Let's Make a Deal: Players the Twins officially aquire from the Mets

Thanks to an abysmal month of May that saw them go 9-19, the New York Mets are seven games under .500 and firmly out of the NL East picture. That said, as of this writing, they find themselves just three games out of a Wild Card spot, so it’s still not certain whether they will be sellers next month.

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If the Mets do sell, there are surely pieces on whom the Minnesota Twins need to kick the tires, and nobody sticks out more than their power-hitting first basemen. I’m going to bow out of writing more on Pete Alonso, though, and direct you to a great read on this very topic by our very own, Cody Christie. The only thing worth adding, since that piece was written at the beginning of the month, is that the need is even greater after the demotion of Alex Kirilloff.

So who else is there? Let’s start by looking at some pitching help. Let me preface this section with my belief that you can never have enough pitching–like, ever. So, while David Festa looks to be nearly ready for his crack at the big-league rotation, I’m hoping the Twins acquire a back-end or better arm, even if that pushes his debut into 2025.

Starting Pitchers
While acquiring a back-end arm may not be overly helpful in the postseason, the team needs to get there first. The Mets have two starting arms on expiring deals on whom I’d expect the Minnesota front office to call. At the top of that list is the same pitcher the Twins chased from the 2017 Wild Card game against the Yankees, in righthander Luis Severino.

Severino has struggled through injuries over the five seasons leading up to 2024, but he’s regained his pre-2019 form this season, posting a 3.25/3.73 ERA/FIP over 12 starts wherein he’s averaged 6.0 innings per start. Given his production and the relatively cheap cost, he likely will fetch a pretty solid return in a competitive market. Because of the injury history, likely demand, and the recent track record of Twins trading prospects for pitchers, I’m probably out on Severino, but I can’t say he’s not intriguing.