The Twins are down a starting pitcher after Chris Paddack landed on the 15-day injured list after the All-Star break, and their starting rotation’s 4.44 ERA is the eighth highest in the major leagues.
Safe to say, with the trade deadline approaching next Tuesday, bolstering the pitching staff will be a priority as the Twins front office negotiates possible trades.
“It has to be,” said Twins shortstop Carlos Correa, who sends his trade ideas to manager Rocco Baldelli and will chat about trade targets with president of baseball operations Derek Falvey. “I feel like our lineup is really good, especially when we’re healthy. I think we’re a top-three lineup in baseball. Everybody needs pitching.”
Despite sitting four games behind the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central standings, entering Tuesday, the Twins have an 80% chance of making the postseason, according to FanGraphs’ projections, and a 37% chance of winning the division.
“We’ve been focused on [pitching],” said Falvey, noting the Twins hope to have a few players return from the injured list within the next week. “Everyone is always looking for pitching, right? If there are ways to add to your pitching group because of the realities of health and some of the challenges you deal with, that would be a hope in terms of how you navigate this. It’s hard to say there is anything imminent in that sense.”
The Twins have the prospect capital to swing deals, and they have some major league position player depth when Royce Lewis, Jose Miranda and Correa are activated from the IL. But they will have to balance some financial restrictions — they cut $35 million from their payroll last offseason — in their deadline talks.
An added wrinkle to this trade deadline is there aren’t many clearly defined sellers. There are only three National League teams more than four games out of a playoff spot.
“There are a lot of high-level discussions and I know it feels quite approximate to the deadline, but in baseball hours and terms it’s an eternity and a lifetime between now and then,” Falvey said. “There are a lot of teams that think a good week probably gets them right back into the mix if they’re outside looking in right now. They want to give themselves every opportunity to have that kind of week.”
The Twins have shown at least preliminary interest in Toronto lefty Yusei Kikuchi, a free agent at the end of the season. There is difficulty completing intradivision trades, but the Chicago White Sox have two of the best pitchers available with lefty Garrett Crochet and righthander Erick Fedde.
Adding to the bullpen is a possibility for the Twins, too. They have a strong backend group featuring Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax and Jorge Alcala, and Brock Stewart is slated to return from the IL this week.
“I had a lot of ideas I heard in Cooperstown this weekend,” Falvey said after he watched Joe Mauer’s induction to the Hall of Fame. “A lot of folks: Fans, former players, staff and otherwise, they love the Twins and they just want to kick around ideas, think about how we could make the team better, which is a lot of fun.”