Twins GM Jeremy Zoll says team is prepared to buy as trade deadline approaches
MINNEAPOLIS — There’s nothing wishy-washy about it. The Minnesota Twins are buyers.
Though myriad teams around the league are still undecided about their plans ahead of Monday’s trade deadline, the Twins intend to enhance their roster. Knowing full well that finding a willing trade partner could be tricky because of limited teams identified as sellers, the Twins say they plan to pursue roster upgrades to support a surprising club still in the postseason hunt.
Shortly before the Twins opened a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals, general manager Jeremy Zoll confirmed the team’s plans. He listed improving the bullpen as the top priority and said the Twins will be open to “creative paths.”
“This has been what we were focusing on and what our pro personnel group over the last couple of months has been focused on — the ‘buy’ version of things,” Zoll said. “It wasn’t some situation where they were prepping to sell and we’re switching. Now we’re looking forward to try and execute on that work.”
The Twins began dropping hints this would be their path when Zoll shut down Byron Buxton trade rumors June 24. Control owner Tom Pohlad suggested July 10 that if they were in position, the Twins would be buyers. The team is helping its own cause, too, going 9-2-1 in its last 12 series and climbing within a game of the .500 mark at 53-54.
Even so, pundits everywhere believed the Twins would sell, with all eyes glued on the future whereabouts of starting pitcher Joe Ryan, catcher Ryan Jeffers and outfielder Trevor Larnach.
Still, the Twins, who entered Tuesday one game behind the Cleveland Guardians for the final American League wild-card spot, aren’t interested in a repeat of last year’s trade deadline when they dealt 10 players off the major-league roster.
“All along, we were optimistic we were going to be in this spot to be able to add,” Zoll said. “We’re active on the phones and in touch across the board in trying to do everything we can to find ways to improve the team.”
How they could bolster the roster remains to be seen. The Twins boast a healthy farm system, ranked ninth by MLB Pipeline in May before they selected catcher Vahn Lackey with the third pick in July’s MLB Draft. Zoll acknowledged the Twins could swap big leaguers with another squad, but finding a trade partner with so many teams in the hunt promises to complicate matters.
“It takes two to tango,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said in an effort to downplay trade deadline speculation.
Since spring training, the Twins hoped they’d find themselves in this position. Since he took over as the team’s controlling owner in mid-December, Pohlad at times said — perhaps naively — he thought the Twins could play meaningful baseball at the end of the season.
If they were in position to add, Pohlad wanted to enhance the roster. He said it would be the first in a series of moves to win back the trust of his players and a fanbase angry about a host of events, including a $30 million payroll cut ahead of the 2024 season.
“We’ve got to be willing to make investments and make bold moves that allow us to be successful in the playoffs,” Pohlad said earlier this month. “This is a ‘build-and-they-will-come’ situation. The fans are not going to come back based on words. They’re going to come back once they see investment in the team and success on the field. I know that.”
The team’s needs include adding depth to an improved bullpen bolstered by the in-season developments of Andrew Morris and Yoendrys Gómez. With Connor Prielipp already at a career high for innings pitched and Mike Paredes on the injured list, the Twins could also add to their starting rotation.
“We’re really excited about how the team has played over this last stretch,” Zoll said. “We’re really encouraged about that. In turn, we’re going to use this next stretch to do everything we can to find ways to improve the club and continue to execute on that goal and make it a reality.”