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It's only mid-June, which means we are still more than six weeks away from the MLB trade deadline and 30-plus games from every team away from deciding who the true buyers and sellers are in the market.
Count the Twins among the teams that is leaning in one direction as of Friday afternoon — sitting in first place in the AL Central with a surprising 37-28 record even while fighting off a raft of injuries — but that should gain even more clarity in the rest of June and July.
In a recent look at all 30 teams by ESPN, the Twins were deemed "possible buyers" at the deadline, which seems fair even if it might undersell just how well they have performed so far this year. The White Sox are placed in a tier above as "likely buyers" because of their urgency to win now, while Cleveland is a tier below the Twins.
As noted on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast, it was written of the Twins: "While the Twins still are probably a mild favorite in the division, it's not out of question that they collapse because of the injuries. Or, more likely, they get healthier and set themselves up to plug a few holes, beginning with another reliable high-leverage reliever or two."
The idea of adding relief pitching is a good one, as that seems like the most fragile area that could be reasonable upgraded.
But a separate list of potentially available relief pitchers via ESPN a couple weeks ago wasn't terribly inspiring.
You can feel free to shudder at the inclusion of Alex Colome on the list.
You can also feel free to lament that one of the Twins' most dependable and dominant relief pitchers in recent memory, Taylor Rogers, was traded right before the season started for a starting pitcher who was injured after five games (Chris Paddack) and a reliever who induces heart palpitations every other outing (Emilio Pagan).
Derek Falvey and Thad Levine might rethink that one if they had to do it over again, regardless of whether Rogers would just leave via free agency after this season.
The list of potential starting pitchers is even thinner — at least for now — and it's hard to envision what specific position player the Twins would add to a lineup that entered Friday No. 8 in MLB in OPS.
With 12 teams now making the playoffs — six in each league — we might have to wait longer for the entire pool to sort itself out and for the market to strength.
But if the Twins have any hopes of not just making the playoffs but actually winning a game once they get there this season, they will probably need to be buyers at the deadline.
