The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox 2-1 Thursday for their fourth straight victory and moved within seven games of Cleveland in the American League Central. The Twins are 6-3 against the Indians this season and have 10 games left with the Tribe, so it's not beyond the realm of possibility that they could make a run in the division.
But the standings can't obscure the trade deadline reality: Minnesota is in full-fledged sell mode.
Now that the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays have seized the initiative and started making moves, Minnesota could be the next seller to spring into action. Officials from other clubs say that Twins executives Derek Falvey and Thad Levine are "active'' on multiple fronts and determined to make some deals before Tuesday's non-waiver deadline.
Need a bat? Brian Dozier and Eduardo Escobar are available for the right price. Relievers Fernando Rodney and Zach Duke are on the market, and the Twins have had some nibbles on starters Lance Lynn and Ervin Santana. All six of those players will be free agents in November, unless the options on Santana and Rodney are exercised. Starters Kyle Gibson and Jake Odorizzi and reliever Ryan Pressly, all of whom are under team control for the 2019 season, also have been mentioned in trade speculation.
The lack of Twins-related news is a product of two factors: 1) The Twins are aiming high on their return and might have to adjust their price on several players; and 2) their stockpile of talent doesn't stand out in a market that's short on difference-makers beyond Manny Machado (who has already been dealt) and Jacob deGrom (who probably won't be).
In a perfect world, Dozier would have been the natural Plan B for a team in the Machado hunt. He's a former All-Star and Gold Glove winner who led MLB second basemen with 127 home runs from 2014-17. But Dozier's .228/.310/.414 slash line has put a crimp in his market. While an optimist might say he's due for a breakout in August and September, Dozier hasn't helped his appeal with his performance in April, May, June and July.
Escobar, who can play second base, shortstop and third, posted All-Star-worthy numbers in the first half. But he's 29 years old with a career slash line of .256/.307/.415, so potential trade partners have reason to wonder if he's not due to regress. Escobar is hitting .223 over the past month.
Lynn looked as if he might be turning things around in June, but he has a 7.13 ERA in four starts in July. He's in a group with Dan Straily, Mike Fiers, Matt Harvey and several other second-tier starters still out there. Rodney is 41 years old, and Duke has a 1.58 WHIP in 44 appearances out of the pen. They're not going to generate much of a return.
The Brewers, Diamondbacks, Phillies and Indians are among the clubs that could provide a landing spot for Escobar or Dozier. But with Asdrubal Cabrera, Starlin Castro, Adeiny Hechavarria, Mike Moustakas, Derek Dietrich and Yangervis Solarte among the other infield bats available, no one seems compelled to jump. Throw a long-term piece like Baltimore's Jonathan Schoop into the trade deadline mix, and that gums up the works even more.
The dynamic might be similar to what took place this week, when the Rangers thought Cole Hamels was staying put until August, and then a trade with the Cubs came together quickly once J.A. Happ went off the board. If Cabrera goes somewhere, Dozier and Escobar could soon follow.
"I think teams are jockeying right now and they don't see huge distinctions between all these players,'' said an AL executive. "There's a big staring match going on between the buyers and the sellers. There's a reason why 85 percent of these deals get done in the 48 hours before the deadline.''
The Twins have a 48-53 record and bunch of short-term assets burning a hole in their pocket, and they're about to come to grips with another reality for non-contending teams at the deadline: At some point in the process, the staring has to end and the selling needs to begin.