Last week, ESPN’s Jeff Passan went team by team, previewing the upcoming trade deadline. When it came to the Minnesota Twins, he floated an idea that is broadly accepted as reality but hasn’t been confirmed by anyone in the organization. However, it was a safe assumption that upset many fans hoping for their team to meaningfully upgrade at the deadline.
“Money issues continue to hinder any shot at a big move, and it’s why the Twins are an add-and-subtract team and not simply an added team like they ought to be,” Passan speculated. “If the opportunity to acquire a higher-salary player presents itself, they would need to offload salary from their major league roster in that deal or another to cancel out the expense.”
That implication feels like some fairly significant doors slamming on the Twins at a crucial point in their contention window.
Sure, it’s doubtful that the club would take on some massive, multi-year contract to make a splash as they push toward the postseason. However, I think those limitations have more to do with the likely trade candidates currently in play than the financials involved.
People would like to bring up the Zack Greinke trade in 2019, which was announced minutes before the deadline that year. The Arizona Diamondbacks sent a bonafide ace with two more years of club control to the Houston Astros. They say this is the type of deal the Twins need to make while their window of contention is still wide open.
But what if there is no Greinke on this year’s market?
If the Twins don’t make a move of this caliber – that being a high-end, All-Star quality player in a high-risk, blockbuster deal – it will likely come off as the team being too cheap to push something across the finish line. However, the reality is that many factors could lead to them making or turning down a swap of this significance.
The team’s self-imposed financial limitations tie directly to their diminished revenue from their one-year stopgap TV deal with Diamond Sports Group, which operates Bally Sports. With a significant decrease in incoming money from that deal, the Twins made the unpopular decision to cut their on-field payroll. Instead, they focus on opportunities for their young core, including multiple top prospects.
Fans can justifiably criticize that path. However, to understand this situation, we must separate the financials from how Minnesota approaches the trade deadline.
Minnesota made an effort to decrease payroll heading into this year. But with the team’s solid play that has placed them firmly in the contender category, paired with an on-paper surplus in prospect capital, the team would be foolish to strike down any deal that made them better in the short term simply due to the finances.
And with the news of a potential payday coming soon as part of a change in the collective bargaining agreement between the players’ union and Major League Baseball, the club could have up to $15 million coming in that they hadn’t originally planned on.
That figure alone could cover the cost of pretty much any realistic trade upgrade, from someone like Jack Flaherty (owed around $4 million for the rest of this season) to future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer (~$7 million). Those deals still could be unlikely for the Twins. Still, I have difficulty believing it’s because of the short-term financial ramifications.
This long-winded explanation of Minnesota’s current reality isn’t meant to suggest Passan is lying or that what he’s heard from his sources isn’t true. But I will take it with a grain of salt when it seems like he’s describing the team’s limitations leading into the season to color a picture of their deadline approach despite new factors developing beyond that narrative.
So the Twins may stand pat come July 30 or make a trade along the margins of the team. And when that happens, a vocal group of annoyed fans will surely take issue with what they say is a greedy ownership group that blocked the likes of a Zack Greinke from leading Minnesota’s rotation through the home stretch of the season. However, they should remember that the decision could revolve around other factors (e.g., a lack of options in the market or a fit in the club) rather than simple dollars and cents.
The Twins have no incentive to slam any doors shut in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline, even if they don’t go through any of them by July 30.
