When money matters more than sports.
It all started so quietly: on July 28 the Twins traded starting pitcher Chris Paddack and Randy Dobnak to the Detroit Tigers for catcher Enrique Jimenez.
It was a trade everyone in the baseball would probably shrug their shoulders over, but what we did not know is that this was a prelude for much more to come:
- Minnesota Twins traded LF Willi Castro to Chicago Cubs for RHP Sam Armstrong and RHP Ryan Gallagher.
- Minnesota Twins traded LF Harrison Bader to Philadelphia Phillies for RHP Geremy Villoria and OF Hendry Mendez.
- Minnesota Twins traded SS Carlos Correa and cash to Houston Astros for LHP Matt Mikulski.
- Minnesota Twins traded RHP Griffin Jax to Tampa Bay Rays for RHP Taj Bradley.
- Minnesota Twins traded RHP Louis Varland and 1B Ty France to Toronto Blue Jays for LF Alan Roden and LHP Kendry Rojas.
- Minnesota Twins traded LF Willi Castro to Chicago Cubs for RHP Sam Armstrong and RHP Ryan Gallagher.
- Minnesota Twins traded RHP Brock Stewart to Los Angeles Dodgers for CF James Outman.
- Minnesota Twins traded LHP Danny Coulombe to Texas Rangers for LHP Garrett Horn.
- Minnesota Twins traded RHP Brock Stewart to Los Angeles Dodgers for CF James Outman.
- Minnesota Twins traded RHP Jhoan Duran to Philadelphia Phillies for C Eduardo Tait and RHP Mick Abel.
The Minnesota Twins shook the baseball world and in our next Round Table here on the AZSnakePit I expressed my disregard for what the Twins had done. Not only was it outrageous to trade away
an entire team, it is also incomprehensible to do it before the trade deadline. Yes, players on an expiring contract or who are underperforming can be dumped, but to do, for example, the Carlos Correo salary dump in a matter of days…I don’t think they teach that in your average Ivy League GM career studies.
Obviously, the Twins are being marketed by their ownership and the best way to sell a team is to sell it proper and cleaned without any dead bodies like a Carlos Correa contract could turn out to be. That is a sad conclusion but reality in a money driven society and sport like baseball.
The Twins were not even that bad in the AL Central. A weak division, yes, it is a weak division, but still: at the beginning of June they were 7 games above .500. After that it went southwards, true, and Rocco Baldelli didn’t seem to be able to stop the fall. By the All Star break the team was at 47-49 but losing consecutive series against Rockies, Dodgers and Washington seemingly opened the Lemarchand’s Box in the front office and endless pain for the Twins fans was announced. The Boston Cenobites took pleasure of Minnesota on July 30 but the 13-1 loss is sweet apple pie compared to the bloodbath that would be shed by the front office a day later.
Once the deadline had passed, the Twins needed to select 8 contracts to be able to field a major league team. A total of 60 player transactions can be found on the Twins major league transaction page in the month of August. That is more than my credit card registered in the same month. Players said hi and bye in a moment of time and the team dropped from a 51-57 record in July to a 64-82 record at the time of writing of this preview. That means the team won 13 games and lost 25: a winning percentage of 0.342. With a record like that, the Twins are on their way to become the worst team in the AL in 2026.
But, we can’t forget that the Twins still have a couple of good players on their roster, although you might wonder for how long. Byron Buxton is one of them and the star center fielder has made it clear that he won’t go anywhere. His $15MM AAV contract until the end of 2028 can be carried easily though.
Pablo Lopez’s two years and $37.5MM might be a bit trickier to offload though he has had a terrific run so far, although shortened by an injury. The biggest haul in the offseason, however, will be the trade where Joe Ryan is the headliner: the 29 year old is in his prime and still has two more arbitration years left.
Unfortunately for the Diamondbacks, they will have to face exactly those two pitchers in this series.
The often injured Byron Buxton is healthy for this series. Former top prospect Royce Lewis is playing, but his .682 OPS since August 1 is miserable. Catcher Ryan Jeffers is a familiar name though my mind could be a bit clouded due to Francis Jeffers being one of those players you needed to sign in the 1999/00 season of the PC game Championship Manager. Most other players will probably not ring a bell to the average Diamondbacks fan until you see a bloke called Austin Martin. What parent would make the terrible joke of giving your kid a name that not only sounds like a British sports car (and he isn’t even that fast, although a 5.8 speed score is respectable) but also returns search results of that British sports car if you Google his name.
Definitely a name to look out for is Luke Keaschall. The second baseman made his MLB debut thanks to the sell-off and is with a .373 OBP the best hitter on that Twins squad since August 1. I have no idea how to pronounce that last name but it sounds like that late 2000s singer Ke$ha to me. Hopefully for Luke he can stay a lot longer hot than she could.
Matchups.
Game #1 Fri 09/12 5:10 PM MST, Pablo López (MIN) vs Brandon Pfaadt (ARI).
- Pablo López. 12 GS, 66.2 IP, 5 W-4 L, 2.84 ERA, 3.17 FIP, 1.08 WHIP, 65/15 K/BB. $18,750,000.
- Brandon Pfaadt. 29 GS, 153.0 IP, 13 W-8 L, 5.18 ERA, 4.19 FIP, 1.38 WHIP, 129/33 K/BB. $799,400.
Pablo López was out for quite a while: he hit the 60-day IL on June 6 with a Grade 2 Teres major strain and didn’t return to a big league mound until September 5, when he pitched 6 innings and threw 92 pitches, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits and a walk, against Kansas City. It looks like he continued right at where he had stopped and that does not bode well for the Diamondbacks.
Brandon Pfaadt will have to perform at his best and, well, that is just what he did against Boston, right? Exciting to see what both pitchers can do.
Game #2 Sat 09/13 4:10 PM MST, Joe Ryan (MIN) vs Ryne Nelson (ARI).
- Joe Ryan. 28 G, 27 GS, 157.0 IP, 13 W-8 L, 3.32 ERA, 3.43 FIP, 1.01 WHIP, 176/34 K/BB. $3,000,000
- Ryne Nelson. 30 G, 20 GS, 137.0 IP, 7 W-3 L, 3.48 ERA, 3.72 FIP, 1.05 WHIP, 118/36 K/BB. $825,000
I’d say this matchup is probably the most exciting one of all three in this series. Ryne Nelson is good. Joe Ryan is also excellent, with 6 good pitches and excellent control. Ryan gets batters out and limits hard contact. His fastball, that he doesn’t even throw that hard, seems unhittable.
Game #3 Sun 09/14 11:10 AM MST, Bailey Ober (MIN) vs Nabil Crismatt (ARI).
- Bailey Ober. 24 GS, 129.1 IP, 5 W-7 L, 5.08 ERA, 5.18 FIP, 1.34 WHIP, 105/28 K/BB. $3,550,000
- Nabil Crismatt. 5 G, 4 GS, 25.0 IP, 2 W-0 L, 3.24 ERA, 4.18 FIP, 1.40 WHIP, 17/7 K/BB. $760,000.
Our friend Nabil got a reality check in San Francisco and saw his ERA and FIP bump up with 1 point, but you’d say he should be able to pitch maybe 5 innings without much damage against this Twins team. Whatever is necessary to keep DeSclafani from entering the mound, I’d say.
Good thing for Crismatt as well is that the opposing pitcher is Bailey Ober, the weakest starting pitcher in this series though still mid rotation material for the twin cities. Ober used to be good but has become too hittable. He was never much of a fastballer but was able to have batters swing and miss at his secondary offerings. Nowadays, however, the secondary stuff is useless, like his curveball with a yikes 1.065 WOBA. The change up, however, still is able to get batters out, but it looks like the major league has caught up to Bailey Ober.
