With a fresh batch of hopeful young ballplayers entering the organization from this year’s MLB draft, the Minnesota Twins are hoping to replenish their stock in minor league talent. And with the MLB trade deadline just a few weeks away, the club must decide which direction they want to take when the time comes.
A difficult stretch in the coming weeks could push them into seller territory. Meanwhile, another couple of series wins might make them seriously consider making a few additions to their big league roster in the hope of nailing down one of those last playoff spots.
But there’s something even more important than choosing a path to take, and that’s knowing what you have in hand already.
Should the Twins decide to become buyers at this year’s trade deadline, they’ll want to know where they can draw some assets from without tipping over their entire house of cards.
Here are some areas of the organization that might behoove other clubs to make a notable swap.
Young Pitching
The Twins have used some recent high picks in the draft to select enticing high school pitchers, and that strategy has proven to be wise, especially when it comes to two of their best prospects. Charlee Soto (No. 6 on FanGraphs’ Twins prospect rankings) has emerged as an intriguing, raw arm that draft evaluators envisioned when he was selected as a supplemental first-round pick in the 2023 draft.
Discomfort in his right triceps has limited him to just three starts this year, but those three appearances with High-A Cedar Rapids were an excellent opportunity for the 19-year-old righty to put his best stuff on display. Soto pumped his heater in the upper-90s with ease. His other offerings looked sharp and more harnessed than they had been in his first season of pro ball.
Dasan Hill (No. 7), another 19-year-old who was taken in the second round of last year’s draft, looks like he’s following in Soto’s footsteps.
While still raw, Hill has been an absolute monster for Low-A Fort Myers. In 13 starts, he owns a fantastic 2.83 ERA with a whopping 34.1% strikeout rate. He’s still trying to rein in his walks (an unsightly 14.2%), but there’s no doubt about the electricity that comes from Hill’s potential.
With a few exciting prep players entering the fold after the draft this week, maybe the Twins could feel more inclined to trade from this grouping of players. Teams might view these two arms as secondary pieces in a blockbuster, or even centerpieces in a slightly lower-caliber deal with teams that are stripping everything down.
Near-MLB Ready Blue Chippers
I admit trading from this class of prospect would be highly unexpected at this time. Not only is it a tricky case to make that a club with a losing record heading into the All-Star break should make waves with a blockbuster deal, but it’s a caliber of move that we haven’t really seen this front office make.
Luke Keaschall is recovering from a fractured forearm for the next few weeks, but his five-game debut sample at the MLB level in April was about as fun as any Twins fan could’ve imagined. Surely the club is anticipating him being a spark plug on their own club in the second half, but what if another team has their eyes set on him?
Say this version of the Twins continues their recent hot streak and goes something like 8-4 or 9-3 over their next 12 games leading up to the trade deadline. Do they listen to offers on their exciting rookie if it means making the loudest boom of the hot stove season?
The same argument could be made for someone like Emmanuel Rodriguez (No. 2) and Connor Prielipp (No. 4). Both probably need to show at least a little more in the upper minor leagues before being seen as an impact major leaguer. Still, the argument can be made that they’re both close, and they both possess star-level ceilings when healthy.
Like I said, it’ll take a very strong push to propel the Twins into considering this type of deal, and we haven’t really seen this type of monster trade happen with the Twins since, well, ever? Maybe in the Wilson Ramos for Matt Capps deal in 2010, but that was 15 years and four Jurassic World movies ago.
Then again, the argument could be made that the Twins haven’t been buyers with so much riding on one more run to the postseason. New ownership is looming on the horizon, and with it comes a great deal of uncertainty regarding what that means for the current front office. This might be their last chance to take a home-run-sized swing at something.
Of course, a lot would have to happen for the Twins to make a trade involving any of these aforementioned players. I don’t think that happens in the end. But then again, stranger things have happened, and knowing this club, stranger things are bound to happen at some point.