Did the Twins Have a Good Trade Deadline?
Forty percent of the Twins' 26-man roster on Monday, July 28th, found a new home by the trade deadline. In an astonishing nine trades, the Twins moved on from 10 players, including key names like shortstop Carlos Correa and closer Jhoan Durán. While the Twins received praise for the return they bargained for on some deals, like Durán’s. The Minnesota front office also made some head-scratchers.
Minnesota sold high on players like Danny Coulombe and Harrison Bader, both over 30 and having a career year in the final season of their contracts. That’s not the story across the board; the Twins traded five players they had under contract for multiple years. The biggest misfire in this regard is relief pitcher Louis Varland, a 27-year-old who won’t hit free agency until 2031. He has a 2.02 ERA on the year, and for critics of the deadline, this move felt unnecessary. Even more so because the trade came in at the last moment, and Minnesota had already traded four relievers. A relief unit that was considered one of the best in the game on Wednesday now feels like a desolate wasteland on Friday.
It’s challenging to think of a time in recent memory when a team so blatantly looked to the future. Even more difficult is figuring out how the Twins had 10 tradeable pieces that contenders wanted on their rosters. Yet, by the end of July, the Twins were obvious sellers and will be in talent evaluation mode in August and September. Questions about whether Minnesota should have run it back with this team will persist for a long time, but what’s done is done, leaving one major question.
Did the Twins have a good deadline? Most of the return for Minnesota was in the form of prospects, so it may be too early to tell. It’s easier to make a case for no, the team salary dumped Carlos Correa. Decimated the bullpen, and only received four prospects that were ranked in the top 10 of other teams' farm systems.
If all four prospects work out, Mick Abel, Kendry Rojas, and Ryan Gallagher are the future of Twins pitching, all while throwing to Eduardo Tait behind the plate. Then, of course, the 2025 deadline will be looked at fondly, and every Twins fan will scramble to tell everyone how they always believed. If the players fizzle out, then this deadline may serve as a valuable lesson in what not to do when entering a rebuild. The pressure on this fresh batch of minor league Twins to pan out will be unfairly high. In the end, this deadline will be remembered, but whether it will be celebrated or infamous remains to be determined.
