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The Minnesota Twins are the cream of the crop in the AL Central to this point and if they want to stay that way into the Postseason they’ll need to make some key additions. Despite Major League Baseball’s attempts to force competition through the latest CBA negotiations, there’s still plenty of teams ready for a selloff. Who can Minnesota pillage from them? When looking into what teams have assets, and what assets could be moved, the categorization was left entirely evaluated upon two factors: what players are good, and do they also play on a bad team. At this time, it’s fair to estimate there are something like ten bad teams and these are their players that fit the bill. From a Minnesota perspective, it’s largely unrealistic to consider offensive options anything more than an unnecessary luxury, so we’ll dive into the arms that make sense. Oakland Athletics - Ramon Laureano, Frankie Montas, Paul Blackburn, Lou Trivino, A.J. Puk Yes, where’s Frankie right? Ok, so you know he’s legit. Montas is among the best arms to be considered on the market and he will command an absolute haul. I don’t know that the Twins have what it takes to land him, and I’m also not sure they need him. Blackburn is under team control through 2025 and is just 28 years old. He’s not a big strikeout guy, but the ERA, xERA, and xFIP are all good. He’s finally healthy and looks like a legit rotation arm. Trivino is the prize of this pen and the peripherals suggest he’s a solid talent. The K/9 has never been better and his advanced numbers are more enticing than anything on the surface. More than Montas, 30 years oldars-old even with team control, he may be the best arm moved at the deadline. Puk is a former top prospect and someone that will come with a price tag due to control, but he’s now an aging relief arm with Minnesota ties. Health is the reason he’s in the bullpen, but if you want to add him to a group you can build around this makes sense. Detroit Tigers - Michael Fulmer, Andrew Chafin A.J. Hinch is managing a dumpster fire and that’s not how this was expected to go. Fulmer is a former top prospect and first round pick, but at this stage he’s become expendable. As an impending free agent he’s all but certain to be moved and his 2.00 ERA has him near the top of this relief class. He walks too many and the 3.06 FIP suggests a bit of regression, but he’s got closing experience and has avoided the longball. Fulmer also has the 8th lowest barrel rate in baseball. Chafin is a journeyman having pitched for four teams in nine Major League seasons, but he’s flying under the radar in 2022. He’s on a two-year deal with Detroit, but his 2.10 FIP makes the 3.26 ERA even more exciting. He’s punching out more than 11 per nine innings while being stingy on homers and walks. This is another arm that should be among the most coveted during trade season. Kansas City Royals - Andrew Benintendi, Joel Payamps, Scott Barlow If you want Payamps you’ll probably need to pay up, even with as bad as the Royals are. He’s not arbitration eligible until 2024, and is only 28-years-old. Claimed by Kansas City a season ago, Payamps has posted a 2.42 ERA this season and backed it with a 3.17 FIP. He doesn’t strike out many and gives up too many walks, but he’s kept the ball in the yard and seems like a guy who could be a former waiver candidate parlayed into value. If you’re looking to extract value from the Royals, Barlow is probably the better bet. He’s under team control until 2024, and possesses a bit better upside. The velocity has dropped a bit this season, but there’s strikeout stuff to be had with a WHIP that’s never previously been touched. He may be at his worst, but unleashing his best could make him scary for the future. Miami Marlins - Jon Berti, Joey Wendle, Garrett Cooper, Miguel Rojas, Brian Anderson, Anthony Bass, Tanner Scott, Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez Maybe the Marlins won’t sell off. They aren’t good and won’t win the division, but they’re hardly a dumpster fire. That likely takes Alcantara and Lopez off the table. Both of them should be seen as future pieces rather than something that be had at the deadline. In the bullpen though, there’s some intriguing talent. Bass is producing career best numbers and carries just a $3 million team option for next year. His FIP is strong even with his xFIP being a bit more inflated. Cole Sulser would be in the same camp age wise, but being on the injured list with a lat strain should bring pause. Maybe Scott is seen along similar future lines as the starters, and he’s under team control through 2024 so he’ll have an added price tag, but the peripherals are exciting. Scott has produced massive strikeout numbers, even with a bloated amount of walks, and both the FIP and xFIP suggest he could be an asset. Washington Nationals - Josh Bell, Tanner Rainey, Kyle Finnegan, C.J. Edwards Jr. Bell always seemed like a perfect bat for the Nationals to rent. At $10 million he never cost much, and he should net them something nice at the deadline. That’s not where Minnesota is looking though with Alex Kirilloff entrenched at first base. Both Rainey and Finnegan have somewhat competing numbers for Washington. The former has a shiny ERA with lesser peripherals while the latter has a higher ERA but an xFIP that’s wonderful. Neither should be seen as off limits, and both would be a nice upgrade in the pen. Edwards Jr. has seen past success when he was with the Cubs, but he had just 27 1/3 big league innings before this year since 2019, and that was spread between five different teams. He’s not the big strikeout guy he once was, but the walk rate is a career low and he’s given up just 12 hits across 27 innings this season. Pittsburgh Pirates - Jose Quintana, David Bednar It’s basically a yearly tradition that the Pirates will be bad and need to sell at the deadline, and 2022 is no different. If you want a rotation arm you could do worse than a former staff ace. Quintana has a mid-three ERA and a FIP to back it up. He’s more of a finesse starter at this point in his career, but he can still generate strikeouts and has pitched on good teams. Another option for best relief arm to be moved may be Bednar. Pittsburgh doesn’t need to piece him out, but he doesn’t really help a team this bad either. He strikes a ton of guys out, walks very few, and is great at stranding runners. Bednar would immediately be the best pitcher not named Jhoan Duran in the Twins bullpen. Chicago Cubs - Willson Contreras, David Robertson, Chris Martin, Ian Happ, Patrick Wisdom, Rafael Ortega, Scott Efross It’s anyone’s guess as to what the Cubs were doing this offseason. They spent on Marcus Stroman but weren’t going to be good on the dirt, and they parted with some big names in the year prior. At any rate, this club has hitters to deal. Contreras will be coveted, and Happ could probably be had too. I’m not a believer in Wisdom or Ortega but there’s a level of production you could desire. It seems like Robertson is a hired gun quite often and he finds himself there again. He’s 37, but the numbers are great even if peripherals suggest a slight bit of regression. Martin is also up there at 36, and his numbers aren’t quite as good, but you can dream on the 2.51 xFIP and hope the command and strikeouts remain. Effross might be the best name here, but he could also be someone Chicago decides to hang onto. He made his big-league debut last season and looks like a great relief arm. As good as the ERA is, his peripherals suggest he may even be better. Cincinnati Reds - Tyler Mahle, Luis Castillo, Brandon Drury, Tommy Pham, Kyle Farmer, Jeff Hoffman You could start with the man that slapped Joc Pederson, but Pham has no fit with the Twins. He’ll probably be moved and that story will then likely resurface again. Instead this is where the best starters come from in Mahle and Castillo. Mahle’s ERA isn’t good, but don’t let that sway anything, he’s been very solid this year. Castillo doesn’t fit the Twins typical mold as a changeup guy, but he’s as good as it gets. Both of them will command a Montas-like haul and will have virtually the same top teams vying for their services. Hoffman is a failed starter that has actually thrived in a full-time bullpen role. He doesn’t have the shine he did as a former top prospect or 9th overall pick, but the strikeout stuff is there. He does still walk too many, but he’s dropped the home run problems that plagued him previously. Arizona Diamondbacks - Christian Walker, Zac Gallen, David Peralta, Merrill Kelly, Joe Mantiply Needing an extra outfielder or a big bat could land you looking at the Diamondbacks, but the arms are also of note. Kelly and Gallen are the starters you want, though it’s Gallen’s combination of stuff and youth that make him the most appealing. These are the types of starting arms I could see as realistic consideration for Minnesota. Mantiply may wind up being my favorite reliever moved, however. He’s 31 and just finally broke through with the Diamondbacks last season. His stuff this year has been amazing, and he’s one of three pitchers at this moment yet to allow a barrel baseball. Colorado Rockies - C.J. Cron, Chad Kuhl, Daniel Bard, Connor Joe, Charlie Blackmon, Jose Iglesias Who knows what the Rockies will do given they don’t have a plan half of the time. Blackmon would seem a good bet to be moved but they also paid for Kris Bryant while allowing Jon Gray and Trevor Story to walk. Kuhl and Bard are pitchers worth prying from them. Kuhl’s xFIP is a bit scary, but his numbers have been good otherwise and he’s a guy who has flown under the radar for quite a bit. Bard has been one of the better late-inning arms this season and bounced back nicely from an ugly 2021. He’s a fantastic story that has reinvigorated his career but will be looking to close this chapter in the next couple of years. Who are some of your favorites from this list? Anyone that got missed and you’re hoping is moved? View full article

Much has been made about the Minnesota Twins trading for Frankie Montas, Tyler Mahle or Kyle Gibson, but there is one pitcher who is better than all of them and might be attainable. It would just take a godfather offer. The Minnesota Twins’ need for a starting pitcher is undeniable. The duo of Sonny Gray and Joe Ryan have been rock solid for the Twins in 2022, but Minnesota needs another top-line starter to help them secure a division title and throw out in a playoff game. Frankie Montas has been talked about extensively as the top trade target, but there is another starting pitcher on a losing team who would be an even better target, right handed pitcher, Zac Gallen. Zac Gallen is a 26-year-old ace starting pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks who is in his fourth season in the Majors. In his Major League career, Gallen boasts a 3.35 ERA with a 10.1 K/9 and an excellent K/BB ratio of 3.01. In his best season, 2020, Gallen posted a 2.75 ERA and finished ninth in the National League Cy Young voting. As a young starting pitcher, Zac Gallen also brings with him years of control. The Arizona right-hander is currently in the last year of his rookie contract, of $745,600 heading into his first year of arbitration. This means that a team who would acquire him at the trade deadline would get him for the remainder of the 2022 season, along with three additional years of team control at an affordable arbitration cost. So, why might the Arizona Diamondbacks be looking to trade their young, talented, and controllable starting pitcher? Currently, Arizona finds themselves in fourth place, eight games below .500, in the best division in the national league. The Diamondbacks have not made the playoffs since 2017 and do not look poised to do so this year. While Gallen looks to be an ace starting pitcher, it’s fair to wonder just when Arizona might be ready to compete, and if their best course of action would be to cash in on their right-hander now, while his value is at its all-time peak. According to a Jon Heyman article in the New York Post earlier this month, the Arizona Diamondbacks plan to keep Zac Gallen, “unless they get an offer they can’t refuse.” This time of the year it’s always hard to tell how much to believe in these reports versus how much is posturing by teams and/or agents. But taking the post from the New York Post at face value, what would it take for the Twins to offer the Diamondbacks an offer that they couldn’t refuse? In my mind, a great offer like that would involve a Major League player right now, along with future assets. Something along the lines of Trevor Larnach, Austin Martin, Josh Winder and Jordan Balazovic could start the conversation and get the Diamondbacks interested in a potential deal with the Twins. Another piece of the Zac Gallen conversation that might make Twins fans nervous, but might also lessen the cost of Zac Gallen in a trade is his potential injury concerns. Earlier this season, Gallen was placed on the injured list with a UCL strain. Of course, this might bring back some bad memories from Chris Paddack and his UCL issues prior to the Twins trading for him and ultimately losing him to Tommy John surgery. At the same time, though, the injury concerns for both the Diamondbacks as well as other suitors might just lower the cost to the point that his cost of acquisition would be lower than what you would expect from an ace with three and a half years of team control. The Twins should absolutely explore trades for the Frankie Montases and Tyler Mahles of the world, but if Zac Gallen is on the market, the Twins should put together their best offer to bring him to the Twin Cities. Would you be excited about Zac Gallen coming to the Minnesota Twins? Do his elbow issues concern you? Leave a comment below and start the conversation! View full article

During the run-up to the MLB Trade Deadline the Minnesota Twins were linked to several big-name starting pitchers. We heard rumors about the Twins potentially landing someone like Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman, Madison Bumgarner, or even Trevor Bauer. When the dust settled, Minnesota was either unable or unwilling to meet the demands for those pitchers and decided to stand pat with the current rotation. The Twins were never going to give up a player like Byron Buxton and were rightfully protective of top prospects Royce Lewis and Alex Kirililoff. With that taken into consideration, the Twins may well only have Jose Berrios returning from this year’s rotation for 2020, and they may have missed a golden opportunity to add a talented young pitcher. The Arizona Diamondbacks received rookie right-hander Zac Gallen from the Miami Marlins in return for Jazz Chisholm, a short stop prospect currently playing in AA. This was a somewhat unique deadline trade as it was a prospect-for-prospect swap (although Gallen made his MLB debut on June 20th and has been up ever since), but the Twins did something similar by swapping Lewin Diaz for Chris Vallimont in the Sergio Romo trade days prior to the Gallen trade. It’s possible that the Marlins were really after Chisholm and contacted Arizona, but the reverse seems more likely. The Twins had just had Miami on the phone and were also playing in Miami at the time of the Gallen trade, so it wouldn’t have been hard to inquire about Gallen. Gallen has certainly looked the part of a big league pitcher thus far in his MLB career. The Twins got an up-close peak at Gallen during the Marlins series on the day before he was traded, and he did not disappoint against Minnesota’s historic offense (7IP, 4H, 2ER, 8K). He was also great in his first start in Arizona, as he went five innings without allowing any runs and only one hit on 85 pitches while picking up the win. Gallen has really only recently began to sneak into the top 100 of some of the prospect lists, but his stock has risen significantly this season. He has added velocity to his fastball which now sits closer to the mid-90s with plenty of spin and he has a great change up along with a pretty good cutter. Gallen dominated the PCL with a 1.77 ERA and 33.6 K% this year and has pitched really well so far in the big leagues. The 24-year-old had a 2.72 ERA (3.58 FIP) with 10.65 K/9 in seven starts with the Marlins and is off to a good start in Arizona. The Marlins seem to be craving high-upside boom-or-bust type prospects and the Twins could have easily provided a similar or somewhat better package than Chisholm. Coming into the season, Chisholm was highly regarded as a short stop possessing both speed and power and he has hit 20 home runs so far this season. He’s a high-upside prospect with great physical tools, but his stock has dropped this year as he has only hit around .200 and is striking out in nearly 35% of his plate appearances. Most prospect rankings still consider him a top 100 prospect, but he fell out of Baseball America’s midseason list. Although Gallen’s MLB career is only beginning, he would still fit nicely in with Minnesota’s current rotation. In fact, he seemingly would have been a perfect addition to the team because he is pitching well now and would be under team control for many years to come. If the Twins decide not to pick-up Martin Perez’s team option for next season (and the proposition is looking less and less likely) they will need to fill four spots in the rotation. Gallen would have slotted in nicely somewhere behind Berrios and the Twins would have an established young starter along with a promising young arm to build around. The trade deadline has come and gone, but hopefully the front office took notice of the unique opportunity this trade provided. Arizona was able to pick up a young and promising starter while only giving up one high-risk, high-reward prospect. Of course, most teams are hesitant to give up young MLB-ready pitching, but the Twins would be wise to look into the possibility of making a similar off-season trade. One team that they may want to look at is…the Miami Marlins. Who knows how much young pitching Miami is willing to part with, but again, they seem to favor high-upside prospects and they are not going to contend in the near future. Although Gallen is out of the picture, the Marlins do have a couple more young pitchers the Twins may want to take a look at in Sandy Alcantara and Jordan Yamamoto. Of the two, Alcantara throws much harder, touching triple digits and sitting in the high-90s. Alcantara has had his issues so far, struggling with control (11.1% BB) and not getting as many strikeouts (16.8% K) as one would hope, but he would be an intriguing arm for Wes Johnson to work with. He is one of only eight MLB pitches to have a greater than 10% swinging strike rate on three non-fastball pitches (slider, curve, and changeup), so the strikeouts should come. The 23-year-old is a former top-100 prospect. Yamamoto doesn’t have the velocity or prospect status of Alcantara, but he throws six pitches and has done pretty well in his first stint with the Marlins after being called up from AA. In 54 innings he has pitched to a 4.17 ERA (4.18 FIP) with a 1.04 WHIP and has struck out 55 batters. Yamamota is also just 23 years of age and would presumably cost Minnesota less than Alcantara in terms of prospects. Even with the addition of one of these young starters, the front office will have their work cut out for them this off season. One would hope that the Twins would add at least two higher quality and more experienced starters through free agency and trade. However, a young, team controlled starter like Alcantara or Yamamota could be a nice depth piece with minor league options that could probably be had for a fairly insignificant price. The Twins have exciting pitching prospects like Brusdar Graterol, Jhoan Duran, Edwar Colina, and Jordan Balazovic all inching closer, but it would be nice to have some additional young pitching talent to help bridge the gap and fill out the rotation. The Twins made it through the trade deadline without losing any top prospects and the system is loaded with depth. Hopefully Derek Falvey and Thad Levine took heed of the Zac Gallen trade and will be able to identify some young pitching talent and make a similar deal with the Marlins or another organization. Obtaining pitching talent is never easy, but it was something Falvey was known for in Cleveland and the Twins are going to need all the pitching help they can get in 2020.