The 2023 trade deadline has come and gone, and the Minnesota Twins front office wasn’t as aggressive as they were last year. But there was still the feeling that they could make a couple of complementary moves to supplement a team sitting one game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians for first place at the beginning of August.
Instead, the trade deadline window closed, and the Twins didn’t make any trades. Outside of the Dylan Floro for Jorge López swap last week, Minnesota’s roster remained mostly unchanged. Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey attributes the inactivity to a “quieter deadline,” with several selling teams becoming buyers in the final moments leading up to August 1.
Guys like Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, and Josh Hader all stayed with their current teams and could have been big splashes for Minnesota. Realistically though, most fans weren’t expecting the Twins to pull off a seismic trade. Instead, they could have added a couple of rentals to fortify the mid-leverage part of the bullpen and/or a right-handed hitter to aid the team’s league-worst .657 OPS against left-handed pitching.
When that didn’t materialize, most Twins fans on social media were wondering why the team stood pat at the deadline. While there is no single factor for the inactivity, it’s looking increasingly more like the Twins backed themselves into a corner with their roster construction for the 2023 team and couldn’t get out of it.
One question that has trailed the 2023 Twins has been their glut of left-handed hitting corner outfielders. Max Kepler was rumored to be on the trade block last winter before ultimately staying with the team. Young players like Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff, and Matt Wallner have been up and down this season. Offseason addition Joey Gallo came in as a bounce-back candidate after a disastrous 2022.
All of them haven’t been great, but they haven’t played poorly enough for the front office to outright release them. There was reported interest in Minnesota’s left-handed hitters, and it could have helped the take from their strength to fill up a weakness. It makes sense why the Twins would be hesitant to ship out a major league-caliber player. The trade deadline doesn’t bring in nearly as much trade value for most teams compared to the winter.
At the same time, getting value from some of the extra outfielders could have alleviated this problem and given them more prospects or players with different skill sets to help the team. By not wanting to trade from their depth or cut bait on a veteran too early, adding a right-handed masher would have meant bumping one of those guys off the roster. They don’t seem willing to do that.
Speaking of log jams on the roster. The Twins made a point to add more veteran depth in the offseason. Last year’s injury issues pressed young players who weren’t ready into action, and Minnesota fell apart at the end of the season. On paper, adding Michael A. Taylor, Kyle Farmer, and Donovan Solano are good depth signings. They have been decent signings, generating around league-average production for the Twins. Again though, that league-worst OPS against lefties doesn’t help their case.
The issue is that adding an additional right-handed hitter would mean one of those veterans would need to be cut if the Twins were unwilling to part with their left-handed hitters. Whether value- or reputation-related, Minnesota likely didn’t want to just bail on one of their veteran hitters.
In reality, though, Minnesota’s struggles at the plate are rooted in the woes of their two stars, Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa. The duo is hitting .731 and .702 OPS, respectively, with a combined 203 strikeouts. They have each had their moments, but the numbers don’t scream superstar performance. In fairness to the Twins, one extra bat wasn’t going to drastically shift their issues entirely. However, every team is in demand of adding good players in a playoff run.
Speaking of Buxton, he has been Minnesota’s full-time designated hitter in 2023. Aside from the downside of not having a Gold Glove-caliber center fielder relegated to exclusively hitting, it has been successful in putting him on pace for career-high levels in games played. But even though he’s been more available this season, he still has a 0.7 WAR in 85 games. The Twins need to get more production from the DH spot. Adding another slugger would have been nice, but the team is constrained with Buxton in that position.
Last year’s trade deadline didn’t help matters either. Fans have certainly let Minnesota’s front office have it over the last year with the players the team traded away, like 2023 All-Stars Luis Arraez, Yennier Canó, or Cincinnati Reds rookie Spencer Steer. There still are some good high-end prospects in the Twins system, but their overall farm system depth took a hit after they traded for Tyler Mahle and Jorge López last year.
Floro was a nice addition to the bullpen, but just adding him doesn’t drastically change the bullpen’s dynamics. Like many organizations, the Twins don’t like to spend big on the bullpen, especially after the Mahle and López trade took a dramatic turn for the worse. So you can see why the team would be hesitant to drain extra prospect capital to bolster the bullpen. Outside of Jhoan Durán, though, the Twins are in need of another highly trusted bullpen arm. At the very least, they need someone who can push their fringe guys into mid- or low-leverage situations. Adding only one more arm could have been a big boost for Minnesota’s bullpen.
The Twins shouldn’t have emptied the farm system at this season’s trade deadline, but it is an interesting juxtaposition compared to a year ago. The 2022 Twins didn’t have the guarantee of Carlos Correa because he could opt out of his original contract. But the team was already running on fumes by late July with injuries and had little production from the starting rotation. Last season, they rightly pushed their chips in the middle. But with a better pitching staff and much better health this year, the front office is deciding to roll with the team that has a worse record than they had at this point last season.
All the Twins needed to do was have a quiet but practical trade deadline. Instead, they are going to finish the season with the same team that’s been unable to distance themselves from a weak AL Central for the rest of the season. They built a flawed, inflexible roster and need more from it to make an impact in the playoffs.
