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Twins Not Currently Discussing Joe Ryan In Trade Talks

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The Twins are among nearly a dozen bubble teams around MLB with just over two weeks until the trade deadline. Minnesota sits two games under .500 and four games out of the American League’s final Wild Card spot. They’re tied with the Angels and have two teams (the Rays and Rangers) between them and the Mariners, who currently hold the AL’s last playoff position.

Robert Murray of FanSided reports that the Twins have yet to have serious conversations about the possibility of selling. Specifically, Murray adds that Minnesota hasn’t had discussions with other clubs about All-Star starter Joe Ryan. That doesn’t mean they’d necessarily consider Ryan untouchable if things go poorly over the next couple weeks, but they’re evidently not currently focused on moving him. Jon Morosi of MLB Network noted last week that the Twins would need to be completely out of the playoff race and be blown away by an offer to deal Ryan.

President of baseball operations Derek Falvey told SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson last week that he anticipated that most bubble teams would take right up to the July 31 deadline to determine their directions. Falvey broadly acknowledged that other teams have interest in Minnesota’s controllable pitching talent. At the same time, he expressed optimism that the team would play better coming out of the All-Star Break than they did in the first half and didn’t sound eager to sell. The Twins will resume play this weekend with a very winnable series at Coors Field. They’ll then head to L.A. to take on the Dodgers before home sets against the Nationals and Red Sox that’ll take them to the deadline.

If they struggle and pivot to selling, the Twins would obviously have no trouble drumming up interest in Ryan. The 29-year-old has steadily improved over his four-plus year MLB career. He owns a personal-best 2.72 earned run average while striking out more than 28% of opposing hitters in 19 appearances. Every team could accommodate his $3MM salary, and he remains controllable via arbitration for another two seasons. If the Twins seriously entertained dealing him, he’d probably be the prize of the rotation market.

Ryan has been the lone consistent force in a rotation that has struggled since losing Pablo López and Zebby Matthews to injuries. Minnesota starters have performed fairly well in July but had an MLB-worst 5.59 ERA in June. A Ryan trade would more or less wave the white flag on 2025, and it’d deal a huge hit to next year’s pitching staff. It’s tough to see them doing that as long as they’re within a few games of a playoff spot.

That won’t stop other teams from trying. While Ryan may be Minnesota’s most valuable trade chip, they have a number of players who’d be coveted if they sell. Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax will get a lot of attention from clubs looking for high-leverage bullpen help. Impending free agents Willi Castro and Harrison Bader are quality role players on the position player side. Chris Paddack would pique the interest of some teams that are looking for a back-end starter. Jon Heyman of The New York Post wrote this evening that the Twins could field offers on Duran and Jax if they drop further in the standings. There’d be little reason not to shop Castro, Bader and Paddack in that situation as well.

In any case, it’s highly unlikely that Byron Buxton is going anywhere. The star center fielder is signed through 2028 and having the kind of monster season that has long been possible if he can stay healthy. Even in the improbable event that the front office considered trading him, Buxton’s deal has a full no-trade clause. The two-time All-Star tells Heyman he wouldn’t have any interest in waiving his no-trade rights and leaving the only organization he has ever known.

Twins Acquire Noah Davis

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The Twins have acquired right-hander Noah Davis from the Dodgers, per Phil Miller of the Star Tribune. The Dodgers, who designated Davis for assignment last week, will receive cash considerations in return. The Twins had an open 40-man roster spot and are sending Davis to Triple-A St. Paul, so no corresponding move is required.

Davis, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox in the offseason. Perhaps that deal contained some sort of upward mobility clause, as the Red Sox flipped him to the Dodgers on Opening Day. The Dodgers put him on their 40-man roster but immediately optioned him to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

He has served as an optionable depth arm for the Dodgers this year, with five big league appearances scattered throughout the season. The first four were pretty normal but the fifth was gruesome. On the Fourth of July, the Dodgers were losing to the Astros 7-1 in the fifth inning. They brought Davis in with two outs in the fifth and he struck out Mauricio Dubón to finish the frame. Davis was sent back out for the top of the sixth and allowed ten earned runs on six hits, three walks and a hit-by-pitch.

That nightmare outing gave Davis an earned run average of 19.50 for the year. He was optioned after the game and designated for assignment a few days later. He also has an unsightly 8.95 ERA in his career, though all of his major league work had been with the Rockies prior to this year.

Presumably, the Twins are looking at the larger sample of work Davis has put together in the minors. This year, he has tossed 32 Triple-A innings with a 3.94 ERA. His 10.9% walk rate is a bit high but his 27.5% strikeout rate is strong and his 48.1% ground ball rate quite good as well. His minor league numbers prior to this year aren’t as strong but he has mostly been a starter until recently. Perhaps the move to the bullpen has allowed him to find a new gear.

The Twins had an open roster spot and Davis is still optionable for the rest of the year, so he’s a sensible depth add. He can give the club an extra arm for now. It seems the Twins are getting lots of interest in relievers like Jhoan Durán and Griffin Jax. It’s unclear if they have any plans to entertain trades of those guys, but the path for Davis would open up if something like that comes to pass.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

Multiple Teams Showing Interest In Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax

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Virtually every contender is looking for relief help come the deadline each season, and the 2025 campaign figures to be no exception to that. According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, two members of the Twins’ bullpen are getting plenty of attention from rival clubs this trade season: closer Jhoan Duran and setup man Griffin Jax. Nightengale highlights the Phillies as one potential suitor, a suggestion that lines up with reporting last week regarding Philadelphia’s interest in the pair, and goes on to list the Tigers, Cubs, Dodgers, and Reds as other clubs that are intrigued by Minnesota’s impact arms.

It’s not hard to see why teams would have interest in the duo. Duran is the bigger name of the two. The 27-year-old has averaged more than 100 mph on his fastball every season of his career and pairs his impressive 31.0% career strikeout rate with a career ground ball rate of 63.9%. That ability to both miss bats and keep the ball on the ground is hard to match, and Duran’s 2.38 ERA since making his big league debut back in 2022 speaks for itself. Jax, meanwhile, pitched poorly as a starter in his rookie season but has posted a 3.22 ERA with a 2.63 FIP, a 30.3% strikeout rate, and a 50.3% ground ball rate since moving to the bullpen in 2022.

A .391 BABIP has held Jax’s results back this year, but he’s striking out an absurd 38.0% of batters faced while walking 5.8%. Duran, meanwhile, has by far the lowest K-BB% of his career in 2025 but is making up for it with an eye-popping 69.2% ground ball rate. Duran is in the midst of the stronger season and has substantial closing experience that Jax lacks, but either one should bring Minnesota back a haul if traded this summer between their dominance and the fact that they can both be controlled via arbitration through the end of the 2027 season.

Of course, all of this hinges on the Twins actually being interested in selling. President of baseball operations Derek Falvey suggested just a few short weeks ago that the club was not “focusing on” the possibility of selling this summer. Minnesota has gone 11-8 since Falvey made those comments, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see them decide to hold onto controllable pieces like Duran and Jax. On the other hand, trading one of the club’s two dominant relievers could make it easier for the club to address other holes in the roster while still retaining the other to serve as one of the sport’s best closers going forward.

Looking at the potential suitors, the Phillies and Reds make a ton of sense as teams that could desperately use reinforcements in the bullpen. Philadelphia’s gamble on Jordan Romano this past winter hasn’t worked out, and a PED suspension for Jose Alvarado means that he’ll not only miss half the year but be ineligible to pitch in the postseason for the Phillies this year. That leaves the club in desperate need of the sort of lockdown relief arm they lost when they allowed both Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estevez to walk in free agency last year. As for the Reds, Cincinnati’s closer Alexis Diaz was torched to a 12.00 ERA in six outings before being optioned to Triple-A and eventually traded to Los Angeles, where he’s continued to struggle.

The Cubs and Tigers have less glaring needs at the back of their bullpen, but both figure to be very aggressive this summer as they currently sit positioned for a bye through the first round of the playoffs. Adding a dominant closer at the deadline can be a way to push a good team over the edge and make them favorites in the postseason, and while incumbent closers Daniel Palencia and Will Vest are impressive relievers it’s not hard to see why Chicago or Detroit would want a more proven option in the ninth for a playoff run. As for the Dodgers, the club’s splashy additions of Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates to the back of their bullpen have looked a bit shakier than anticipated, and given how aggressively L.A. prioritized adding relief help in the winter it’s understandable they would continue to do so this summer with both of their star additions sporting ERAs approaching 4.00.

Braves Claim Joey Wentz, Designate Kevin Herget

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The Braves have claimed left-hander Joey Wentz off waivers from the Twins, per a team announcement. Righty Kevin Herget was designated for assignment in a corresponding roster move.

It’s a full-circle moment for Wentz, whom the Braves originally drafted with the No. 40 overall pick back in 2016. The left-hander ranked among Atlanta’s top prospects for several years but was traded to the Tigers alongside infielder/outfielder Travis Demeritte in the 2019 trade that brought righty Shane Greene to the Braves.

Wentz made his major league debut with the Tigers in 2022 and had a nice start to his big league career (3.03 ERA in seven starts) before stumbling in subsequent seasons. Detroit gave Wentz a full audition in the rotation in 2023, but he was shelled for a 6.90 ERA in 105 2/3 frames. Those struggles prompted a move to the bullpen, but relief work hasn’t necessarily treated him much better. In 101 2/3 innings across the past two seasons, Wentz has a 5.42 ERA. That’s come in stints with Detroit, Pittsburgh and Minnesota.

Now 27 years old, Wentz had a particularly rough run in Minneapolis. He pitched eight innings as a Twin but was rocked for 14 runs on 17 hits (three homers) and nine walks with only six strikeouts. Minnesota designated him for assignment last week.

Wentz is out of minor league options, so he’ll go right onto the Braves’ big league roster. He’s now in line to make his debut with the team that originally drafted him nearly a decade ago, albeit in a highly circuitous manner. He’s fairly stretched out — Wentz tossed 48 pitches in a June 28 appearance, for instance — so he should be ready for multi-inning work as a long reliever or opener for an injury-riddled Braves staff that could lean heavily on bullpen games with four starters on the injured list.

Herget, 34, has pitched three major league innings in 2025 — two with the Mets and one with Atlanta. He’s spent most of the year in Triple-A, logging a 3.26 ERA in 30 1/3 innings split nearly evenly between the two organizations. He’s set 21.6% of his opponents down on strikes and issued walks at an 8% clip.

Herget has pitched in parts of four major league seasons and totaled 45 2/3 innings. He’s logged a 4.53 ERA in that time but fanned just 13.9% of the batters he’s faced. Herget has a strong 5.7% walk rate in that time. He’s sat 92.4 mph with his four-seamer in the majors, combining that offering with a cutter that sits 85.8 mph and a changeup that sits 83 mph. Herget has pitched 505 2/3 innings across parts of eight Triple-A seasons and recorded a 4.00 ERA. He’s in his final minor league option year. Atlanta will trade him or place him on waivers within the next five days.

Which Other Draft Picks Are Eligible To Be Traded Before Sunday?

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The Rays made an “early” strike in deadline season yesterday, shipping off their Competitive Balance Round A selection (No. 37 overall) in Sunday’s draft to acquire righty Bryan Baker from the division-rival Orioles. Baker, 30, has had his two worst outings of the season in his final Orioles appearance and last night’s Rays debut — which came just hours after he was “shocked” to learn he was traded and boarded a last-minute flight to meet his new team in Boston — but carried a 2.58 ERA and 33.3% strikeout rate through July 5. He comes to the Rays with three additional seasons of club control, as well.

Following the trade, O’s general manager Mike Elias acknowledged that Thursday’s trade was “earlier than my comfort level” but that the timing of the draft and strength of the return pushed him to make a deal sooner than he’d have preferred (link via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). It’s feasible that other general managers/president of baseball operations feel similar pressure if presented with opportunities to add an extra pick over the next two-plus days.

As a refresher, Competitive Balance picks are the only picks in the annual amateur draft that are eligible to be traded. They can only be traded one time, meaning the pick the Orioles received for Baker — and the picks the Dodgers, Guardians and Red Sox received in trades of Gavin Lux, Josh Naylor and Quinn Priester, respectively — are now locked in place for those clubs. There are still a handful of selections that could be traded, however.

Here’s a rundown of the picks in Competitive Balance Rounds A and B. MLBTR has confirmed via industry sources that the picks held by the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets in Round A are ineligible to be traded, as they’re technically first-round picks that were dropped down into Competitive Balance Round A as penalty for exceeding the luxury tax by more than $40MM. Similarly, the picks held by the Rays and Brewers in Round B are ineligible to be traded due to the fact that they are compensation for failing to sign last year’s picks in Competitive Balance Round B. Picks that are eligible to be traded are in bold; those ineligible to be moved are in strikethrough font. The deadline to trade any of these eligible picks is 4pm ET on Sunday — two hours prior to the start of this year’s amateur draft.

Round A

  • No. 33 overall: Red Sox (acquired from Brewers in exchange for RHP Quinn Priester)
  • No. 34: Tigers
  • No. 35: Mariners
  • No. 36: Twins
  • No. 37: Orioles (acquired from Rays in exchange for RHP Bryan Baker)
  • No. 38: Mets
  • No. 39: Yankees
  • No. 40: Dodgers
  • No. 41: Dodgers (acquired from Reds in exchange for INF/OF Gavin Lux)
  • No. 42: Rays (acquired from A’s in exchange for LHPs Jeffrey Springs, Jacob Lopez)
  • No. 43: Marlins

Round B

  • No. 66 overall: Guardians
  • No. 67: Rays (compensation for unsigned pick in 2024)
  • No. 68: Brewers (compensation for unsigned pick in 2024)
  • No. 69: Orioles
  • No. 70: Guardians (acquired from D-backs in exchange for 1B Josh Naylor)
  • No. 71: Royals
  • No. 72: Cardinals
  • No. 73: Pirates
  • No. 74: Rockies

The Tigers are the only clear buyer with a pick that can be traded, and it’s a prominent one. The Mariners and Cardinals are only one game out of a Wild Card spot in their respective leagues. Seattle is expected to act as a buyer and has been on the hunt for corner infield bats and late-inning bullpen help. The Royals (3.5 games), Twins (4) and Guardians (5) are all within five games of a Wild Card spot.

Fans would largely welcome the advent of additional selections becoming eligible to be traded, but that’s not in the cards for now. MLBPA executive director Bruce Meyer joined Foul Territory earlier this week and told hosts Scott Braun, Erik Kratz and A.J. Pierzynski that the union is in favor of trading draft picks and has unsuccessfully raised the issue in past waves of collective bargaining (video link, draft pick talk coming around the one hour, 12-minute mark).

“This union has consistently been in favor of teams being able to trade draft picks,” said Meyer. “It would help competition. We think it would help small-market teams that have those valuable draft picks. They should have the flexibility to trade them if it’s in the best interest of the team. I think many teams would agree, but the league for whatever reason has, to date, been against allowing clubs the ability to trade Rule 4 [amateur] draft picks. We proposed it last time. It was rejected. I don’t want to commit to much for the next round of bargaining, but I feel pretty confident we’ll propose that again, because we think it’s actually beneficial to competitive balance.”

It should be noted that virtually any proposal in collective bargaining comes with some give and take. Meyer’s comments only portray one side of the discussion, and it’s not clear whether anything else was attached to that proposal. Regardless, it’s notable that the union’s lead negotiator has signaled a desire to again broach the subject of draft pick trades when the two sides return to the table to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement.

Phillies Reportedly Targeting Controllable Relievers

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The Phillies are known to be focused on bullpen help, with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski admitting as much last month. Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports that the club is showing more willingness to pay a higher prospect cost in order to get more controllable arms.

As noted by Gelb, this is in contrast to the club’s recent bullpen pursuits. At last year’s deadline, the Phils acquired Carlos Estévez, a rental. This winter, their big addition was grabbing Jordan Romano on a one-year deal. They appear to be dreaming a bit bigger ahead of this year’s deadline. Gelb reports that they are expecting the Twins to sell and have their eyes on Jhoan Durán and Griffin Jax.

The Twins aren’t surefire sellers just yet. At 45-47, they are only three games out of a playoff spot. However, the payroll appears to be tight, as they were limited to fairly modest moves in the winter. They signed Harrison Bader, Danny Coulombe and Ty France to one-year deals worth a combined $10.25MM. With ownership exploring a sale of the franchise, the front office may not get much more wiggle room to add this summer.

Even if they fall back in the standings and move more clearly into seller mode, they wouldn’t have to trade Durán or Jax. Both pitchers can be retained via arbitration for two more seasons beyond the current campaign. Both could be key parts of the club’s bullpen plans next year and in 2027 as well.

Durán is making $4.125MM and Jax $2.365MM. Both players will be due raises for next year but should still be underpaid. Jax has been dominant throughout his career, with a 2.39 earned run average, 30.9% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 63.9% ground ball rate. Jax also has strong numbers, particularly dating back to the start of last year. Over the 2024 and 2025 seasons, he has a 2.77 ERA, 35.8% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and 49.6% ground ball rate.

Talented relievers who reach free agency can earn eight-figure salaries, so there’s lots of value here for the Twins. However, if they decide this isn’t their year, there would be an argument for making moves. Reliever performance can be volatile and injuries are quite common nowadays. Though holding Durán and Jax for the future would be understandable, it’s a path that does have some risk.

For the Phillies, acquiring one or both of those arms would bolster their bullpen for this year and potentially for the future as well. Romano is a free agent after this season, so it could proactively address next year’s bullpen and perhaps give the club one less thing to do in the winter.

But as mentioned, going this route would require the club to give up more notable prospect talent. Gelb suggests that Andrew Painter is still unavailable but the club might not have any other truly untouchable prospects.

Aidan Miller gets a specific mention in the piece as an attractive guy who could be moved. The 27th overall pick of the 2023 draft, Miller just turned 21 years old but is already performing well in Double-A. In 64 games at that level, he has just seven home runs but has a 14.1% walk rate and has stolen 31 bases while holding down the shortstop position.

That combination of skills makes him a consensus top 50 prospect in the sport. It’s rare for those kinds of players to be available but perhaps the Phils have the right amount of urgency. They have been in the playoffs a lot lately with a strong roster but without getting a ring. Many of their core players are now between 32 and 36 years old, so perhaps the club wants to strike before the aging curve slopes more steeply.

Gelb mentions that the Phils probably wouldn’t flip someone like Mick Abel for a rental but it doesn’t seem like he’s completely unavailable. He also mentions Aroon Escobar and Eduardo Tait as prospects who could be of note in the coming weeks. Hendry Mendez, Alex McFarlane and Jean Cabrera get mentioned as intriguing potential secondary pieces.

Gelb also floats Emmanuel Clase of the Guardians as a fit similar to Durán or Jax. Clase has been Cleveland’s closer for years now but the club is in a tight spot this season. They are a bit behind the Twins, currently at 43-48 and 4.5 games back of a playoff spot. Clase is making just $4.5MM this year, $6MM next year and then there are two $10MM club options with $2MM buyouts.

Clase hasn’t been quite as dominant this year. His 22.9% strikeout rate is a couple of ticks below his 24.6% career rate. His 45.8% ground ball rate is still above average but far off his 58.8% career rate. Regardless, he has still been quite good and there’s loads of value in his contract. The Guardians could certainly keep him around beyond this campaign, though if the Phils are dangling notable prospects, they will probably answer the phone.

Another consideration of the Phils is shaking up their outfield, according to Gelb, including trading from their major league outfield. Both Brandon Marsh and Max Kepler have been somewhat disappointing at times this year and it’s been previously reported that the club may want to make room for prospect Justin Crawford.

Crawford is slashing .339/.410/.444 in Triple-A this year, despite only having two home runs. He won’t keep a .417 batting average on balls in play forever but he has an 11% walk rate and his speed has helped him steal 28 bases and run down balls in center field. Kepler, meanwhile, is hitting .213/.307/.378 on the season. Marsh started slow but has been heating up and is now at .265/.341/.378 for the whole year. He’s also controlled for two more seasons after this one, while Kepler is signed to a one-year deal.

That means Kepler is probably viewed as more disposable by the Phils but Marsh is surely more capable of bringing back a return that could help elsewhere on the roster. Kepler is making $10MM but Marsh just $3MM. Marsh is also a somewhat-capable center fielder, which is a weak spot in the league-wide market. His defense isn’t strong up the middle but a team without better options might take a chance on him.

If the Phils think Crawford can immediately come up and hit major league pitching, there’s an argument to flipping someone and bringing him up, though it’s a risky plan. Even the best prospects in the world can struggle when first exposed to the big leagues, so it would certainly be a gamble.

It’s an interesting dynamic with the deadline approaching. Dombrowski has a gunslinger reputation and there are some signs that his trigger finger is getting itchy. On the other hand, the flip side of the Phils having a veteran-laden roster is that they will need young players to step up in the near future. Dealing prospects would cut into Philadelphia’s ability to organically shift from one era to another but perhaps they focused enough on the present to make a bold move.

Photo courtesy of Jesse Johnson, Imagn Images

Twins Designate Joey Wentz For Assignment

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The Twins announced Wednesday that they’ve designated left-hander Joey Wentz for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to fellow left-handed reliever Anthony Misiewicz, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A St. Paul.

Wentz, 27, was claimed off waivers out of the Pirates organization a bit less than a month ago. He’s been used in long relief and mop-up work with Minnesota and been hit hard. The former Braves top prospect has appeared in six games as a Twin and been scored upon in five of them, working to a disastrous 15.75 ERA (14 runs in eight innings). He’d previously pitched to a 4.15 ERA in 26 frames with Pittsburgh and now has an overall 6.88 ERA on the year.

Originally drafted 40th overall by Atlanta in 2016, Wentz was a well-regarded prospect who went from the Braves to the Tigers in the 2019 Shane Greene swap. He made his big league debut with Detroit but has never found much success in the majors as either a starter or reliever. He’s pitched in parts of four seasons and tallied 239 2/3 innings with a 5.75 ERA, 20.6% strikeout rate and 10.3% walk rate. Home runs (1.50 HR/9) and an inability to strand runners (66.5%) have been the primary undoing for Wentz.

Wentz is out of minor league options, so the Twins (like the Pirates before them) couldn’t simply send him to the minors without first designating him for assignment. Minnesota will either place Wentz on waivers or trade him within the next five days. Waivers would be another 48-hour process, meaning his DFA will be resolved in a maximum of seven days. Wentz has never cleared waivers before and has under three years of service time, so in the likely event that he’s unclaimed this time around, the Twins can assign him outright to St. Paul and hope to get him on track in Triple-A.

In place of Wentz, the Twins will turn to another lefty with a fair bit of MLB experience — but more success. The 30-year-old Misiewicz signed a minor league deal over the winter and has pitched decently with the Saints, logging a 4.02 ERA, a 24.2% strikeout rate and an 8.3% walk rate for the Twins’ top minor league club. He’s picked up eight saves and a hold along the way. Misiewicz was cruising along with a sub-3.00 ERA before a five-run hiccup against the Reds’ top affiliate in late June. He’s bounced back with a pair of perfect innings.

The Twins will be Misiewicz’s sixth big league team. He’s previously suited up for the Mariners, Royals, D-backs, Tigers and Yankees. From 2020-24, Misiewicz has pitched 115 2/3 major league innings and delivered a 4.67 ERA, a 22.8% strikeout rate and a 7.6% walk rate. He’s been using a three-pitch mix in St. Paul, brandishing a four-seamer that sits 91.6 mph, a cutter that sits 87.6 mph and a slow curve that’s averaged 78.5 mph.

Like Wentz, Misiewicz is out of minor league options, so he’ll either need to stick in the ’pen or else be designated for assignment himself. Misiewicz has three years of big league service, which technically makes him controllable for three more years beyond the current season, but he has a long ways to go before that future control is any real consideration.

Cubs Sign Ryan Jensen To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs have signed right-hander Ryan Jensen to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been in the Twins’ system but was released a little over a week ago. The Cubs also released right-hander Phil Bickford, according to his tracker.

Jensen, 27, was a first-round pick of the Cubs back in 2019. On his way up the minor league ladder, significant control problems seemed to get in his way. From 2019 to 2022, he tossed 151 2/3 minor league innings with a 4.04 earned run average. He struck out 26.3% of batters faced and got ground balls on more than half the balls in play he allowed but he also gave out walks at a 13.1% pace.

Despite the control problems, the Cubs gave him a 40-man spot in November of 2022, not wanting him to be plucked in the Rule 5 draft. Less than a year later, he was on the waiver wire, getting claimed by the Mariners. He would subsequently go to the Marlins and Twins, also on waiver claims, until the Twins passed him through waivers in February of last year.

Along the way, the control problems haven’t improved. From the start of 2023 to the present, he has thrown 149 2/3 minor league innings with a 5.35 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate and plenty of ground balls but an 18.3% walk rate. The Twins have apparently given up but his original organization will take a flier and see what happens.

Bickford, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Cubs in the offseason. He may have triggered an opt-out in that deal because he has been dominant this year. He has thrown 27 2/3 innings for Triple-A Iowa with a 2.60 ERA, 34% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate.

He also has some good major league work on his track record. Over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he tossed 112 1/3 innings in the big leagues with a 3.85 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate. In 2023, he was still getting punchouts but his walk rate spiked to 12.8%. Last year, he only got a brief MLB look, which didn’t go well. He tossed 8 1/3 innings for the Yankees with an 8.64 ERA.

Photo courtesy of Chris Tilley, Imagn Images

Twins Place Bailey Ober On IL With Hip Impingement

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The Twins have placed right-hander Bailey Ober on the 15-day injured list with a left hip impingement. Left-hander Kody Funderburk has been recalled to take his active roster spot for now, though Ober was scheduled to start Friday’s game, so the club will need to figure out their rotation plans in the coming days. The club also announced that infielder Jonah Bride, who was designated for assignment last week, has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Saint Paul. Phil Miller of the Star Tribune reported the moves prior to the official announcement.

The towering 6’9″ Ober has been a constant in the Twins’ rotation dating back to 2021. He’s been a steady mid-rotation presence along the way, logging 471 1/3 innings with a 3.76 ERA (3.75 SIERA) from 2021-24. The 2025 season looked like more of the same. Ober was trounced for eight runs in his first start of the season but quickly righted the ship. By the end of May, he was sitting on a tidy 3.48 ERA despite that brutal first outing of the year.

The wheels came off completely last month, however. Ober started five games and yielded between four and seven runs in all of them. Opponents connected on an astonishing 14 home runs last month alone — more than half the amount he yielded all season in 2023 (22 homers) or in 2024 (27 homers). The long ball has always been somewhat of an issue for Ober, which isn’t a shock as a right-hander with sub-par fastball velocity, but last month’s sudden spike was alarming nonetheless.

Ober becomes the Twins’ third starter to hit the injured list in the past five weeks, joining ace Pablo López and top prospect Zebby Matthews. They’d already optioned Simeon Woods Richardson, who struggled after opening the season in the fifth spot, but he’s returned amid the recent injuries.

With Ober sidelined for a yet-to-be-determined period, the Twins will go with Joe Ryan, Chris Paddack, recent top prospect David Festa and Woods Richardson in the rotation. Prospects Travis Adams or Andrew Morris could get a look in the rotation moving forward, and Minnesota also claimed righty Connor Gillispie off waivers from the Marlins last week, providing a bit of additional depth.

It’s also possible the Twins will look outside the organization for more depth, as they already did late last month when signing José Ureña to a minor league deal. President of baseball operations Derek Falvey already acknowledged that he’d had some trade talks about adding more pitching in the wake of the Lopez and Matthews injuries, and further health woes could spur more urgency as the reeling Twins look to stay relevant in the AL playoff picture.

Bride, 29, came to the Twins in exchange for cash earlier this season after the Marlins had designated him for assignment. He posted a strong .276/.357/.461 slash and popped 11 homers in 71 games for Miami as recently as 2024, but he went 4-for-40 with a 33.3% strikeout rate in Miami to begin the season and batted only .208/.275/.236 in 80 plate appearances with Minnesota. Bride is a career .221/.311/.313 hitter in parts of four major league seasons but hasn’t had any success at the plate outside last year’s showing. Because Bride has fewer than three years of MLB service and has never been outrighted in the past, he can’t reject in favor of free agency. He’ll head to St. Paul and stick with the organization as a depth piece.

Poll: What Will The Twins Do At The Deadline?

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The Twins ended the 2024 season with a bitterly disappointing slump in September that pushed them out of the playoff picture at the very end of the year. Budget constraints forced them to follow that up with a generally very quiet offseason, however, and they entered 2025 with mostly the same team as last year aside from a few small additions like Danny Coulombe and Harrison Bader. Given that lackluster offseason, perhaps it’s not a shock that the Twins are currently 40-44, four games out of the final AL Wild Card spot and 12.5 games back of the Tigers in the AL Central.

Minnesota would have to leapfrog five clubs in the standings just to secure a Wild Card berth. On the other hand, they have a 25.6% chance at making it to the postseason, according to Fangraphs, with a roster that looks quite intimidating on paper. Injuries to Pablo Lopez and Zebby Matthews are certainly frustrating, but even without those pieces, the Twins have a solid-looking roster. The offense is centered around a pair of stars in Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa who are complemented by the likes of Willi Castro, Bader, and Ryan Jeffers. The rotation features a legitimate front-of-the-rotation arm in Joe Ryan, and the bullpen is anchored by an excellent dynamic duo of Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax.

Unfortunately, the cracks in the roster quickly begin to show up when you look at the roster’s performance this year. While Buxton has been as much of a star as advertised, Correa has been a below-average hitter this year with a 93 wRC+ after a brutal start to the season. He’s hit more like himself in recent weeks, but continues to show a concerning lack of power. Matt Wallner was unable to sustain a hot start, Brooks Lee hasn’t been the hitter Minnesota was hoping for, and a handful of expected contributors are languishing in Triple-A due to poor performance. The rotation has nothing concrete behind Ryan, with even Bailey Ober posting an ERA north of 5.00 on the year. And despite possessing the second-best bullpen in baseball by FIP, the unit’s 4.32 ERA is well below average.

That leaves the Twins as one of the many teams stuck between buying and selling as July kicks off. It’s not too difficult to imagine a return to form from Correa and better results from a bullpen with excellent underlying numbers being enough to pull Minnesota back above .500, or at least stop them from falling out of the race completely until Lopez and Matthews eventually return. All of that reason is sound enough, and it’s surely played into comments from president of baseball operations Derek Falvey last week that indicated selling is not something the team is “focusing on” at this point.

For a team that could be just a starting pitcher or two away from a second-half surge, buying and hoping to get into the dance understandably holds some appeal. Correa and Buxton aren’t getting any younger, after all, and key pieces like Lopez, Duran, and Ryan are all slated to reach free agency following the 2027 season. With only three pennant races to go until the Twins will need to make some major changes, a sell-off this summer could leave the team with little reason for optimism headed into the final years of their stars’ prime seasons.

On the other hand, the Twins already suffered one painful collapse last year and have limited resources due to financial constraints placed by ownership. A sale of the team could be in the works, and it could be argued that, between the number of potential contenders jockeying for a seat at the table in the AL and the very limited supply of clear sellers this summer, the Twins would be better off selling some of their pieces and regrouping for the future, when they figure to have more certainty on an ownership level.

Young pieces like Lee, Wallner, Simeon Woods Richardson, David Festa, all have years to go before free agency. The arrivals of players like Emmanuel Rodriguez and Walker Jenkins should help the lineup make up for the eventual declines of Correa and Buxton. It’s certainly possible to make an argument that the Twins are set up relatively well for the future, and a few savvy sell-side moves could keep their theoretical window of contention open for much longer. Adding another top prospect or two to the mix alongside Jenkins and Rodriguez could keep the team relevant for years to come.

Of course, another possibility would be to split the difference and do a bit of both. Perhaps rental players like Castro and Coulombe are dangled and replaced internally, while the team uses some of its controllable depth to acquire a starter or two. That sort of balanced approach could make plenty of sense, as could the approach teams like the Cubs and Pirates took to the deadline last year where they added controllable, longer-term assets like Isaac Paredes and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to simultaneously improve the current club while also building for the future.

How do MLBTR readers think the Twins should approach this deadline? Should they trust the team they’ve constructed to make up for last year’s collapse and add? Should they take advantage of a potential seller’s market and see what they can get for some of their best pieces? Or should they take the middle road and do a bit of both? Have your say in the poll below:

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