{"id":966259,"date":"2026-07-29T06:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T06:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/966259\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T06:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T06:54:18","slug":"twins-to-buy-at-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/966259\/","title":{"rendered":"Twins To Buy At Deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Royce Lewis<\/a><\/strong> had a two-run double with two outs in the ninth to walk off the Royals tonight. The victory brought the Twins back to .500 and within a half-game of the Guardians for the AL\u2019s last Wild Card spot. They\u2019re in third place in the AL Central and just 2.5 back of the White Sox.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a big victory for a clubhouse that should get a boost in the next five days. The Twins\u2019 surprisingly competitive season has positioned them to add before next Monday\u2019s trade deadline. General manager Jeremy Zoll told reporters this evening that the front office is approaching the deadline as buyers (links via Matthew Leach of MLB.com<\/a> and Dan Hayes of The Athletic<\/a>). Bolstering one of the league\u2019s worst bullpens is an unsurprising priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been what we were focusing on and what our pro personnel group over the last couple of months has been focused on \u2014 the \u2018buy\u2019 version of things,\u201d Zoll said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t some situation where they were prepping to sell and we\u2019re switching. Now we\u2019re looking forward to try and execute on that work.\u201d<\/p>\n

That may well take two of the game\u2019s top trade chips off the market.\u00a0Ryan Jeffers<\/a><\/strong> is the best impending free agent catcher and has gotten attention from the Rays and Yankees (surely among other clubs).\u00a0Joe Ryan<\/a><\/strong> would\u2019ve been one of the marquee targets for teams seeking starting pitching as a #2 caliber starter with an extra season of arbitration control.<\/p>\n

Zoll\u2019s declaration makes it highly unlikely the Twins will listen on Ryan, who\u2019d essentially be irreplaceable as the team\u2019s best pitcher. There\u2019d still be an argument for listening on Jeffers in a deal that nets big league pitching, as Minnesota has a capable backup catcher in\u00a0Victor Caratini<\/a><\/strong>. Zoll declined to speak in absolutes about any individual player \u2014 aside from last month\u2019s declaration<\/a> that Byron Buxton<\/a><\/strong> wasn\u2019t going anywhere \u2014 but made it fairly clear they weren\u2019t looking to move Jeffers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ll say is on Ryan specifically, he\u2019s had an awesome year,\u201d Zoll said of his starting catcher. \u201cWe\u2019re really excited about where he\u2019s at, and looking forward to doing everything we can to keep the group together and put us in the best spot to keep pushing ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

That would further thin a dwindling catching market that already lost Shea Langeliers<\/a><\/strong> to meniscus surgery. Adley Rutschman<\/a><\/strong>, Hunter Goodman<\/a><\/strong> and Francisco Alvarez<\/a><\/strong> are long shots to move. Cincinnati\u2019s\u00a0Tyler Stephenson<\/a><\/strong> probably jumps to the top of the rental market if the Twins shut down talks on Jeffers. They would need to weigh whether to issue him a qualifying offer in the $23MM range at season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

Minnesota may still deal from the big league roster if it\u2019s a baseball trade, presumably for pitching help. They have a surplus in left-handed hitting outfielders that may yet make left fielder Trevor Larnach<\/a><\/strong> available. The former first-round pick has had a strong season in a platoon role, batting .313\/.398\/.475 against right-handed pitching. He\u2019s playing on a $4.475MM salary and eligible for arbitration one more time.<\/p>\n

The Twins have 26-year-old Alan Roden<\/a><\/strong>, acquired last summer as part of the\u00a0Louis Varland<\/a><\/strong> trade, on the big league bench. Roden hasn\u2019t hit much in limited MLB time but has pummeled Triple-A pitching. Prospects\u00a0Walker Jenkins<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Emmanuel Rodriguez<\/a><\/strong> and\u00a0Hendry Mendez<\/a><\/strong> have all performed well in Triple-A. (Rodriguez has been out since early May and is just working back from injury.) Matt Wallner<\/a><\/strong> has also destroyed minor league pitching since being optioned in May and could be flipped for a mid-level prospect.<\/p>\n

Minnesota has a strong farm system, so perhaps they\u2019ll preserve their outfield depth and leverage the minor league pipeline for bullpen help. They\u2019ll need multiple late-game pieces. Twins relievers entered play Tuesday with a 5.03 earned run average, the third-highest mark in MLB. They\u2019re 25th in strikeout rate and have the second-worst walk percentage. They\u2019ve pitched better over the past month, to their credit, but they\u2019re still relying mostly on unproven arms.<\/p>\n

Journeyman Yoendrys G\u00f3mez<\/a><\/strong>, acquired in a DFA trade with the Rays in early May, has fired 30 1\/3 frames of 1.78 ERA ball to take the closer role in the Twin Cities. Rookie righty\u00a0Andrew Morris<\/a><\/strong> has turned in a 3.24 ERA with a 24.1% strikeout rate in his first 50 big league innings. They\u2019re the two most reliable arms for first-year skipper Derek Shelton. The left-handed duo of\u00a0Taylor Rogers<\/a><\/strong> and\u00a0Kody Funderburk<\/a><\/strong> has been shaky overall. Minnesota already swung a deal<\/a> to acquire Tommy Nance<\/a><\/strong> from Toronto. He should be in middle relief.<\/p>\n

While the bullpen is the priority, the Twins could also look for a rotation upgrade over\u00a0Zebby Matthews<\/a><\/strong> and\/or help at the bottom of the order. They\u2019re getting nothing offensively from Ryan Kreidler<\/a> <\/strong>this month, though they could bring up highly regarded prospect Kaelen Culpepper<\/a><\/strong> from Triple-A rather than trade for a shortstop.<\/p>\n

Third baseman Brooks Lee<\/a><\/strong> has been serviceable but unspectacular. Minnesota has generally struggled versus left-handed pitching and could look for a complementary righty bat. Those are in short supply this summer, but a utility piece like Nick Loftin<\/a><\/strong> or\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Ferm\u00edn<\/a><\/strong> could work as a depth addition.<\/p>\n

The Twins are spending around $101MM, as shown on MLBTR\u2019s new payroll tracker<\/a>. It\u2019s a $30MM cut from where they ended last year. Minnesota hasn\u2019t shown much of an appetite for spending but resisted an offseason teardown after bringing in some minority investors and turning control of the franchise over to Tom Pohlad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Royce Lewis had a two-run double with two outs in the ninth to walk off the Royals tonight.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":966260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[20391,171020,62,33088,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-966259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-joe-ryan","tag-ryan-jeffers","tag-sports","tag-trevor-larnach","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117001955975179349","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=966259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/966260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=966259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=966259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=966259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}