The Twins traded right-hander Griffin Jax to the Rays in the final moments before the trade deadline last week, with right-hander Taj Bradley going the other way. Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports that Jax requested a trade once he saw the extent of the selloff in Minnesota.
Things in Minnesota have changed rapidly in a short amount of time. They hung around the playoff race for most of the year and it wasn’t even clear that they would do any selling at all as of a few weeks ago. On July 22nd, it was reported that they were warming to the idea of selling rental players, but would need to be bowled over by the offers to move controllable guys like Jax, Jhoan Durán, Joe Ryan and others.
In the end, their deadline selloff wound up being far more extensive than anticipated. In addition to trading all several rental players, they flipped Durán to the Phillies, Jax to the Rays, Louis Varland to the Blue Jays and, most surprising of all, infielder Carlos Correa to the Astros.
According to the report from Hayes, Jax got wind of the Correa situation from the infielder himself. Jax and manager Rocco Baldelli got into a dispute on July 30th, the day before the deadline, about Jax being removed from that day’s game. Correa offered to be present for a meeting between the two. After that meeting, Correa informed Jax about conversations he’d had with president of baseball operations Derek Falvey about the team’s direction.
Then on Thursday, the extent of the teardown became clear to everyone. Durán had already been traded on Wednesday but reports of the Correa deal came out about two hours prior to the deadline. The Varland deal and the Jax deal were both reported right around the deadline on Thursday. Hayes reports that Jax asked his representative to request a trade at some point on Thursday, once he saw the writing on the wall.
From the righty’s perspective, it’s an understandable request. He is controllable for two years after this one and is about to turn 31 years old. The Twins could perhaps compete again in 2026 or 2027 but the trading of controllable pieces sends a message that they also might not have high hopes about the possibility.
There’s plenty of uncertainty beyond the roster as well. The Pohlad family is actively trying to sell the club. It’s unknown exactly when a sale will be finalized. Once a sale takes place, it’s anyone’s guess who the new owners will be or what kind of plans they would have for the payroll.
While the Pohlad family is still in charge, the safe bet is on minimal investments. In the most recent offseason, the Twins spent a combined $10.25MM on one-year deals for Harrison Bader, Danny Coulombe and Ty France. Ahead of the deadline, sending out payroll commitments seemed to be a priority. The Twins included Randy Dobnak in the Paddack deal, seemingly to save a few million. Money also may have been a factor in sending France to the Jays alongside Varland. Shipping out Correa also scrubbed millions of dollars from the future books. That deal brought back one prospect but is generally viewed as a salary dump.
The Twins do still have lots of talented players on the roster but the future outlook has darkened in recent days. “Now no one wants to stay if they are selling like this,” an unidentified player said to Hayes on deadline day.
That sentiment is perhaps extra true for Jax, given his age. He presumably would rather not spend his age-31 and -32 seasons pitching for a rebuilding club. He didn’t wind up in a vastly superior situation. The Rays are 55-58 and only two games ahead of the Twins in the standings. They also don’t spend tons of money. However, they generally find ways to be in the playoff race even without big budgets. They also tend not to hold players all the way to free agency, so perhaps Jax will end up being traded again in the offseason or at next year’s deadline.
For the Twins, more clarity on their plans will still need to emerge. Time will tell when the sale of the franchise will pick up real steam. The identity of the buyer or buyers and their plans will presumably have a big impact on the near-term future of the Minnesota club.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images
8th Inning relievers are requesting trades now?
Realistically he probably cost himself a few bucks here too. He was the likely closer for Minnesota. Can’t say he’s going to be in TB. Those saves would’ve helped his arb number
It is funny they traded him to the most miserable climate and team least likely to win that they could.
C’mon, Tampa Bay is beautiful! Rays are usually competitive too
WBWR, I played baseball at Macalester. I think you’ve got the miserable climates mixed up. Granted, MN summer is bliss, but those springs and falls can be ROUGH.
Absolutely, he would’ve been the closer and now he’s going to be some perverse opening SP which builds zero value. Can he close can he start nobody will ever know.
In his defense tho, the Twins ownership is a group of nepotistic Twin Cities business people whose entire fortune is the Minnesota Twins and all of their other investments have gone belly up and so they’ve leveraged $400m of debt out of the Twins to stay afloat and feed their fart sucking faces. So, yeah, I would’ve requested a trade too.
The Pohlads are worth nearly $6 billion.
They have huge real estate, and other business interests. In truth less than one third of that is wrapped up in the Twins.
It’s entirely untrue that their “entire fortune is in the Minnesota Twins.” That’s where they have chosen to carry their debt, likely to help offset capital gains upon the sake of the team.
Business interests besides the ballclub include;
An automotive Group
Commercial real estate abd developnent
Film production and distribution
If they were desperate for money they wouldn’t be sticking to their desired sale price.
This couldn’t be more accurate. I worked many years at a country club these people visited, and the arrogance a couple of them regularly showed was like a scene taken straight out of ‘wedding crashers.’
They’re the worst type of rich person and I can’t wait until they sell this team.
Pohlads want to attach a lot of debt for full price on a small/mid market team. Part of the issue to has reportedly been that the won wishes to remain involved with the team beyond the sale. That absolutely SCREAMS theyre trying to work with venture capital. Some venture capital wants to clean house..some doesn’t and values the knowledge provided. To me theyre just asking for a lot to get a sale going quick. They had one lined out…but they went with a deal for the White Sox.
Dang fart suckers
He will be once they trade Fairbanks.
The Twins traveling secretary has written on “X”, that he “no longer feels he can travel or work for the Twins.
Does the traveling secretary have a bed underneath their desk?
I believe only the assistant to the traveling secretary gets that privilege.
Like the article says, TB will now be happy to trade Jax again this offseason whether he likes it or not if a buyer likes him enough to offer a decent return…..more laughable than washed up Arenado sitting in judgment whether Astros can remain a winner (self-awareness check of who knows about winning/adapting when letting players seek greener pastures).
cws: The Rays will probably trade him back to the Twins.
yeah the astros are the perfect barometer for winning… when they know what pitches are coming.
The Tigers will be interested, and Jax will be back in the Central whether the Twins like it or not…
The “Air Force” in him, he wants to compete.
Wow it’s really that bad over there now?
Jax a great character in SOA.
Seems like the Twins made the right move here. A couple others had spot on comments, Tampa a tough spot for relievers with the way Tampa uses their pitchers.
That’s what he gets for listening to Correa
Unsurprising given exactly everything the article detailed.
I would love the perspective of a Jays fan on adding Ty France, though. As a Mariners fan, I know his limitations all too well: light hitting 1B with below average D. What’s his role on the roster and what does he add to the Blue Jays? I love the guy, don’t get me wrong, but it seems his prime was narrow and he’ll be settling for an MiLB contract next offseason. If 1B was a desperate position of need, I’d understand it from the outside, but clearly that’s not the case and DH doesn’t suit him. So what gives?
Not a Jays fan but I’d assume the Twins asked the Jays (amongst other teams) if they would take France too since it seems like the overall goal at the deadline for the Twins was to cut salary. Probably a “we’ll take a slightly lower prospect if you take this contract off our hands” type of deal. France is not making a lot but a couple extra dollars off the Twins books was all they cared about.
For the Jays, nothing wrong with adding an extra bat to the bench. Allows them to give an off day to Vlad Jr or DH him without worrying about who plays first if Vlad isn’t. And because of the minimal salary still left for France, if he ends up not adjusting well to Toronto and his bat falls off the cliff then they cut him for minimal loss.
Ty France is not a bat, he acts like he swings with a baguette because he can only hit singles
JT- I think you might be on to something re: the Jays getting to send out a slightly lower prospect for taking on France’s contract.
That said, I’m not sure he’s more valuable than anyone else on the bench. No positional versatility, slow, and a singles-hitting 1B. I might lift DFA him now in favor of someone a little more explosive, if I were Toronto.
As A Jay’s fan France is not needed. We needed a power bat. France doesn’t hit has no power and is almost as slow as Kirk.
If the team hadn’t been up for sale, I could have seen the league stepping in to block the sell off of players like they have done in past. This seems like type of sell off the league supports because they want a sale to happen sooner than later.
Yes JB, the Rays will most likely use him differently and that could result in lower stats and a correspondingly lower salary. I’m glad he chose the potential for winning over money though. Hes a competitor and wants to win. If I was faced with an employer directly causing less satisfaction in a job, I like to think I’d look for a better situation even if that mean less financial compensation. I usually value loyalty to the team, but in a sell-off situation that’s not warranted.
I demand a trade to a team that’s two games ahead of us! And they gotta play in a spring training park!
He didn’t request a trade specifically to TB…
The ownership situation really sucks in Minnesota. Selling rentals makes sense but until the ownership is resolved the team likely won’t invest again.
There seems to be a gap between what the old owner wants and what the potential new owners are offering
What a girl wants what a girl needs is a Jeannie in a bottle
Jax made it well known he wanted another shot at starting games before this season began, but Falvey decided it wasn’t going to happen. Coupled with Jax making peanuts in arbitration due to the his non-closer relief pitching role, I think he was probably already a little sour on the front office.
He owns the 3rd highest fWAR of any reliever in MLB from 2022-2025, and apart from the rough luck on home runs only showing up with runners on this year (not typical for him), Jax has been absolutely elite again.
Considering there’s a fair chance Jax might have been better than Bradley as a starter, this exchange was questionable for Falvey.
“Perhaps they could compete in 2026-2027”
Really? After selling off guys that aren’t rentals? The twins direction is obvious right now
They’re probably going to at least rebuild in 2026 and probably into 2027-28, it’s sad that Byron and Pablo might stay through this unless they request a trade
The only way you could argue that they’re ready to complete in 26/27 is if you accept:
BOTH
(1) They have a magical ability to coax skills out of starting pitchers that they have not demonstrated yet. This includes both their own pitchers and pitchers that came over from other orgs, some of whom are quite good at development.
(2) They have a magical ability to reproduce nearly an entire bullpen from their farm system over one offseason
OR
(3) They’re going to spend to fill in the gaps they created this deadline
Since I think all of us just fell out of our chairs laughing at #3, we’ll just have to go go with magical thinking.
Im wondering if minnesota took the wrong deal here and sent him to tampa out of spite because he requested a trade
They certainly didn’t take the right deal
Couldn’t ship him to the A’s!
I mean, I get it. Most of their fans also requested trades to other teams last week.
Weird ash Minnesota twins doing weird ash stuff
He will be requesting a trade from the Rays in the off-season if being on a competitive team is his goal. The Rays are lost and are dragging any FA or trade acquisition and prospect with them. A sinking ship that I can’t wait to have some fresh owners (and hopefully a new set of coaches and GMs)