Deadline thoughts.

 Gaaaa! The trade deadline is here! The Twins have done the unthinkable at the beginning of the season, and have kicked things off by being buyers. In the past couple of weeks, they have now sent away four prospects, bringing in relievers Tommy Nance and A.J. Minter, as well as starter Dean Kremer. And at the beginning of the year, people were wondering why the Twins hadn't traded Joe Ryan yet! 

Before I gleefully get to the Twins pursuit of more arms, I do want to mention the elephant in the room. The Dodgers got Tarik Skubal off the Tigers a full 2 days before the deadline, and many across baseball have taken an attitude that this is once again a sure sign that the game needs a salary cap. First, stop doing the owners' work. The Dodgers are paying for players, but why should they be kept from spending their money, just because other teams don't want to? Furthermore, the teams with the highest payrolls are also the oldest players. A reckoning from Father Time is coming for Los Angeles soon enough.

And also, the Dodgers keep taking these big swings on the trade market because their farm is so robust. They acquire and develop exceptional talent at all levels. You can talk about how good the Dodgers free agents and trade acquisitions are, but they did that with good prospects to trade away in the first place, and are augmented by guys like Andy Pages, Justin Wroblieski and Emmet Sheehan, all drafted and developed by the Dodgers, or Max Muncy, who was an A's washout before excelling in LA.

OK, the Twins. It's an unusual spot to be in this year. All of my typical hang-ups with the Twins at the deadline have gone away in the last couple of years. They are no longer timid under Jeremy Zoll, nor were they last year under Derek Falvey, and they aren't waiting to the last minute to make their moves. I feel a sense of calm that I typically don't feel at the deadline. There are positions of need, but the Twins have addressed them a bit already. I don't need to worry if they are going to act, or if a certain player is no longer available. 

I do think the Twins have a couple moves in them tomorrow. Zoll has already proven himself to be frisky, and has already presented himself as a willing partner in innumerable minor transactions all season. There is word of a last minute scuttling of a trade by the Astros ownership which would have involved Trevor Larnach going to Houston for reliever Bryan Abreu. The Twins are likely to add another right handed reliever, and have the high level prospect capital to absorb a loss to an outfielder like Larnach.

While the Twins have been the highest scoring offense in the American League all season, their pitching has been problematic throughout the year. For what seems like the 10th time in the past two weeks, the Twins were in a tight game right up to the end, thanks to some late scoring by the offense. They erased a 6 run lead from the Mariners before eventually dropping the game. The admirable willingness to rally, even in the face of a lot of early season (and honestly, mid season) negativity makes this team scarier for postseason opponents than I think many people give them credit for. A decent bullpen with this organization would be even more intimidating. 

I'm team "always go for it" if there is a reasonable postseason chance. They don't need to be after the Tarik Skubals of the world, but the Twins have shown they are going for it. Keep it going with a couple of more moves before the deadline passes.