Over the past few weeks, the Twins have reportedly pursued trades for several high-profile starters, including right-handers Marcus Stroman and Noah Syndergaard. Stroman, whom the Mets acquired from the Blue Jays on Sunday, is no longer an option for the Twins. Syndergaard, now one of Stroman’s teammates, could still move by Wednesday’s deadline. It doesn’t appear he’s going to end up in Minnesota, though. The Twins have balked at the Mets’ asking price for Syndergaard after turning down the Blue Jays’ requests for Stroman, La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune reports.
Toronto ultimately gave up Stroman for prospects Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson, two pitchers who do not rank among the game’s top 100 farmhands. On the other hand, the Blue Jays informed the Twins any Stroman trade “had to include” one of shortstop Royce Lewis or outfielder Alex Kirilloff, Neal writes. Lewis and Kirilloff are comfortably within baseball’s top 100 range, and they’re among a select few prospects the Twins may be wholly uninterested in trading for just about anyone.
The Mets, meanwhile, sought a return including center fielder Byron Buxton in their Syndergaard-related discussions with the Twins, according to Neal. Unsurprisingly, giving up Buxton was out of the question for the Twins, who have seen the 25-year-old blossom into a highly valuable member of their AL Central-leading roster. Buxton, moreover, is making just $1.75MM this season and under control via arbitration for the next three years.
Having struck out on Stroman and Syndergaard, the Twins are prepared to move on to relief pursuits, per Neal, who writes they “seem comfortable” with the starters they have. Statistically, their rotation – which consists of Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, Kyle Gibson, Michael Pineda and Martin Perez – has held its own this season.
Minnesota’s bullpen hasn’t been as successful as the team’s starters, and there has been no shortage of recent turnover in its relief corps with the deadline approaching. The Twins parted with Mike Morin, Matt Magill, Adalberto Mejia and Blake Parker after each racked up a solid number of innings for the club earlier in the season. Hoping to upgrade, the Twins acquired the established Sergio Romo from the Marlins on Saturday. It doesn’t appear chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and general manager are going to stop there. They’ve talked to every MLB team with relievers to trade – including the previously reported Padres (Kirby Yates) and Blue Jays (Ken Giles and Daniel Hudson) – and Neal suggests those discussions are likely to continue.
What are the Mets on?? The twins are not giving up Buxton in anyone’s dreams……..
Agreed. And they are not giving up Lewis Or Kirilloff unless they get Max Scherzer!
( I know that won’t happen, even though that would be better than getting Jack Morris)
They cant afford Scherzer. Well good luck to minny looks like 1st round knockout yet again with that staff.
Twins starting pithing has been pretty good actually.
The offense is winning these games, not the starters. I mean its just a fact. I actually wish they had 1 more lockdown starter. In the playoffs, its essential. Odorizzi and Gibson are fine in season arms but postseason could be a different story. Look at the Dodgers, kershaw, buehler, ryu – that’s what you need!
Twins have the richest owner in all of baseball. They can totally afford Schezer. Plus they don’t have much for long term contract commitments.
Gibson has been nibbling and barely escaping 5 inning outings ALL SEASON; guy makes me nervous.
jb10000lakes: I’ve been saying the same thing for YEARS about Gibson’s nibbling ways…hence my name for him “Meow Mix”…..he’s a mental midget with absolutely zero mental toughness. Hopefully he can contribute down the stretch but Falvey/Pohlad need to nudge him out the door so some other team can overpay for his mediocrity over the next several years/
You are right in the fact the offense is winning the games. Although it’s not the the starters blowing the games it’s the bullpen.
The facts don’t support your comment. The Twins starters have the third best ERA in the AL, ahead of the Indians. Odorizzi and Perez have taken a turn for the worse after great starts but Pineda and Gibson have improved. In the playoffs, one of the starters will move to the bullpen. My guess is the Twins will be the 3rd seed in the playoffs and get Houston, who they handled pretty well this year. They have a good chance of making it to the ALCS but I don’t see them beating the Yankees unless their bullpen improved dramatically. The Twins have no shot against the Dodgers, who look likely to win the NL pennant.
Jim Pohlad is NOT the richest owner in baseball. The richest owner in baseball is Charles Johnson the owner of the SF Giants.
Why do you think he’s the richest owner in baseball???
Haha I was thinking the exact same thing… like c’mon asking for Buxton for anyone is an absurd proposal.
Aside age why should Twins keep him? Career OBP 2.91. Gotta sell high while u can
Yeah, everyone knows that 25 tends to by the high watermark for a players career. Smart teams dump all their players before then to get the best value.
@Eightball611 … To put butts in the seats. He’s a “Price of admission” player. You’d actually pay just to go see him play defense. Also, this year, he holds a higher win % when in the line-up than any player in baseball.
Anybody that would pay to see someone play defense needs their head examined.
I’d pay to watch Billy Hamilton play D in CF.
And you never know when a great defensive play will happen, unlike watching a particular AB.
Anyone who doesn’t appreciate watching great defense doesn’t understand baseball.
You obviously have never watched Byron Buxton play cf.
You have never watched Javy Baez? Andruw Jones? Willie Mays? Roberto Clemente? Johnny Bench? Ozzie Smith? ESPN Web Gems? Its a beautiful part of the game .
thank you
You’re the guy who goes to the bathroom or out to get a beer when your team is not batting. Papa came to see dingers, only dingers!
I dont get the appeal of someone with a 313 obp lacks any power. Sure he can play D but damn it’s like having a automatic out in the lineup. to me for Thor he is gone in a heartbeat.
If you’re referencing THIS year regarding Buxton, its obvious you have no clue of what you’re talking about. Buxton’s slugging % is .502, which is higher than Cron, Schoop, Gonzalez and Castro. Buxton has 43 RBI in only 79 games pla, which includes 41 XBH–28 of those being doubles.
Why on earth do you “have to sell high”? That makes zero sense. The Mets are on drugs, they probably hold onto Thor. I wonder who they want from the Astros….Springer??? Correa?..
Twins are 55-24 with Buxton in the lineup and 9-17 without. Those numbers are not a coincidence. He’s incredible in the field and great on the bases. He also is an extra base hit machine.
Buxton is an incandescent baseball player defensively. He’s hugely popular and can do things in the field and on the bases that very few people in the history of baseball can do. If he can stop getting injured, he could turn into a dynamic offensive threat too.
The Mets are being smart. They don’t need to trade anyone else in the starting rotation. Wheeler could get a QO.
That QO pick will be a late 1st rounder in the 30’s. I have to think they could get much more than that, talent-wise, if they dealt him. Holding on and letting him walk would be a mistake.
Yeah but that’s going to be like $20 m for he season. Too much for him and the way free agency is going lately he would prob take it knowing if he turns it down he risks not signing until June.
The mets are not in a position to help the twinkies they dont have to sell Noah they can just keep him and sell him in the winter and get more teams involved this is why the high asking price. For the twins no premier free agent is dying to go pitch there so good luck will have to overpay at some point
I would think a premier free agent wouldn’t mind pitching with Twins defense and run support. But go ahead, Mets, and watch all your pitchers lose value as they operate with that suspect defense behind them.
Buxton has been overhyped and his canvas of work has been disappointing thus far. I doubt he alone would get Thor, who ‘has’ performed with the exception of this year, although many pitchers have been relatively impacted by the juiced ball.
He’s been frustrating that’s for sure, but when healthy he’s always an all star level player thanks to his defense. Him being a league average hitter will always put him the all star conversation thanks to his defense.
You’re crazy. Why do you think the Mets want him if he’s overhyped as you say. Defense wins.
and it will come out later that these rumors spread by LENIII were likely just rumors, the asking price wasn’t that high.. that has been the pattern… overblown stories on it to make the Front office look good.. so in the meantime why not trade for Grienke..
Because Greinke has had the Twins on his no trade list for as long as he’s had a no trade clause in his contract. Greinke doesn’t want to play in Minnesota, for whatever reason. He’s a California surfer dude.
How could Toronto make such unreasonable demands of the twins, yet didn’t even get NYMs top prospects, getting 4 and 6 who aren’t even close to top 100.
Kinda ridiculous.
Perhaps the initial asking price from the Mets was equally say a third piece but in the end the Jays found the Mets’ offer better than the Twins. Could be as simple as that.
*equally high
@Dewey
There is absolutely no body in the Mets minor league system to make it “equally as high”
That we absolutely do know!
We don’t know how serious initial demands were. That’s why everyone keeps assuming Toronto got ripped off. At the end of the day they got two pitching prospects for a starting pitcher with just a year and a half of control. I think they got decent value for Stroman all things considered.
The Twins are in a tough spot for rotation upgrades. If it isn’t Thor or Stroman it’s probably not an upgrade. They don’t need another #4 starter; they have plenty of those. Maybe Robbie Ray makes a little bit of sense. You may be able to get creative with him in October. I see him as more of a multi-inning weapon then a traditional starter.
Thor and Stroman are not much better then Perez……
This is a joke, right? Perez is serviceable but you can’t even put him in the same conversation as the other two.
Lmao. Come on man mets defense suck and the hitting is pretty hideous if Noah had minnys offense guaranteed he had 12 wins or more by now
If the defense is so bad then it would offset his ERA with unearned runs, yet his ERA is still over 4.3. He’s definitely not the same pitcher as a few years ago.
He’s throwing just as hard as previous years. Issues are; poor defense, bad pitch calls (Ramos), and a juiced ball where fly balls are homers. Citi Field, a tough HR stadium has become a sandbox.
@schwing
If the Mets defense just isn’t good enough to get to the balls and make plays it would not be an error. Alonso (a great power hitter) has limited range. Cano is not near as good defensively as he once was. Rosario is having a bad year defensively. I dont know much about McNeil when they play him at 3rd, but Frazier is their other option.
So yes their infield defense is BAD! This has affected Thor and will likely affect Stroman negatively too.
Wby doesnt that same defense affect Degrom if that is truly the case?
For all intensive purposes…it does not…so i dont understand why ppl keep acting as if Syndegaard and Degrom (he produces a decent groundout rate as well)play with two different defenses. They do not.
What???
Well Said !!
I cant quite believe that. Sure they have asked for lewis but after the offer the jays took would they have really said no to graterol plus larnach? I would assume that graterol also was off the table.
And of course lewis was not on the table he is an easy top 10 overall prospect, those guys only get moved for sale type of pitchers.
Twins already have an ace that can go against other elite pitchers in a potential 1 game playoff. It’s already gonna be a roll of the dice if they’re 2-3-4 can compete with a team like the Astros or Dodgers. Right now they desperately need a significant bullpen upgrade if they want to try and go deep into the playoffs. With all those hr’s comebacks are always possible, but not if they bullpen cant keep it close and finish the game.
Like I said on another thread, the Mets cut off their own nose to spite their face. Now everyone that was watching the return on Stroman is going to lowball them into oblivion with overpriced washed up arms that they can’t get a bucket of used balls for. Syndergaard is very overhyped and once he gets out of the cavern in Queens it will be way too obvious. A guy with a 4+ era in that environment wouldn’t last 2 innings anywhere in the AL East. Have fun you smug Mets when you have a roster of blowed up, overpriced, has beens eating up your salary!
Half a season of numbers while pitching in front of one of the worst defenses in baseball, doesn’t undo a track record of extremely good pitching.
The team doesn’t have to trade Thor if the offer isn’t there. Wheeler who will be a free agent is another story.
Mets don’t HAVE to trade Thor, but it might be a good start to help repair one of the worst defenses in baseball.
You just sound bitter.
If the Twins want Thor then offer up one of Lewis or Krillof, just add another 2 C prospects. Twins window is opening and dealing 1 albeit elite prospect isn’t going to destroy their farm system, they then get another TOR arm for 2.5 years, surely that’s worth it…. Right?
I’d tend to agree. The Twins look like a team that’s literally a piece or two away from being a legit contender and while trading Lewis or Krillof would be a tough pill to swallow – if it lands them a legit Frontline SP I think they have to go for it. Though you could also make the case that they’re built for the long run and therefor don’t need to go all in this year because they’ll be just as good if not better next year (outside of Nelson Cruz the rest of their core should be back next season – he may be too but with a 37 year old DH you never know what could happen) Still having said all that — I think that they are good enough that if they are able to land another front of the rotation arm and possibly a RP they could make a legit push in the playoffs.
Cruz is 39….
And has an option for next year
And is having yet another great year. He has been awesome!
I’m pretty sure that is what they did offer the Mets. The Mets want Buxton plus Lewis or Kirilloff.
Nasty righty flamethrower please, Giles (if healthy), Diaz…the MN system is pretty deep, can cash in a little prospect capital. And I wonder what it might take to pry 5th starter E Rod from Boston. Guessing less than for Robbie Ray. Could see him as the multi inning lefty strikeout guy, if he could just keep the walks and dingers down.
Why in the world would a contending team like the Red Sox trade a starter?
To jumpstart the underachievers. Think Boston has a 5th starter replacement somewhere on their roster. They could use a E Nunez type utility replacement. Perhaps Adrianza and a good prospect? Dreaming I guess – Twins have needed a nasty lefty starter for years, they fell in love too much with the Brad Radke righty 91 mph strike throwing pitch-to-contact types. And their lefties were the Tommy Milone/Scott Diamonds of the world. They finally seem to be moving away from that a bit. Always liked E Rod. A 5 in Boston, prbly a 3 in MN.
Mets can ask for the moon at this point. They cornered the market on MLB top notch pitching that is actually potentially available. Aside from Robbie Ray, who else is legit and out there?
If certain teams decide to become sellers, there’s lots of great arms to be had. What the mets did is risky. You could convince a contender to overbid on one of their guys or you could price yourself out completely. By grabbing Stroman, teams aren’t scrambling to counter that move, they are perfectly fine with it. Doesn’t help or hurt them in the playoffs. Contending teams did not become contenders by making poor roster moves. The days of the big dogs just unloading young talent, haphazardly, is over! Keep, develop and extend, that is the trend that will continue going forward. I bet you anything the Mets will still have Wheeler and Syndergaard after the deadline.
If the Twins truly want to hold onto Lewis & Kirriloff, I think an offer of Brusdal Graterol, Jordan Balazovic & Trevor Larnach should be enough to get Syndergaard from the Mets. Seems like a good deal for both sides.
Cept the Mets asked for Buxton! Twins can’t make that deal. Buxton is essential to the success of their contending team. The Twins couldn’t possibly entertain that idea. Let the mets be the struggling mets and deal with a different team.
lol the Mets asked for Buxton. They clearly have no desire to move Syndegaard.
Twins fans have gone off the deep end. Thor is a legit #1-2 pitcher, and Buxton can’t hit or stay on the field. It would take Buston plus…
If Buxton is so bad why is he at the top of their list of targets? Buxton bat is improving, he’s under control for multiple years, and the best defensive outfielder in the league. The twins would never trade him Thor even if they packaged stroman with him.
You sir are truly delusional. Good luck, because if the Twins really do have that mindset they’re not going very far.
Twins record with Buxton in the lineup is light years better than without him. He’s the team’s X Factor.
SELLING Teams don’t generally ask BUYING teams for a core piece of the team helping them currently compete. It’s not twins fans that are off the deep end. When you sell you get prospects or extra pieces that a competing team doesn’t need. To expect a core piece of the current team “plus” is absurd.
28 doubles
4 triples
9 HR
43 rbi
47 runs
Top 3 in DRS
Platinum Glove winner
Ugh gosh what a bust. Who wants that on their team? Oh right, the Mets do since they asked lol. The Mets or any other team are delusional if they think the Twins would realistically trade Buxton for anyone.
Wow MVP numbers, give the homer stuff a rest. Lifetime .236 hitter with a .291 OBP. Has only played more than 100 games in a season once.
Buxton is a big reason why they are in contention! Who else would they stick in centerfield? His defensive metrics are quite literally THE BEST AT THE POSITION. You’re the one discounting his abilities on the field, twins fan know what they have.
Thor has major upside, but he has shown troubling signs of deteriorating. I actually consider him more of a #3 than a 1 or 2. Also he’s been in the NL in a very pitcher-friendly park his whole career. I don’t really see Buxton being a reasonable ask for Thor, but can’t blame the Mets for trying.
I think the truth of the matter is that the reports are probably wrong. Buxton is a key player fro the Twins and Twins’ fans know that. The Twins winning percentage when Buxton plays is 0.693 in 2019! He’s a so-so hitter but creates pressure on the bases, can stretch out singles to doubles and plays incredible defense. The Twins are an average to below defensive team except for Kepler and Buxton. What makes no sense to me is the report that the Blue Jays wanted too much for Stroman and then settled for two middling prospects. The Twins could have easily matched that.
I don’t believe for a second that the blue jays told the twins it has to be one of the top 15 prospects in baseball (according to mlb’s ratings) and then took guys not in the top 100. This reeks of the twins FO, once again, positioning themselves to say “well we tried but the deals weren’t there”
Initially I was mad the Twins seemed to get blackballed here, but I’m guessing you’re right. Looks like no rotation upgrades this year, hopefully we can at least upgrade the bullpen. Greinke would be nice but I’m guessing that’s not going to happen.
DBacks would have to kick in some cash. He’s just too expensive! 35 mil a season! Yikes!
The mets are hurting themselves. Out of all the possible offers for thor, wheeler and diaz and what the mets covet most. They are crazy to not call the yankees and ask for a package. Florial, andujar and garcia and a low tier prospect for diaz and thor.
Mets get a 3b andcf which they need along with a talented young pitcher and yankees get pitching which they need.
Mets are delusional. They refuse to do a proper rebuild, instead they believe they can rebuild and contend at the exact same time. What they are really doing is wasting prime rebuild years on mediocre .500 ball clubs, ruining draft position, and kicking the can down the road. It’s pathetic. Yankees, White Sox, Braves, Astros, Twins….these teams did proper rebuilds and 4 of the 5 have monster teams now and the chi-sox are building a monster this very second. Mets have literally no one in their farm to be excited about.
That’s what happens when your GM is an agent.
I’d add the Padres too – they are looking pretty talented going forward.
Well Kay probably has hit his apex on prospect charts. As a Mets fan I guarantee Blue Jay fans that Woods Richardson will ascend up through the top 100 prospects. He was drafted last year and needed time to adjust. He’ll be top fifty in baseball soon.
Honestly it could go either way. You can’t guarantee anything. He’s 18 years old.
It’s funny how teams can price themselves out of negotiations and then ultimately say YES to a deal WAYYYY less then what they were asking other teams. Nice job Blue Jays, you really screwed that one up!
As far as Syndergaard…they wanted Buxton and others? Wow yeah that’s a hard pass. Twins would be crazy to give up on Byron Buxton. His defense alone is worth holding onto. If his bat continues to improve, I can see him easily develop into a 20hr 40sb guy. A rare talent. If you look at his run saving ability on defense and he’s virtually untouchable. What would that be worth? Not surprised the Mets would ask for him though. Hard HARD pass.
Its hilarious seeing Toronto’s demands for Stroman, then what they got for him
Not one contender could beat what the mets offered? Read some scouting reports on Kay and Richardson – Kay #4 rotation arm. Richardson – bullpen arm. That’s the return for stroman? Really?
Blue Jays demanded Lewis or Kirilloff. That’s great. Balazovic and a lower pitching prospect was too much of a downgrade from what the Mets offered? Meh, we’re just armchairs and the Blue Jays know how to win.
Why aren’t the Twins looking at Robbie Ray?
The Twins are consistently stingy and the Mets are insane.
No trades happening between those two teams.
Mets ask for Buxton, Twins counter with DeGrom. What if minnesota was like screw it, take Lewis, take Kiriloff, take 3 more B prospects give us both DeGrom and Syndergaard. The Minnesota Mets win the next 3 championships.
How can Toronto trade Stroman to the Mets for prospects not in the top 100, but won’t trade him to the Twins for anything but top 100 prospects. Doesn’t sound like we are getting tho whole story. All you hear from Falvey and Thad is “we tried.” What the heck is that, go out and get aggressive! If they aren’t going to make a significant trade now, they might as well be sellers, because Cleveland is on their tails and has better pitching.
Cleveland closed the gap with their soft schedule in June-July combined with a tougher Twins schedule. Won’t mention MN injuries (oops, I just did) because Indians have their share. Going forward, schedule certainly favors MN. But the head-to-heads should be a lot of fun.
So, as we’ve seen forever, the initial asking price for coveted players are over the top. The expectation is the team trying to acquire the prospect will do this “negotiation” thing. It sounds like the Twins got all the public relations weaponry they needed from the first 30 seconds of their insincere phone calls with the Mets and Blue Jays.
It’s pretty clear the Twins aren’t open to negotiating. They want to hear the initial ask, and then use politics to throw the Blue Jays and Mets under the bus and scapegoat them for Minnesota’s miserly spending habits. Lewis and Kirilloff are top 50, if not top 25 prospects, especially now that Lewis has starting ripping balls at the plate again. It was never going to take them and the Blue Jays proved it.
When it comes to some Twins fans’ comments about how glorious some of their players are… man, I don’t think any teams fans have more rose colored glasses on than Minnesota’s. Buxton plays 120 games a year in a good season because he has several chronic (as in, they’ll never go away) injuries/ailments at age 25. He’s finally turned a corner into a slightly better than average hitter and his defense is stellar… when he’s not hurting himself. Despite this, he’s still unlikely to accumulate more than 4.0 fWAR this season. Overall, Buxton has never turned in an elite season (including the broken metric at Baseball Reference suggesting he actually had a 5WAR season). There’s this tantalizing ceiling with him he never truly reaches for several reasons.
Comparing Martin Perez favorably to Syndergaard and Storman. Let’s leave it there.
I guess it comes natural when your team isn’t known for keeping players more than 3 or maybe 4 years. Attachments have to form quickly.
“isn’t known for keeping players more than 3 or 4 years”?
MLB players don’t even qualify for arbitration until after three years of service. Twins tend to hang on to their players for all three years of arbitration.
I can get behind much of what you have written otherwise. Twins’ ownership has always been cheap. Current owner doesn’t even much like baseball. He only really likes that it makes him money.
Mets and Yankees should get past their reluctance to trade. This is a great scenario for both sides!
Well expecting to get Noah Syndergard for mediocrity is also absurd
I can see the Twins offering a trade for Syndergaard that included Gordon, Rooker, Davis and two pitching prospects. That would be a fair trade, assuming Noah still has anything left.
Typical Twins fan. Hey, here are some older prospects with limited ceilings that few people know much about who are having career years and a once elite prospect who isn’t on anybody’s top list anymore.
If Syndergaard was on the Twins and the Twins were in the Mets’ position, you’d be demanding Mike Trout after the Angel’s picked up the entire contract along with the best 5 prospects in baseball…
“Mediocrity” describes the Mets farm pretty well. Any of the Twins top 20 would be a noticeable talent boost to it. Thor’s numbers and velocity are regressing. Blame it on defense? How’s DeGrom doing? Still blame defense? Then fix the defense. Not by asking for a top 10 prospect and a platinum glove winner. By being reasonable. It is not on MN to compensate Mets for last year’s move.
Brodie drives a hard bargain