Twins takeaways: With trade deadline looming, this team is in a tough spot

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Twins once again got in their own way on Sunday afternoon, and it prevented them from the completion of a much-needed sweep.

Costly defensive miscues by Twins relief pitchers led to extended innings, including a late three-spot as the Tampa Bay Rays won 7-5 in 10 innings at Target Field. Griffin Jax and Justin Topa misplayed comebackers and combined to allow five runs for the Twins, who fell to 43-47. The team is off Monday before opening a three-game series at home against the first-place Chicago Cubs.

Whereas earlier in the season the Twins could focus on the good developments from winning a three-game series against the Rays, this time they’re in a difficult spot.

The margin for error is razor thin. And the Twins are simply running out of time to correct their course. Even so, the Twins say they remain confident they can fix their self-made mess in time to avoid a roster teardown at the July 31 trade deadline.

“It’s a good sign when we can come back, even if it falls apart,” pitcher Joe Ryan said. “We have that potential to just keep going. Again, it’s just putting it together. We had two really good wins this weekend. So ride those and keep playing good baseball and it’ll come together. … We have all the tools there. Just put it together consistently.”

Twins opponents don’t appear to share their confidence.

With 24 days left until the deadline, the buzzards already are circling in hopes of picking off a healthy limb or two from a team that entered the season with postseason aspirations. Over the last week, three scouts from prominent clubs expected to be buyers at the deadline started in-person evaluations of the team’s roster, including one who was specifically pulled off another assignment to follow the Twins.

More scouts are surely on the way.

Even though team president Derek Falvey said on June 23 that selling was “not his focus,” one rival evaluator opined the Twins must have privately acknowledged they’d be open to selling in order for opponents to start heavily scouting the roster.

What those scouts are discovering is a club that includes several intriguing pieces, both of the free-agent-to-be variety and possibly arbitration-eligible talent.

If the Twins decide to sell, Willi Castro, Chris Paddack, Harrison Bader and Danny Coulombe should draw interest, though their status as impending free agents naturally limits their trade value. Should the Twins seek a bigger payday, they might consider trading one of their controllable back end relievers, Jhoan Duran or Jax, either of whom would fetch a substantial return as neither is a free agent until after the 2028 season.

Though there’s no guarantee the Twins would open the store and unload controllable players, they might find themselves in a position where they need to.

The current roster features 11 players who are arbitration-eligible next year (possibly a 12th if Jose Miranda qualifies as a super-two) and growing expensive. Though some of those gains will be offset by the departures of six free agents earning a combined $34.15 million this season, it won’t cover all the additional arbitration costs.

While the team’s payroll increased by $15 million this year from 2024, there’s no guarantee the current ownership group would sign off on another increase in 2026 as the team faces dwindling revenues from ticket sales and remains for sale. Through Sunday, the Twins are on pace to draw 1.63 million fans to Target Field, a sharp decline from last season’s 1.95 million drawn. There are also no signs the impending sale process will end any time soon, either.

All of the above could force Falvey’s hand to sell off parts.

To their credit, the Twins demonstrated urgency in winning two of three against Tampa Bay, playing aggressively throughout a tightly-contested series.

Following a road trip in which hitters looked dazed and confused, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli and his staff did everything in their power to jumpstart the team.

Looking to generate any kind of offense, Baldelli on Friday called for a double steal with cleanup man Carlos Correa batting and two outs. The strategy failed because Trevor Larnach was expected to stop short of second base and surrender himself if Tampa Bay threw down, which would have allowed Castro to easily score. But Larnach tried to steal second base outright and was thrown out before Castro crossed the plate.

Baldelli also leaned heavily on Louis Varland, who pitched two scoreless innings on Friday, and Duran, who delivered two shutout frames on Saturday. Both multi-inning efforts were critical to comeback victories and a tactic rarely used by Baldelli with his high-end relievers.

The seventh-year manager also called for Brooks Lee’s game-winning safety squeeze bunt Saturday, a call Lee admitted he needed to verify the accuracy of before laying down the winner. On Sunday, third-base coach Tommy Watkins made an aggressive send with Larnach, who followed with a fantastic slide, to tie the game.

Even so, Baldelli said the calls were made in the moment and not with the big picture in mind.

“I’m trying to win the game, is really all we’re doing here,” Baldelli said. “Much of it is just what’s going on in front of us — the feel of the game, what we need to do to push a run across. The situation of the game matters more than anything else. How we’re playing, how different guys are doing, that’s what’s going to lead us to make decisions. …We’re going to try to play aggressively and try to win games aggressively and make aggressive decisions. Not just for the sake of it, but because we think it  can help us. That’s the way we’re going to continue to do it.”

But games like Sunday, where a lack of execution proves costly, are adding up. From poor defense to dismal hitting in the clutch, the Twins suddenly find themselves short on time.

Here are other Twins takeaways after the team’s first series victory in a month.

• Baldelli didn’t mince words when discussing his pitchers’ misplays. Down one in the eighth inning Sunday, Jax slipped as he pursued a Jonathan Aranda comebacker, which led to a second run scoring instead of an out at the plate or perhaps even an inning-ending double play.

Two innings later, Topa cleanly fielded a bunt with the Rays already up 5-4 and a man on second. Though Topa appeared to have enough time to throw to third for an out, he instead threw low to first base and the ball bounded into foul territory, which allowed the run to score and for batter José Cabellero to race all the way to third. Cabellero later scored to put Tampa Bay ahead by three runs.

“When they’re giving you an out, you need to get an out and you take the out,” Baldelli said. “There has to be good communication on the play and you just have to cleanly pick the ball up and throw a decent, accurate throw to first base. We didn’t do that and then it leads to other things happen. This isn’t rocket science. We’ve got to complete a play when they’re giving us an out.”

• Though he drew a pair of late walks, Carlos Correa was a non-factor hitting with runners on base yet again on Sunday. He grounded into a fielder’s choice in the first inning and struck out with runners in scoring position in the third and sixth innings. As Aaron Gleeman wrote earlier in the week, Correa’s average with runners in scoring position still sits at .275, but he’s not hitting for power in those spots.

A year ago, Friday’s double steal attempt never would have happened with Correa hitting. But with Correa struggling, the Twins are doing what they can to generate offense. Now, more than ever, the Twins need Correa thriving at the plate.

(Christopher Morel scores against Christian Vázquez on a fielders choice. Matt Krohn / Getty Images)

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