The Twins did enough in the Bronx to get people talking, but not enough to shut down the trade-deadline chatter.
Minnesota took two of three from the Yankees last weekend, giving the club its first series win at Yankee Stadium since 2014. That should have been the kind of result that nudges a team into the buyer conversation. Instead, with the Aug. 3 deadline approaching, the series win has only sharpened the debate over whether the Twins should keep pushing or start moving pieces again.
Jim Bowden of The Athletic came down firmly on the sell side when he laid out his deadline outlook for every club. He didn’t just suggest Minnesota should listen on a few veterans - he went much further.
“The Twins see a wild-card berth within striking distance and are searching for bullpen help,” Bowden wrote. “I don’t think they have a strong chance for a wild card, and if I were them, I would see what I could get for Joe Ryan, Taylor Rogers, Kody Clemens, Royce Lewis, Tristan Gray, Victor Caratini and Josh Bell. I would even talk to Byron Buxton to see if he would waive his no trade clause if I could deal him to either the Braves or the Yankees.”
That kind of talk hits differently when a team has won six of its past seven series. The lone loss in that run came against the two-time reigning World Series champion Dodgers, and Minnesota entered Monday just 1.5 games behind the Rangers for the final American League wild card spot and four games back of the White Sox in the AL Central.
There’s still a path here. The Twins have seven games against the Guardians in July, and their offense has been the best in the AL at 4.92 runs per game. That’s enough to keep the door open, at least on paper.
But the case for selling is built on more than just skepticism. It starts with the quality of the opponents Minnesota has handled during this recent surge. The run included a Cardinals team hanging onto the final National League wild card spot, a sweep of the Rangers, two of three against an Arizona club fading out of contention, and a series win over a Rockies team that entered Monday with the third-worst record in baseball.
Even the Yankees series needs some context. The Twins did what they had to do, but New York was missing several key names, including Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Cam Schlittler and Max Fried.
Minnesota’s 9-16 record against teams over .500 is another part of the picture. The weak state of the American League helps soften that number, but it still matters when projecting what this team looks like against better competition down the stretch.
That’s why some analysts see a club that might need a starter and perhaps two or more relievers just to survive a wild-card round. From that angle, Bowden’s logic is simple: the squeeze may not be worth the juice.
Still, there’s a difference between selling and tearing the whole thing down. If the Twins do move pieces, Ryan Jeffers and Ryan would be the most obvious names to watch. Veterans on one-year deals like Rogers and Bell also make sense as trade candidates, and Clemens, who is having a career year at age 30, would fit that discussion too.
What doesn’t make much sense is the idea of a full-blown fire sale for a second straight year. Trading anyone with a pulse could leave Minnesota in a worse spot than it’s already in.
The Buxton angle remains the most speculative part of the conversation. National reporters keep floating the idea that he might waive his no-trade clause, but Buxton has repeatedly said he won’t do that to leave town.
Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll also said the club has no intention of trading him. That said, similar things were said about Carlos Correa before he was dealt to the Astros ahead of last year’s deadline.
Even so, Buxton is a lifelong Twin and has made it clear he wants to stay that way.
So the Twins are left in the middle, which may be the hardest place to live in late July. They don’t have to go all-in, and they don’t have to blow it up either.
They could still follow the kind of middle path they took in 2017, sell a piece or two, and keep playing. For now, the best move may be to let the next few weeks sort it out and see what kind of team they really are.
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