SEATTLE - Ryan Jeffers keeps hearing his name in trade talk, but the Twins catcher is answering the only way that really matters: with a bat that won’t quiet down.
Jeffers delivered again Friday night, driving a solo homer in Minnesota’s 5-3 comeback win over the Seattle Mariners. It was more than just late insurance.
It was another reminder that, with Monday’s 5 p.m. CT trade deadline approaching, Jeffers is playing his way into the center of the conversation.
Since returning to the lineup last month after breaking a hamate bone, Jeffers has been one of Minnesota’s most productive hitters. In 50 plate appearances, he’s posted a .893 OPS with five extra-base hits and 10 RBIs. Overall, he’s hitting .293/.396/.539 with 10 home runs and 36 RBIs in 198 plate appearances.
There’s a strange kind of irony in all of this. The better Jeffers performs, the more valuable he becomes to other teams - and the harder he is for the Twins to let go. Minnesota moved into a tie for the final American League wild-card spot with the win, which only adds another layer to the decision looming over a catcher who is set to hit free agency after this season.
“There’s just so much unknown, and question marks around what’s going to happen,” Jeffers said. “There is no planning for it. Stuff seems to come together late.”
The market should be real. Jeffers, 29, is viewed as one of the top catching options available, and teams like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers are all in need behind the plate. Even though rental players usually don’t bring back the same kind of return as players with team control, Jeffers could be different if those clubs get aggressive.
The Twins also have a financial angle to weigh. Trading Jeffers would likely bring back more than the compensation tied to a qualifying offer, though one team source close to Jeffers said the catcher would reject such an offer if it came. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because no offer has been made.
General manager Jeremy Zoll kept his comments measured earlier in the week.
“He’s had an awesome year,” Zoll said. “We’re really excited about where he’s 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.”
Jeffers says he’s not obsessing over it every day, but he’s not pretending it isn’t there either. That’s especially true with Minnesota carrying three catchers on the 26-man roster, including Victor Caratini and Alex Jackson.
“Am I thinking about it on a daily basis? Absolutely not,” Jeffers said. “But I am aware of it.”
Manager Derek Shelton has tried to address the tension directly. He met with the clubhouse Tuesday and urged players to block out the noise, but that’s easier said than done for a group that has already lived through ugly deadline moments.
“There’s going to be some scar tissue in that room from what happened,” Shelton said. “The big thing that we want to do as a staff is just make sure the guys have an open forum to be able to talk about it.”
Jeffers has plenty of memory attached to those days. He was in the hotel suite when Louis Varland and Griffin Jax were traded in the stunning deadline churn, and he remembers the phone alerts piling up one after another as the news kept coming.
“Notification after notification after notification keeps popping up,” Jeffers said. “Then you think it’s done and even more kept coming through.
It was a wild and unexpected moment. We all knew there’d be moves, we just didn’t know the extent of it.”
This year feels different in Minnesota. After being baseball’s biggest sellers a year ago, the Twins have flipped the script and gone on offense.
They started with a July 10 trade for Tommy Nance, then added A.J. Minter and Dean Kremer on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
They’re not done yet. The club still wants to add more, with a right-handed late-inning reliever high on the list. Jeffers says he’d rather let the deadline pass before worrying about what comes next.
“We don’t have to go out and add a (Jhoan) Duran type arm,” Jeffers said. “We already have a good, strong team.
We like where we’re at as a unit. Yes, there are areas we can build upon, but we also trust the guys we have in this room to get outs.
… You never know.”
In Other News...
Yankees Deadline Push Now Hinges On One Catching Upgrade
The Yankees are still trying to make one more meaningful move before the deadline, and the most interesting part of their search has centered on catcher. They want a right-handed bat behind the plate, a sensible fit for a roster that is already being pushed toward added bullpen help and another right-handed hitter elsewhere, and they have not been shy about working the market with that kind of urgency.
Tyler Stephenson, Adley Rutschman and Ryan Jeffers have all come up as possible answers, which shows how broad the search has become and how competitive the market is likely to be. For a club intent on upgrading in more than one spot, the catching pursuit may end up shaping how the rest of the deadline unfolds, especially if the front office has to decide how far it wants to go to land the right fit. [Read more 🡒]
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One name worth watching is Randy Arozarena, a player the Yankees know well enough to appreciate as a possible fit in a lineup looking for more punch. The Seattle outfielder has put together strong offensive numbers this season, and his situation could make him one of the more interesting names to track if New York decides it needs to act on the market rather than wait for reinforcements from within. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Fans Just Got A Yankees Trade Twist To Process
The Yankees are adding another wrinkle to their infield and batting-order picture, with ESPNs Jeff Passan reporting they are reportedly trading for Nationals first baseman Luis Garcia Jr. It is the kind of move that immediately invites lineup speculation because Garcia gives New York another capable left-handed bat, and any extra offense around the middle of the order tends to matter in October-minded planning.
But the fit is not as simple as just slotting in one more name and moving on. Garcias arrival adds depth, yet it also brings a real juggling act for the Yankees as they try to sort out playing time and keep the lineup balanced without creating unnecessary friction on the bench. The upside is obvious, but the next question is how New York makes all of the pieces work once everyone is actually in the mix. [Read more 🡒]