Sabato (Fort Myers) – 1-for-4, 2 RBI, K #10 – Matt Wallner (Cedar Rapids - with FCL Twins on a rehab assignment) – 0-for-2 #11 – Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) – Out for Season (Tommy John surgery) #12 – Bailey Ober (Minnesota) – DNP #13 – Cole Sands (Wichita) – DNP #14 – Brent Rooker (St. Paul) – 1-for-3, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 K #15 – Misael Urbina (Fort Myers) – 0-for-2, BB, R #16 – Spencer Steer (Wichita) – 1-for-4, BB, R #17 – Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-4, HR, R, RBI, K #18 – Alerick Soularie (Complex) – N/A (foot injury) #19 – Edwar Colina (Rehab) – Injured List (elbow) #20 – Chris Vallimont (Wichita) – 3.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 7 K SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Columbus at St. Paul, 2:05 pm CT: Andrew Albers Tulsa at Wichita, 1:05 pm CT: Austin Schulfer Cedar Rapids at South Bend, 1:05 pm CT: TBD Jupiter at Fort Myers, 11 am CT: Zarion Sharpe View full article

% of pitches 96+ mph the past three years 2021: Twins 4.5, MLB 8.8 2020: Twins 3.8, MLB 7.8 2019: Twins 3.2, MLB 7.4

Change is slow, apparently. The Minnesota Twins have had a reputation of building soft-tossing pitching staffs for decades. Unfortunately, this issue still plagues the 2021 version of the club. I talked about velocity in the video below, starting at Josh Winder’s Futures Game outing that led me down this trail and ending with a stat that the team ranks dead last in the league in. It’s worth pointing out that throwing hard doesn’t guarantee success. Guys like Kyle Hendricks, Zack Greinke, Adam Wainwright, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Wade Miley rarely (if ever) crack 90 mph and they’re still effective starting pitchers. There are also flamethrowers who stink at pitching. On average, however, lower-velo pitches are hit and hit harder more often. If it seems like the Twins are throwing harder these days, you’re right. Unfortunately, they’re just not advancing enough to keep pace with the rest of the league. The Twins have had 23 pitchers appear for them in 2021 (excluding Willians Astudillo’s three innings) and just five of them have thrown a pitch in excess of 96 mph. Twins pitchers have combined to hit that benchmark a grand total of 595 times. There are eight pitchers who’ve eclipsed that mark all on their own. Pitches 96+ mph Zack Wheeler 960 Sandy Alcantara 784 Brandon Woodruff 763 Gerrit Cole 760 Luis Castillo 730 Jacob deGrom 697 Frankie Montas 649 Nathan Eovaldi 610 Minnesota Twins 595 Taking a look at the team level, it’s pretty striking how much the Twins and White Sox are at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of pitcher velocity. The vast majority of Chicago pitchers have reached 96 mph and they’ve tallied more than four times as many 96+ mph pitches than the Twins this year. Twins White Sox Pitchers 23 19 # to 96+ mph 5 15 % to 96 mph 21.7% 78.9% Pitches 13,206 13,048 # 96+ mph 595 2,527 % 96+ mph 4.5% 19.4% Not surprisingly, the Twins rank near the bottom of the league in several pitching categories. They’re 21st in K%, 24th in swinging-strike rate and 27th in FIP. Meanwhile, the White Sox are second, first and fourth in those categories. Help is on the way ... hopefully. In addition to Winder, who I mentioned earlier, the Twins also have hard-throwers like Jhoan Duran and Matt Canterino (among others) in the minors. They took triple-digit teen Chase Petty with their first pick in the draft. He’s years away from contributing to the big club, of course, but I still found it encouraging to see the front office appear to make velocity a priority with that pick. We won’t have to wait much longer to find out if velo is made a point of emphasis for the Twins at the trade deadline. Here’s hoping they add some gas to the staff. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

Here's the coverage MLB Network provided ICYMI

Here's Balazovic's entire start crammed into less than 10 minutes:

Here's a highlight of the Wander Javier walk-off homer and the nice at-bat that led up to it:

Looking toward the future on how things might end up, here are the guys still contributing to these totals: Twins: Tyler Watson, Jhoan Duran, Gabriel Maciel, Ernie De La Trinidad, Jorge Alcala, Gilberto Celestino, Luis Rijo, Devin Smeltzer and Chris Valimont. Their Trade Partners: Huascar Ynoa, Lewin Diaz, Jaylin Davis, Kai-Wei Teng and Prelander Berroa. I think I spent plenty of time qualifying things in the article and saying the book isn't closed, but I still very much stand by the headline. I think it's difficult to be inspired by what this front office has achieved in these deals, even when considering what's to come. I suppose that may say more about how high I currently am on Ynoa and how concerned I am about Duran's future role than anything.

Derek Falvey, Thad Levine and the rest of the Minnesota Twins front office are going to be busy these next few weeks. Here’s hoping they’ve learned lessons from their previous trade deadline decisions. I recently wrote about how I’ve lost faith in this front office and this exercise didn’t make me feel any better. To be fair, there’s still a lot yet to be determined from some of these trades. The Twins have quite a few of the players acquired in these deadline deals still in their system. Still, I think there are some things we can take away from revisiting these deals. We’re going to be using FanGraphs’ version of WAR to evaluate these deals. That seemed like the most direct way to put a number on these things, but no matter how you want to look at it I think you’re going to come to the same conclusion. It’s not very close. Well, at least for now. Here’s a breakdown on how the Twins made out from the 2017 trade deadline. Additions Subtractions Jaime Garcia 0.2 Huascar Ynoa 0.7 Anthony Recker 0.0 Gabriel Moya 0.0 John Ryan Murphy 1.0 Zack Littell 0.0 Jaime Garcia 0.3 Dietrich Enns -0.1 Tyler Watson 0.0 Brandon Kintzler 0.3 2017 TOTALS TWINS 0.1 TRADE PARTNERS 2.3 Let’s take a look at 2018.The Twins didn’t get much here, and only have Tyler Watson left from this group. Watson has a 2.45 ERA this year but it’s as a 24-year-old in High-A. Huascar Ynoa has a 3.02 ERA in the big leagues at 23. Things already don’t look good for the Twins here, but Ynoa figures to be in Atlanta’s rotation for years to come. Yes, John Ryan Murphy really did provide some value (almost all of it on defense) as a backup catcher during the two-plus years of team control he had after the deal. Additions Subtractions Jhoan Duran 0.0 Eduardo Escobar 1.0 Gabriel Maciel 0.0 Ernie De La Trinidad 0.0 Jorge Alcala -0.1 Ryan Pressly 2.5 Gilberto Celestino -0.4 Chase De Jong 0.0 Zach Duke 0.1 Ryan Costello 0.0 Tyler Austin 0.3 Lance Lynn 2.0 Luis Rijo 0.0 Logan Forsythe 0.4 Brian Dozier -0.2 Devin Smeltzer 0.7 Luke Raley 0.0 Dakota Chalmers 0.0 Fernando Rodney -0.1 2018 TOTALS TWINS 0.9 TRADE PARTNERS 5.3 The Escobar and Pressly figures are only from their years of control that were traded at the time. Credit to their current organizations for signing them to extensions, but anything they’ve done during those additional seasons shouldn’t be factored into these trade evaluations. Lance Lynn, man. He flipped his K:BB ratio from 1.61 with the Twins to 4.36. The Twins are way behind so far, but Jhoan Duran and Co. could eventually swing things the other direction. Still, being three years removed from this trade deadline and having seen very little materialize on the big club is a bit of a letdown. If there's one prospect acquired who you'd hope would be on his way to becoming an established major leaguer by now it's Jorge Alcala. He turns 26 later this month and has been worth -0.4 fWAR so far this season. He actually has a worse FIP than Alex Colomé this year. Alcala ranks 171st among the 177 qualified relievers in FIP this year. Yikes. Onward to the 2019 deadline. Additions Subtractions Sergio Romo 0.5 Lewin Diaz -0.3 Chris Vallimont 0.0 Sam Dyson -0.2 Jaylin Davis -0.6 Kai-Wei Teng 0.0 Prelander Berroa 0.0 2019 TOTAL TWINS 0.3 TRADE PARTNERS -0.9 The same logic that applied to Escobar and Pressly applies here with Romo. This only accounts for 2019. He became a free agent after that season and signed a deal to return to Minnesota, so his performance that year was not included. The Twins actually come out ahead, so far, but that Sam Dyson trade could really end up biting them. I’ve always thought that trade with the Marlins was pretty clever. The Twins front office managed to buy for now and later. Romo pitched well and Chris Vallimont is looking quite intriguing in Double-A. He cracked Twins Daily’s top-20 prospects in our most recent update. Lewin Diaz could end up being a nice piece for Miami but it’s not like the Twins need another left-handed bat or first baseman. And that’s it. The Twins didn’t make any moves leading up to last year’s trade deadline. Let’s tally up the damage. GRAND TOTAL TWINS 1.3 TRADE PARTNERS 6.7 Things don’t look great. Sure, the Twins have some prospects that will hopefully improve upon their current mark, but Ynoa and the prospects dealt at the 2019 deadline could also tip the scales the other direction. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

There are significant obstacles that may prevent the Minnesota Twins from taking full advantage of being sellers at this year’s trade deadline. League-wide needs, recent rule changes and the economic state of the game could result in a difficult market to navigate. No matter what the Twins do this month the goal has to be to inject more pitching into this organization. Ideally, those arms would be relatively close to major-league ready. The team already has enviable payroll flexibility going forward, but moving any salary off the books that would later be reinvested in pitching would also be a plus. That’s all going to be much easier said than done. Everybody Needs Pitching Great news for the potential José Berríos market, right? Well, this one goes both ways. Yes, acquiring MLB pitchers will come at a high cost, but so could acquiring pitching prospects. I expect all pitching to come at a premium relative to bats. Part of the aftermath of the mostly lost 2020 season is a great innings insecurity across the game. Starting pitchers shouldering less of the load also plays a part in this issue, certainly, but it’s something that stretches across every level of pro ball right now. There seem to be more innings than pitchers to cover them. I think teams willing to accept trade packages revolving around hitters will be able to acquire demonstrably more talent than their counterparts who are honed in on arms. Prying Away Prospects in the High Minors Will Be Difficult It’s always easier to stomach a trade when you can expect the pieces coming back to contribute before too long. Unfortunately, I suspect changes to MLB’s transaction rules will result in prospects on the verge of the majors being very difficult to acquire. July 30 is the only trade deadline. There’s not another opportunity to add talent after that deadline, unlike previous seasons. The August waiver trade period was eliminated. With this being the case, I expect contenders will want to maintain maximum insurance in the event of injuries. Contending teams are going to come into negotiations pushing their lower-level prospects hard. On the plus side, that could create a situation in which a team that scouts really well could absolutely fleece another club by acquiring a diamond in the rough for a middling major league contributor. The lower minors are where the highest upside players are, but those guys are also the riskiest. They’re also not cracking the major league roster anytime soon. Owners Will Be Hesitant About Adding 2022 Payroll So it may be difficult to pry away pitchers who are close to MLB ready, but what about dumping some salary to create space for free agents this winter? Even if we ignore the fact that signing impact pitching is pretty difficult (right, Thad?), I could see shedding salary being a challenge. Stadiums filling back up is good for the bottom line, but we’re shifting from health and safety protocols to labor relations as the primary threat to MLB’s economic health. The current collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1. If there’s a stoppage of any kind for any reason it’s more than likely to be followed by a significant drop in gate revenue. Attendance dipped 20% from 1994 to ‘95. Certain ownership groups are always wary of taking on multi-year contracts but this could add more incentive to play it close to the vest. The combination of lost revenues from the last two years with the uncertainty heading into next year might mean rental players on expiring contracts will be especially attractive. Bad news if the Twins are looking to move some of the $51.5 million owed to Josh Donaldson the next three seasons. But ... This is all speculation. I mean, what do I know? Again, these are assumptions I’m making. Everything laid out above makes logical sense to me. These are considerations I’d be making if I was running a team. Part of this might be influenced by what I’m referring to as “2021 Twins brain.” It’s a disorder brought on by previous trauma in which you automatically assume any possible scenario will work out poorly for the Twins. What are your thoughts? Does this seem like a good time to be sellers to you? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

I'd agree, but there's no telling whether or not they'll actually reinvest any money saved. Maybe, but in that SNY article it's mentioned that the Mets are also believed to be interested in Kris Bryant, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's the other way around.