With the trade deadline set for Thursday at 5 p.m. CDT, the Twins find themselves in a sort of no-man’s land, under .500 but still with a slim chance to make the playoffs with a wild card berth.
Team president Derek Falvey has taken his share of calls, but they’re more about assessing a potential partner’s situation than actually tossing names around. And that situation can change game to game.
There have been a few deals made, but generally, Falvey said, “There’s a lot more made of how much happens in the week prior to the deadline than what actually happens.”
One of the reasons things are so squishy is that there are a lot of teams in the same situation as the Twins, who were four games under .500 but five games out of an American League wild card spot before Sunday’s series finale against Washington at Target Field.
At the start of Sunday’s games, there were eight American League teams with either a wild card spot or within five games of one. In the NL, with the Cubs and Brewers tied atop the Central, there were nine, and the largest division lead belonged to the Phillies at 4½ games up in the East.
So, with a little more than two months left in the regular season, postseason limbo is crowded, and for the Twins, there is no “buy” or “sell” in the window.
“You always want to enter this part of the season thinking about ways you can add to the club,” Falvey said. “Entering the break, it felt like we were gaining a little bit of momentum. The last couple series haven’t gone as well as we would have hoped.”
Heading into Sunday’s game, the Twins were 3-5 since returning from the all-star break, with three losses against the two worst teams in baseball — Colorado and Washington — and had five teams to jump for the third AL wild card spot.
“Now the job is just to evaluate what comes our way and navigate in any direction possible,” Falvey said.
Of the six Twins veterans playing on expiring contracts, reliever Danny Coulombe, first baseman Ty France and utility man Willi Castro stand out as players who could help a team down the stretch and in the postseason.
France has 14 doubles, six home runs and is second on the Twins with 44 RBIs. Coulombe, a lefty, has been lights out, 1-0 with a 0.90 earned-run average in 39 appearances. Castro is a switch-hitter with some power who can play reliable defense almost anywhere.
Falvey said the Twins are not offering players to other teams but fielding queries.
“We’ve heard from quote unquote seller teams, calling me about players for their current team and next year,” Falvey said. “That’s pretty common these days. You try to recalibrate your roster every year. I think that’s how we’re going to approach this week, and that’s the way we have been approaching it.”
The Twins acquired their current ace, right-hander Joe Ryan — an all-star this month — on a deadline deal that sent Nelson Cruz to Tampa Bay in 2021. Ryan was at Triple-A at the time, and he quickly became a mainstay in the Twins’ rotation.
If Falvey and his personnel staff think they can acquire a player of Ryan’s caliber — whether he’s nearly ready for the pros or just starting his career — the Twins will work with any team.
“One thing philosophically, at any deadline — buy, sell or somewhere in between — never shut off avenues to talent, whatever that talent is,” Falvey said. “Don’t say, ‘We’re only going for this, we’re only going for that.’ Or, ‘We only want pitching’ or ‘we only want infielders.’ If you do that, you’re shutting off a path to talent.”
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