As it is July and the Twins find themselves once again in contention, trade banter is being kicked around. You’ve heard it here, I’m sure and clicking over, perhaps to other baseball sites or newspapers or whatever, you’ve heard the various rumors. The most prominent right now is that the Twins may be interested in Adrian Beltre of the Seattle Mariners. I’m not really a fan of this deal. The Twins and their fans, historically have put way too much influence on batting average, and not things like home runs or on base percentage, which are two things that Beltre brings to the table. I just don’t think Gardenhire will be patient enough to let Beltre be successful. Perhaps Edwin Encarnacion in Cincinnati will be the better choice. I think so.
But that’s not why we’re here. There are plenty of places throwing around speculation and offering up opinions. I have noticed a theme in the various comments here there and everywhere. They tend to go something like this:
That’s an excellent idea. Adrian Beltre would fill a lot of holes for the Twins. Too bad the Twins never make a big splash at the trade deadline, and they won’t make any trades.
Sure. This has been a complaint of mine the past few years. There is something we need to take into account though; the Twins have a new GM. Past few years? Terry Ryan was the GM. This season? Bill Smith. Different guys. Bill Smith has already proven himself to be a guy that is willing to shake things up and rebuild his team, executing two huge trades this offseason, including one that was of his own creation, the Garza-Young deal. So, yes, the Twins haven’t, historically, made big splashes at the deadline, but the Twins also, historically, haven’t had Bill Smith as their GM.
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