There are just seven hours remaining until the MLB trade deadline, Monday at 5 pm CT. Thus far, the Minnesota Twins have been stagnant. We know what the problem is. The Pohlads mandated a $35 million salary dump last offseason and refuse to add money back into the player budget .
Most deadline trades are the same. One playoff caliber team trades away some of their minor league talent to a non-playoff contender, in exchange for a big league player(s) who can help their team chase a World Series right now.
But minor league players don’t make very much money, thus it’s difficult to match salaries in and out. So, what’s the fix? Minnesota is trying to send back Major League talent in exchange for Major League talent.
There are good players in that room. Teams have hit us on them and said, ‘Hey, if you are open to some kind of swap …’ It’s rare that I’ve heard yet a major-league for a major-league version of that. I’ve heard, ‘We like your guy — would you be open to trading minor leaguers in order to do that?’ And that’s a different conversation for us.”
If they can find a partner, it’s been reported that the Twins are shopping outfielders Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach, Manuel Margot and Max Kepler. All of those names make sense, even Max, who’s on an expiring contract.
Jhoan Duran on Minnesota Twins trade block?
According to Dan Hayes (The Athletic) , a more surprising name that the Minnesota Twins front office is “at the least” listening on… is flamethrowing closer Jhoan Duran.
At the very least, team and league sources said the Twins have listened to offers on impending free-agent outfielders Manuel Margot and Max Kepler and closer Jhoan Duran. But the cost for Kepler and Duran is said to be extremely high, as the Twins value those players and what they mean to the clubhouse.
I guess we shouldn’t be all that surprised. Once the Twins front office realized that nobody really wants Manuel Margot, and that the offers were underwhelming for their other outfielders, they had to turn somewhere.
Duran has taken a step back this season and his velocity is down a MPH or two from where it was in 2023. But he’s still a 6’5″, 230 pound 26-year-old , with three remaining years of arbitration. Oh, and he’s throwing 101+ MPH with a nasty slider and 98 MPH “splinker”.
Duran’s “down year”
If president of baseball operations Derek Falvey really wants to grab a seller’s attention, Jhoan Duran will do just that, even in a “down year”. How down has this season been so far?
Duran’s ERA (3.51) is up over a full point from his career number and his strikeouts per nine innings are down by 3.5. His FIP and ERA + have also taken rather drastic hits. His WHIP (1.020) is actually down from his career average. And remember that ERA+ I mentioned? Yes it’s down, but it’s still 118.
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