The Twins have indicated to opposing teams they’re not keen on trading players under team control beyond this season, reports Buster Olney of ESPN (Twitter link). That’s not to say Minnesota’s cutting off talks on longer-term assets entirely, but it casts increasing doubt about the likelihood of stars like Byron Buxton and José Berríos — both of whom are controllable next season via arbitration — changing uniforms within the next couple weeks.
That’s a defensible and generally unsurprising position for the Twins front office to take. While the 2021 season has been a disaster for Minnesota, there’s little reason to think the club needs to embark on any sort of rebuild. The Twins won the AL Central in each of the last two years, and much of the core of those teams is controllable for 2022. At 39-52, the Twins are almost certainly not playoff-bound this season, but there’s enough talent on the roster to reasonably expect a bounceback next year.
The Mets and Cardinals are among the teams to have reached out to gauge Berríos’ availability. Both clubs have come away from those talks feeling the asking price to be extremely high, a reflection of Minnesota’s comfort hanging onto Berríos with an eye towards 2022.
Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported this week that the Twins had also recently opened extension talks with Buxton. Rosenthal suggested a Buxton trade could be a possibility if the two sides don’t agree on a long-term contract, but the upcoming offseason might be a more opportune time to market him to other clubs. That’d give the front office more than a couple weeks to field offers on the Gold Glover, and there’s still no clear timetable for Buxton’s return from a late June hand fracture. (If the Twins were to make Buxton available before July 30, the Phillies would be among the teams with interest, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network).
Berríos and Buxton are far from the only prominent controllable players on the Twins roster. Third baseman Josh Donaldson still has a pair of guaranteed seasons beyond the year (and a 2024 club option) on his free agent deal. The Mets were loosely linked to Donaldson last month, but it doesn’t seem those talks gained much traction.
Minnesota has a trio of productive, controllable relievers (Taylor Rogers, Tyler Duffey, Caleb Thielbar) who would draw attention from contenders, even though both Rogers and Thielbar have struggled this month. Given the year-to-year volatility of bullpen arms, there’s a case to be made the Twins should look to trade one or more of that group, but the front office certainly doesn’t have to do so. There’s never been much expectation of a deal involving Kenta Maeda, Max Kepler or Jorge Polanco, each of whom is under control through at least 2023 on extremely affordable contracts.
Even if the Twins wind up trading only impending free agents, they should still be active over the next two weeks. Michael Pineda’s strike-throwing acumen will make him a target for contenders in need of starting pitching, even as his swinging strike rate has taken a step backwards this season. The market for Nelson Cruz will probably be limited to American League clubs, but he remains an impact bat to plug into the middle of a lineup. Andrelton Simmons isn’t hitting much, but he’s still one of the game’s best defensive shortstops. Hansel Robles is an affordable middle relief target, and someone could take a flyer on Alex Colomé as a change of scenery candidate.
Minnesota’s disinclination to trade controllable players doesn’t entirely foreclose the chance of such a deal coming together. It remains possible another club meets the lofty ask for Berríos, and the front office probably wouldn’t be so absolute as to make a player like Buxton completely untouchable. But their broad reluctance to move long-term foundational pieces of the roster reinforces that the organization sees 2021 more as an aberration than as a suggestion their window of contention with that group is closing.
The Twins have ample financial flexibility moving forward, with just $49.3MM in guaranteed contracts on the books for 2022, in the estimation of Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Minnesota looks likely to invest in the pitching staff this offseason and hope to get healthy, productive seasons from their still-strong position player group to contend next year in what might again be a relatively weak division.
shocker. you don’t trade big non-rentals if you are going for it the following year
But it sure would be nice to see Buxton in a Phillies uniform.
i dunno. he can’t stay healthy. talent’s something to dream on still.
The Phillies don’t have the prospects to land Buxton anyway. They would have to trade off the 25 man roster + prospects
Do they even have a top 50 player
depending on one’s list Stott and Abel might be fringe 50’s right now, granted, that may be a tad generous.
Keep on dreaming,buddy
Would sure be nice to see Buxton on the Phillies’ DL after they give him a big contract:)
Excellent (Mr. Burns style)
Hopefully over the next couple weeks there will be more articles on actual trades instead of teams saying they don’t want or need to trade. Can 2 people not get on the phone and work something out???? I don’t get it.
I think this a weird year where a lot of the teams that would typically sell are trying to compete next year (NYY, KC, MIN, MIA, CHC, CLE, etc). This leaves only a few true sellers and there’s not a lot of covetable assets between them (DET, BAL, PIT, COL). My prediction is Story and Frazier are the only big names to be traded.
And pirates will look to trade Reynolds if a club has a 35 year old pitcher that hasn’t been effective in 3 seasons
shhh, some Pirates fans on this site are suddenly very sensitive
Almost like we’re tired of hearing people clown on the Pirates for bad trades even though the new GM hasn’t made a truly bad one yet in nearly 2 years.
DBacks, Rangers, Cubs (and Marlins/KC/Twins to more limited degree) will also sell. Bryant and Kimbrel are pretty significant big names that are more likely than not to get moved to a contender unless hurt.
But hopefully the Cubs are finished supplying you guys with players as in the awful Quintana trade.
And most teams are reluctant to spend much money, which could be another thing holding back the trade market. I do expect the volume to pick up as we near the deadline, however. It could be a wild ride up to the final minute..
Posturing by clubs. The actual trade deadline serves as the forcing function, so right now clubs are talking, texting and posturing, but most deals won’t happen until a couple days prior and up to the deadline. Standard.
Duhhhhh
Simmons might be of use to the Mets with Lindor out. Probably a reasonable cost.
Yes, but he still can’t make a jump shot from more than 15 feet away.
lmao, was thinking to say something along those lines.
For the Mets to trade for a shortstop would be a wasted effort with Guillorme, Peraza and Villar already on the 40 man roster. They need starting pitching, likely even two, that’s healthy, experienced and able to consistently throw strikes.
Makes sense as the Twins should plan to contend next season, although pretty much all players are available if the return makes sense. Cruz, Pineda, Simmons and some of the bullpen arms make sense to move now. The Mets might have an interest in Simmons with the unfortunate news on Lindor, who could be out into September.
Buxton, Berrios, Rogers aren’t going anywhere. Mark my words.
Reading between the lines, and the comments he’s been making, Berrios is gone. He won’t be resigning with the Twins unless they go full market value, which won’t be happening. When you hear, ‘I’ve been waiting six years to get to this point.. ‘(regarding his freedom/ability to maximize his earnings) his mind is set.
It’s not really surprising. He has always wanted to bet on himself. He wanted to go to an arbitration hearing to try and set a record for pay. Didn’t happen but he tried.
The Twins are in a tough spot. Players underperforming but have upside. The problem is that the White Sox aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Cleveland seems to keep finding a way. I would seriously think about a rebuild. The Twins don’t have the money for expensive FA’s
The owner has money, he just doesn’t spend it on more than one or two guys at a time. Donaldson’s contract might hold them back for a year or two. Not saying he’s not producing (when healthy), but adding expensive players via free agency would be surprising. I think they resign either Buxton or Berrios, but not both.
You must not research then. The Twins have just over 40 million of contracts for next year. They will have PLENTY of money and they shell out contracts since the new stadium opened in 2010 unlike other years…
The Twins have the money. Rebuilding wouldn’t be smart for them as they still have a decent offense. Plus rebuilding typically takes around five years which means Larnach and Kirilloff’s time with the Twins would be completely wasted.
They have 3-4 near ready starting pitchers and I thought I heard the pitching is on the deeper end this offseason but I haven’t looked that up to confirm. Yes, they have pitching holes they desperately need to fix but at least one of the prospects should work out and then they would just need to sign one…and hopefully extend Berrios.
They got nuthin’. They’ve been rotating the AAA guys through the rotation all year. The tall kid has possibilities, but there is no dominating, ‘wait til he gets to the majors’ guy on the roster. They have a bunch of 3-5’s.
All of their top pitching prospects got hurt this year or were hurt before the season started. For some, that’s no longer the case. Balazovic is back and dominating AA. Winder was promoted to AAA recently and has been their best SP by far in the minors so far, in my opinion though if Balazovic keeps this up he will pass Winder. Vallimont is doing well in AA. There’s three right there, not nothing…
Duran and Canterino are injured so it will be longer for them but they aren’t going to rush anyone, losing season or not. I don’t care if Happ is run out their every fifth day to eat innings. The 2021 team isn’t winning and he’s probably not tradable. They will get a guy or two up sometime to get their feet wet. Ober should be locked into the five spot next year, in my opinion
And I guess I don’t see what the problem with number 3 pitchers is? Most teams would take a rotation full of number threes and they’d win too. It is certainly better than a rotation with one ace and four number fives.
Twins match up really well for what the Mets could use right now – SS, 3B (and CF and P if the Twins were willing).
And if the Twins are willing to take nothing back in return they could supply the Mets with those players.
Not happening. Look elsewhere.
Cruz is obviously the big bat available with the caveat that he is limited to AL teams which drastically shrinks his market and likelihood of being traded. Colome and Robles will probably be traded as teams always need bullpen help. I don’t see much of a market for Simmons unless the Reds decide they don’t want Kyle Farmer playing SS in a playoff race
Trade Buxton for a number 1 mlb ready lefty pitcher, and starting third baseman
Trade Berrios for Two #1 or #1 and #2 mlb ready pitchers
Trade Sano he just plane sucks
Donaldson to DH?
Good luck with that. LOL
I’ll have what he’s taking…
LOL, you cannot do the SAME thing and expect different results. This team needs to think about rebuilding and getting pitchers, not occasional home run hitters. The Juiced ball era is over and so is the sticky stuff, and I love it because it will change the game.
The Twins are nuts. They need to cut bait on anyone possible.
They have talent on the MLB roster and a strong farm system. That’s not a team that needs to blow up the roster and rebuild. Trading rentals and keeping the team intact is the smart approach.
Buxton NEEDS to go. Playing in just 39% of the games he has been eligible to play in, serves NO benefit for this team. Just keep investing in what you feel he should be, instead of doing what successful clubs do, which is turn that player into several valuable pieces to the puzzle. I like Berrios, but again if we can get an unbelievable haul for him, we should take it! If you trust in your scouting team, you could get back several Berrios type players… again, good clubs do this all the time! This is why the Twins will win a weak Central Division and NEVER get past the first round of the playoffs! I guess we fans need to be happy with paying for mediocrity.
!
The title clearly states that the Twins won’t be moving controllable players, yet the article talks about controllable pieces like the relievers and the Bringer of Rain.