CLEVELAND — With a mass exodus underway, Griffin Jax requested a deal of his own Thursday, one the Minnesota Twins granted only minutes before the clock ran out.
Initially, the Twins didn’t know if they’d find the right return for their elite setup man because of a slow-developing market.
But an early phone call Thursday from the Tampa Bay Rays to gauge the Twins’ interest in a swap of Jax for young starting pitcher Taj Bradley and hours of mulling the proposal led to a stunning trade made minutes before the 5 p.m. CT cutoff.
While the Twins felt compelled to trade Jhoan Duran earlier because they liked the offers they received, that initially wasn’t the case with Jax. Duran was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies early Wednesday evening, only hours after Jax erupted at manager Rocco Baldelli late in a blowout loss to Boston.
The Duran deal netted the Twins an upside talent in Triple-A starting pitcher Mick Abel and a potential All-Star in High-A Cedar Rapids catcher Eduardo Tait, who currently is ranked No. 56 on MLB Pipeline’s top-100 prospect list.
But a group of suitors, which also included Seattle, Toronto and Boston didn’t emerge for Jax until later in the afternoon.
“In Duran’s case, you get Tait and Abel, one of the best young catching prospects in all of baseball and a guy who is 23 and could be a major-league starter with elite stuff,” Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. “In Jax’s case, a lot of the other conversations we were having weren’t quite there. … But then the conversation with Tampa bubbled into a discussion about Taj Bradley, who, a very short time ago, was one of the highest-profile young starters coming up to the big leagues in all of baseball.”
Though Jax’s incident with Baldelli didn’t motivate the Twins to trade him, ironically, it may have set the wheels in motion for a deal. In the dugout for the blowup, ex-Twins shortstop Carlos Correa was aware Jax was frustrated with Baldelli’s decision and asked if he’d like to meet with the manager and if he wanted Correa to participate, too.
After Jax agreed, Correa brought him into Baldelli’s office and helped smooth things over once the manager explained his decision. Correa later informed Jax of the conversation he’d had with Falvey about the franchise’s direction. He told Jax he’d waive his no-trade clause for a deal only to Houston if the Twins really were set to break up the roster.
Once the teardown was underway Thursday, including the shocking deal which sent Correa back to the Astros, Jax asked his representative to put in the trade request, multiple league sources confirmed.
But as little as 25 minutes before the 5 p.m. deadline, Jax thought he would remain with the Twins, especially when an erroneous report indicated Joe Ryan had been traded to the Boston Red Sox. Though the rumor was quickly scrubbed from social media, Ryan believed he was on the verge of being traded, and Jax worried about sticking around after asking to go.
What Ryan, Jax, and a handful of other players cooped together in a hotel room didn’t know was that the Twins were about to decide Tampa’s offer of Bradley was the one they’d finalize. The Twins also were closing in on a surprising deal that sent reliever Louis Varland to the Blue Jays for outfielder Alan Roden and pitching prospect Kendry Rojas.
“I don’t know what exactly (Jax) was thinking,” Ryan said. “There’s a lot of emotions from the day before. I know that was probably weighing on him and that the team was going to be shifted around and that the season hasn’t gone our way. It’s a tough place to be in. … He wasn’t freaking out or anything. I think there was a lot of shock just kind of what happened with everything. There’s so much that goes into it. It was a very weird shift.”
Here’s what else I’ve learned in the days following a deadline week in which the Twins traded 10 players:
— Though he couldn’t on Friday because Ryan was starting, Falvey felt compelled on Saturday to discuss what the pitcher described as a “fake trade” to the Red Sox to clear the air. Ryan said late Friday he thought he’d been traded because of an incorrect report and continued to believe it until the deadline passed and no deal was announced.
But a source said Falvey clarified to Ryan on Saturday that talks between the Twins and Red Sox never gained traction. Team sources said, unlike most teams that worked ahead on trade concepts, which allowed the Twins ample time to prepare for deals involving non-rental players, Boston didn’t seriously engage until 15 minutes before the deadline. By that point, the teams struggled to quickly agree on basic elements of a deal, and the Twins declined to pursue a trade.
— With an inexperienced back end of the bullpen, multiple league sources said the Twins have reached out to veteran free agent Ryan Pressly about a possible reunion. Pressly converted five of seven save attempts and notched seven holds with a 4.35 ERA in 44 games this season before he was designated for assignment by the Chicago Cubs on Thursday and released on Friday.
A Rule 5 pick in December 2012, Pressly pitched parts of six seasons for the Twins before they traded him to the Houston Astros in July 2018. A source said Pressly, 36, is mulling his options, including retirement.
— Following their trades, Twins owner Joe Pohlad phoned all 10 players traded to say thank you, a team source said.
“He seemed flustered,” one player said. “Him and Derek seemed very stressed out.”
— The Twins and Phillies share a complex in the Dominican Republic, which led to familiarity with 16-year-old pitcher Geremy Villoria, one of two players whom the team acquired in a trade for outfielder Harrison Bader. The Twins scouted the Venezuelan-born Villoria, who signed with Philadelphia for $425,000 in January.
“We felt he was one of the top pitchers in Venezuela for the class,” said Twins vice president of international scouting Kevin Goldstein.
Villoria, who debuted for the Twins Dominican Summer League team on Saturday, has 21 strikeouts and five walks issued in 16 innings this season. He’s touched 94 mph, and his slider has generated a number of swing and misses, Goldstein said.
— The big question surrounding Tait, the catching prospect acquired from Philadelphia in the Duran deal, is whether or not he will stay behind the dish. One rival general manager called it a 50-50 proposition similar to Baltimore’s top prospect, catcher/first baseman Samuel Basallo.
Even if he doesn’t stick as a catcher, Tait, who was promoted to High-A Cedar Rapids and debuted on Saturday, the belief is that he would play at first base, too. MLB Pipeline grades Tait with a 50-hit tool on the 20-80 scouting scale and a 60-power tool. The fourth youngest player in the Florida State League this season, Tait batted .251/.322/.436 with 11 homers and 51 RBIs in 332 plate appearances.
(Photo: Stephen Maturen / Getty Images)