MLB Trade Deadline: 3 More Bats Twins Should Target

While it might be tempting to stand pat, given the potential that the Twins will get Josh Donaldson, Byron Buxton, and Mitch Garver back over the next two weeks, the team would do well to think a bit more aggressively. Because of the way seeding is determined in this year’s 16-team playoff format, finishing first in the tight AL Central race does matter. Anyone the team can acquire over the next few days could not only help them accomplish that goal, and thus better position them for October, but play a bigger and more helpful role when that time of year comes, relative to players like Jake Cave and Ehire Adrianza.

Here are three guys whom the Twins could acquire cheaply, but who fit really well on the team’s roster as it stands right now.

Hanser Alberto, IF, Baltimore Orioles: My last piece focused on players (Donovan Solano, Erik González, and Howie Kendrick) who consistently hit the ball especially hard, or cluster their batted balls into the highest-value launch-angle band, or both. Alberto is not that kind of hitter. He’s posted one of the league’s lowest average exit velocities and hard-hit rates in each of the last two seasons. Yet, he’s batted .306 since the start of 2019, and his BABIP is .323.

He does it, first and foremost, by being able to make contact at an exceptional rate. He’s one of the most aggressive hitters in baseball, chasing pitches outside the zone almost half the time and swinging over 70 percent of the time when pitchers do throw him strikes. He’s not a dead pull hitter, so teams can’t shift effectively against him. Even when they try, though, Alberto is good at foiling the strategy. He shares the skill apparently possessed by Luis Arraez, to see where the defense is positioned and aim batted balls to open spots. He has multiple swings, really, and switches between them according to the situation and his vision of the field in front of him.

At 27 and with decent overall athleticism, Alberto plays above-average defense at both second and third base. He’d fit perfectly into the holes created by Adrianza’s ineffectiveness, Donaldson’s absence, and Arraez’s balky knee. He’s also a capable corner outfielder, and the team could certainly use a right-handed backup to Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario at those positions. Under team control through 2022, Alberto is nonetheless a low-cost target, because the Orioles are unlikely to tender him contracts all the way from here to his free agency, and they’re eager to continue rebuilding through trades and high draft picks.

Phillip Ervin, OF, Cincinnati Reds: Ervin is one of the great buy-low opportunities available in baseball right now, even if his ultimate ceiling is quite low. The 28-year-old former first-round pick has dreadful numbers so far, his swing still out of whack as he tries to get untracked. Still, his core skills make him a great potential fit for the Twins.

Ervin has great plate discipline, rarely expanding his strike zone. He has a short, line-drive swing, but there’s room for him to generate much more power without losing much in the way of contact rate. He’s short and thickset, and his athleticism allows him to play very good defense in either outfield corner. Like Kepler, he always looks a bit uncomfortable in center field, not out of a dearth of speed or athleticism, but based on angles and reads. Still, as a lefty-mashing corner outfielder, he’d fill an important need for Minnesota.

If the Twins could make a few of the changes they’d certainly try to make with Ervin, over the offseason to come, they’d have years to reap the rewards. He’s under team control through 2025. In the meantime, he’d cover the team in case of a tough matchup against a lefty, allow them to keep both Rosario and Kepler fresher down the stretch, and give the team an option off the bench if the right situation arises come October. Thanks to the ugly numbers he’s put up and the Reds’ outfield logjam, however, he’d be available at a bargain rate this week.

Charlie Culberson, SS/2B, Atlanta Braves: The grandson of Ted Williams-era Red Sox outfielder Leon Culberson is now playing in his eighth MLB season, making him the longest-tenured big-leaguer in the family. He’s never had more than 322 plate appearances in a season, and has been on the brink of being pushed out of the game multiple times, but Culberson has shown a knack for hitting left-handed pitching, comes up with clutch hits at a surprising rate, and acquits himself well at any infield position.

Since his modest reinvention in the Dodgers system half a decade ago, Culberson has been more about power than contact or plate discipline, and he only has average power. Still, he’s been a competent hitter each of the last two seasons with Atlanta (as his 93 DRC+ since the start of 2018 attests). He’d be an upgrade over Adrianza, and good insurance against an injury to Jorge Polanco.

He signed a minor-league deal this winter, and although technically under team control through 2021, he’s a non-tender candidate come the offseason. The Braves are contenders, but they have such a crowded infield picture that Culberson (despite being active all season) has just seven plate appearances to date. He’s the cheapest potential acquisition the Twins could make, while still clearly improving the roster spot currently occupied by Adrianza, once the club regains relatively full health.

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