The #MNTwins front office dodging fan trade demands for 2 months: pic.twitter.com/oO3OlSuWnl

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) July 19, 2019

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But, if you like chasing around trade rumors (who doesn’t) then we have some good news falling out of the Twitter sky today. Either one of these guys would change EVERYTHING, when looking to the playoffs and a World Series run.

Source: #Twins had a top talent evaluator in San Francisco for last night's Madison Bumgarner-Noah Syndergaard matchup. Minnesota has the prospects to make a strong play for either starter and also has interest in the #SFGiants relievers. @MLB @MLBNetwork

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 19, 2019

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Yes… that is a credible reporter, reporting on the Twins’ top scout being in San Francisco last night to watch Noah Syndergaard vs Madison Bumgarner in a National League showdown. I can’t imagine he’s there to enjoy some ballpark popcorn and a good pitching matchup on his day off…

Oh, how did the game go? Both guys were lights-out. Bumgarner was better.

All of this is good news for the Twins, until you look at the N.L. Standings and realize that the Giants are only 2.5 games out of a Wild Card spot… so now there are new rumors swirling. Apparently, Madison Bumgarner may be getting less-available by the day. That’s according to a very reliable Jon Heyman… but without any time left on his deal after this year, are the Giants really going to give up MadBum for nothing, after this season, to chase a 1-game wild card spot?

No way.

to chase a wildcard spot??????? I'm calling the @SFGiants bluff. https://t.co/PGrIWyHxzg

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) July 19, 2019

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Whether it’s Bumgarner, Syndergaard, Stroman, or somebody else I’m not naming…. just make something happen. And, don’t forget about the bullpen. Taylor Rodgers’ arm (and back) has to be sore.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

via GIPHY

Here is the latest on several names the Twins have been linked to:

Madison Bumgarner was removed after two innings tonight after taking a line drive off his pitching arm in the first.
#SFGiants pic.twitter.com/pa2SomuGZx

— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) July 7, 2019

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Yikes. But, Bumgarner is a badass and made his next start immediately after getting drilled. We know what we’re getting with Bumgarner: a bulldog who will take his turn every 5th day. Oh, and he has pitched pretty well in the playoffs too. There will be some questions with Bumgarner, though. What’s the asking price? He will be a free agent after the season and Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press reported over the weekend, that the Twins don’t seem to be interested in rental pitchers. That’s exactly what Bumgarner is, but everyone has their price…

It’s time for the #sfgiants to pick off a great talent on the verge of a ML breakthrough or a young veteran from a contender:
A’s-Jorge Mateo
Astros-Kyle Tucker
Twins-Brent Rooker
Dodgers-Gavin Lux
Yankees-Clint Frazier
Braves-Cristian Pache/Drew Waters
Nationals-Carter Kieboom

— Larry Krueger (@sportslarryknbr) July 14, 2019

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The Giants continue to remain out of the playoff race so they should have plenty of motivation to make deals at the deadline. This will be one to keep an eye on until something goes down.

Marcus Stroman delivers a strong scouting report on Marcus Stroman.

He's a confident, commanding pitcher who seems eager to pitch in big spots. No wonder Yankees are very interested. pic.twitter.com/FV7t4e1Bj2

— John Chandler (@JohnChandlerNBC) July 15, 2019

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Stroman went into New York and quieted a very dangerous Yankee team at Yankee Stadium, and the Blue Jays still lost. The 28-year-old has battled the AL East for his entire career so he is battle tested, to say the least. He’s only eligible for arbitration next season so he is not simply a rental either. The Twins could also look to grab his teammate Ken Giles at the same time, but we might have to hold off on that front:

Ken Giles is dealing with nerve inflammation after a bad massage https://t.co/8o34jHeRJF

— HardballTalk (@HardballTalk) July 14, 2019

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Well at least it goes more under the “freak injury” category. These two would be worthwhile for the Twins to aggressively pursue. 

Those are two of the names the Twins have been most heavily linked to ahead of the deadline. I don’t get the sense that some of the bigger names will be moved, so we will just keep our focus on the attainable goals. And for all of our sakes I hope the Twins do something soon, but until they do all we can do is wait… if nothing is done, the situation will get more fluid as we near the end of July.

via GIPHY

Seth Toupal | MinnesotaSportsFan.com

Meanwhile though, our guy Darren Wolfson is trying to throw a bit of cold water over the sprouting flames.

I have no doubt that @Charley_Walters received this information from someone very plugged in. Can add late tonight that someone very plugged in says this is premature. But I also have no doubt that it's worth monitoring even closer moving forward. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/qkZdsMvRGm

— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) June 16, 2019

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There wasn’t any context with Charley’s rumor. What you see in the screen shot by Wolfson is what you get. Classic old-school newspaper guy. When you don’t go on Twitter for nearly a month, I guess it’s easy to avoid anyone asking follow-up questions…

But Wolfson continued on the rumors and reached out to some of his own sources. Darren seems convinced (part of why I’ve been convinced) that the Twins are in the move-making business and goes on to tweet that much last night:

Text just now: "Premature." So nothing on the cusp. But make no mistake: Twins have interest.

— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) June 16, 2019

They are going to add. More a matter of who, not if. How good did Fury look tonight?

— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) June 16, 2019

They are going to do something.

— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) June 16, 2019

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If you put weight into these two reporters (and you should), then it’s hard to believe the Twins aren’t on the brink of mixing things up in (positive) ways we haven’t seen in my lifetime. Madison Bumgarner makes a lot of sense because you currently have two legitimate righties, in Berrios and Odorizzi, to fill a 1-3 spot in a playoff rotation.

You need to add someone who is as high-caliber as those two OR better. They are also both right-handed, so it would be nice to make that additional arm a lefty. Bumgarner checks both of those boxes. You also would prefer some nice postseason experience, since Berrios has never pitched in a playoff series. MadBum is toting 3 World Series Rings and a WS MVP.

Lastly, in a perfect world, you wouldn’t have to give up the future of your farm system to get your new arm. Again, the Giant’s Lefty should check this box too. He is only under contract for the rest of this season, making him a 2nd-half rental. Without any years left on his deal past this season, his price will drop significantly, compared to someone of the same caliber, who has years left remaining on a deal.

He’d be the perfect world add… and don’t forget about that fire baby. I love his fucking fire. There’s a reason why this guy has so much playoff and World Series cred.

.@MadDogUnleashed weighs in on the drama between Madison Bumgarner and Max Muncy. #HighHeat pic.twitter.com/DwCJ4SqUao

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) June 10, 2019

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Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

As good as their starting pitching has been (surprisingly), it’s a consensus among most fans (the smart ones) that the Twins are in need of one more bona fide #1 or #2 starting pitcher (plus some bullpen help but that’s for another article) to solidify their roster for a deep playoff run.

Well, welcome to San Francisco where nobody can afford taxes and people shit on the street… (wait, if we unite the people of SF and the people of Philly, we could fix this problem)… oh, and their baseball team is fucking horrible:

I can find 447 instances of a #SFGiants starter giving up at least 7 earned runs in a game between 1908 and this weekend.

According to @baseball_ref, it has not happened three times in the same series until Beede, Rodríguez and Pomeranz all gave up at least seven in Cincinnati.

— Kerry Crowley (@KO_Crowley) May 6, 2019

The Reds lead 5-0 after one and the #SFGiants have now been outscored 33-2 in the first inning of games this year.

That's a -31 run differential. This is their 35th game.

— Kerry Crowley (@KO_Crowley) May 6, 2019

Giants starters have given up 27 runs in a series for the first time since 2006 (vs. Brewers) and fifth time in #sfgiants West Coast history. Per STATS, LLC.

— John Shea (@JohnSheaHey) May 6, 2019

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— I found these tweets in this GENIUS McCovey Chronicles (SB Nation) Blog post

So, Madison Bumgarner (4x All-Star, 3x WS Champ, WS MVP, NLCS MVP, 2x Silver Slugger..) wants out of that shit hole (literally) and I don’t even know the reason. As you can see in the last 2 screen scrolls, he has A LOT of reasons to want out of San Fran. With his trade request, he submitted a list of 8 teams to the Giants. Apparently, he has the right to veto any trade to teams on that list (again I haven’t looked into his contract on why he can do this because my kid is going to wake up any second, but I will when I have a moment).

Here is that list. Again, if traded to one of these teams, he would have the right to veto said trade:

Madison Bumgarner’s eight-team no-trade list, per sources:#Braves#RedSox#Cubs#Astros#Brewers#Yankees#Phillies#STLCards

Bumgarner chose teams strategically; list comprised solely of contenders that might want to acquire him from #SFGiants, not teams he wants to avoid.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 11, 2019

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If you are a baseball fan then you will notice a couple things about this list. First, if you’re a Twins fan then you’ll notice that they are NOT on the list. So, if we struck a deal with the Giants, Bumgarner would have no say in the deal. But for those who know the league a bit outside of The Great State, then you also realize that the teams he did list are all contenders.

A team being listed doesn’t mean Bumgarner can’t or won’t be traded there. It just means that, if traded to one of those teams, he would have a say in the negotiations. I am going to do some investigating to see how that’s been used in the past, but I also have a couple of thoughts about what it may mean for his odds of landing here in MN.

You’d think it makes life easier for the Twins’ front office, to bring Bumgarner to Target Field for the rest of 2019. Whatever Madison would want to negotiate on his end would be null, since they aren’t on the veto list. He only has the rest of this year on his contract and he’s going to try and pitch well when on the mound, no matter how he gets there.

However, as stated before, his list was all top contenders. So, why did he leave the Twins off of it? 

• Positive Spin: Maybe he wants to come here the most… Is there any possibility, in the entire ever-expanding universe full of possibilities, that Madison Bumgarner has the Twins on such a short list that he wants a chance to veto a trade anywhere else, in order to land here.. Hmmmmm…
• Negative Spin: Maybe he left us off the list because he knows there is no chance that we make a real play for him… Obviously, Bumgarner’s agent has been on the phone and scouring for teams who may be interested in his massive client. Knowing that playoff teams are going to be the ones making plays, he would have contacted the Twins (since they have the best record in baseball). Madison wants a say in where he goes… so if there’s no chance that the Twins make a play, there’s no need to include them on the veto list. It would disgust me if he and his agent found this little of interest out of our camp..

Again, I’m going to do some more digging, after posting this, and will come back with answers when I find some. There are ZERO excuses for not being involved in talks for Madison Bumgarner. He is EXACTLY what the Twins need. He would be the type of signing that would shut all of the “Pohlad Pocket Invaders” up. It would tell everyone that this organization is serious about winning big when given the opportunity…

By some divine alien miracle, it’s past 8 AM and my 1.17 year-old (14 months) is still sleeping, so I am convinced that anything is possible.

Fuck, have you watched this Twins team play? Anything really is possible…

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan