The Seattle Mariners and Minnesota Twins are in agreement on a trade that will send second baseman Jorge Polanco to Seattle, sources tell ESPN.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 30, 2024

• Justin Topa (RHP)
• Anthony DeSclafani (SP)
• Gabriel Gonzalez (MiLB – OF) – #79 prospect in baseball according to MLB.com
• Darren Bowen (MiLB – SP)

Minnesota Twins trading Jorge Polanco to Seattle Mariners

Polanco was signed by the Twins as a 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic and he blossomed into one of the sturdiest baseball players in their organization, over the next decade plus. As a big leaguer, Polanco has a .269 batting average, .780 OPS and 111 OPS+.

The move opens up 2nd base for (24 y/o) Edouard Julien in the short-term, and #18 MLB prospect, (22 y/o) Brooks Lee, in the long-term. The organizational depth the Twins have in the infield, with youngsters Lee, Julien and (24 y/o) Royce Lewis, along with the long-term contract of (29 y/o) Carlos Correa, allowed them to make this trade.

Related: Twins GM Says Brooks Lee Can Call Himself Up to Big Leagues Whenever He Feels Ready

The Mariners have been a popular projected trade destination for Polanco all offseason, since Seattle showed interest immediately when it became known that he’d hit the market. In return, the Twins are receiving two major league pitchers, one a back-end bullpen arm (Justin Topa), the other a fringe MLB starter (Anthony DeSclafani).

Twins receive immediate pitching help + top-100 prospect

32-year-old reliever, Justin Topa, was really good last season, tossing 75 innings out of the Mariners bullpen, posting a 2.61 ERA, 1.145 WHIP, 3.15 FIP and 155 ERA+. Unless DeSclafani has a comeback player of the year type season, Topa will be expected to make the biggest immediate impact on this roster, out of the four pieces that Minnesota received in this deal.

Justin Topa another pitcher Twins got in the Polanco trade. Sidewinding reliever who will be nice coming out of the pen. Team has 3 years of control. pic.twitter.com/yktl0Tbp9K

— Jeff (@MNTwinsZealot) January 30, 2024

Anthony DeSclafani is a 33-year-old right-handed starter whose last successful season was in 2021 with the Giants, when he pitched 167 innings, posting a 3.17 ERA with TWO complete game shutouts. Even two years ago, that’s impressive. Unfortunately, he’s pitched just 118.2 innings in two seasons since.

New #MNTwins starter Anthony DeSclafani is expected to be ready for the season. Dealt with injuries last two years, shut down last July with right elbow issue. Talks picked up between Twins and Seattle last 24 hours, seeds planted a while ago. pic.twitter.com/QCvsWVS9pw

— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) January 30, 2024

Related: 4 Big Name Scott Boras Free Agents That Fit Exactly What Minnesota Twins Still Need

But the piece of this trade that the Minnesota Twins front office is most excited about surely is top-100 outfield prospect (#79 – MLB.com), Gabriel Gonzalez, a 20-year-old right-handed hitter who spent last season with Seattle’s high-A affiliate.

Gabriel González is one of the top Venezuelan prospects in baseball, and was ranked #79 in @MLBPipeline’s recent Top 100 Prospects update. 🇻🇪pic.twitter.com/WbWmOPP1bm https://t.co/1tdtwVedhA

— Shawn Spradling (@Shawn_Spradling) January 30, 2024

In 477 minor league at-bats last season, Gonzalez finished with a pretty ridiculous statline: .298 BA | .361 OBP | .837 OPS | 18 HR | 83 RBI | 78 R. Starting pitcher prospect Darren Bowen is 22 years old and had a 3.88 ERA in 55.2 innings pitched last season.

The Twins opponent on Tuesday will be the 3rd and final Wildcard team in the American League (6-seed). Entering Sunday’s MLB regular season finale, just two teams — the Houston Astros or Toronto Blue Jays — still have a chance at landing the AL’s final seed.

Minnesota Twins Wildcard opponent — All Scenarios

The Astros are one game behind the Texas Rangers in the AL West and they are tied with the Blue Jays in the AL Wildcard race. The Astros own the AL West tiebreaker over the Rangers, but not the Wildcard tiebreaker over the Blue Jays. Hang with me. Sunday’s possible outcomes are actually pretty simple, I promise.

Related: Alex Rodriguez Will Call Minnesota Twins AL Wildcard Series

Keep it simple: The Twins 1st round playoff opponent will be the 3rd AL Wildcard team (6-seed) — If the Houston Astros lose Sunday, they will be 6-seed. That’s it, cut and dry. But, should Houston win and EITHER Toronto OR Texas lose, then the Toronto Blue Jays fall to the 6-seed.

Here are all of the possible scenarios:

The Blue Jays do not hold their own Wildcard destiny, though they can help their chances at keeping the 2nd wildcard with a victory. If both the Blue Jays and the Astros win, but Texas loses, then the Astros would jump the Rangers and be crowned AL West champs, bumping Texas down to a wildcard team, where they would hold the tiebreaker over the Blue Jays.

How we got here

The Seattle Mariners came into their regular season finale series this week vs the Texas Rangers needing a sweep to keep their playoff hopes alive. They won the first two games but lost on Saturday, extinguishing their final opportunity at the postseason.

Related: Royce Lewis Injury Could Cost Byron Buxton a Spot on Twins’ Wildcard Roster

What Minnesota Twins fans should be watching for.

Heading into the regular season finale, the Minnesota are most likely to draw the Houston Astros, but that is far from a guarantee. There’s nearly as good of a chance they land the Toronto Blue Jays, instead.

So if you are one of those Twins fans who is shaking in their boots at the thought of facing Houston in the 1st round then you need to pray they win on Sunday. Then, all you need is a Blue Jays OR Rangers loss to escape an opening round series vs the perennial World Series contenders.

Read all of our Minnesota Twins blogs

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Yes, three wildcard teams will make the MLB Postseason in 2022, and going forward. That means 6 teams in each conference and 12 playoff teams in total. Two teams in each conference will receive a 1st-round bye and will not participate in Wildcard Weekend. That leaves the worst division winner of the three (the AL Central this season), and three wildcard teams to duke it out.

Twins’ Playoff Picture

The AL West (Astros) and AL East (Yankees) have far better records than the teams battling for AL Central superiority. That means, unless the Yankees continue to lose at the same pace they have been lately, the Twins will play on Wildcard Weekend, even if they win the division.

As of Saturday morning, the Minnesota Twins sit 1 game back of the Cleveland Guardians, in the AL Central standings. The White Sox are 3.5 games behind the division leaders. But winning the AL Central isn’t the Twins’ only opportunity to get into the postseason.

Earlier in the year, many believed the AL East was so good that they would run away with all three wildcard sports in the American League. But with 45 games remaining on the Twins schedule, they sit just 0.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the 3rd wildcard spot and just 2 games behind the Seattle Mariners for the 1st wildcard.

Wildcard Weekend explained

There are more significant changes that need to be mentioned, as it pertains to the 1st round of the upcoming playoffs. There will be two wildcard series in each conference (four total). Three wildcard teams and the worst of the three division winners. All 1st round series will be “best-of-3”. So, the first team to win two games will move onto the Divisional Round.

The other twist? All three games of each series will be played at the higher seed’s stadium. No switching locations. That means, should the Minnesota Twins win the AL Central, but miss out on a 1st round bye, they’d play all 1st round games at Target Field (vs the #3 wildcard team). The #1 wildcard will also play all of that weekend at home (vs the #2 wildcard team).

After the wildcard round, the playoff bracket looks much more familiar. Eight teams battling through the Divisional and Championship rounds, to reach the World Series. All games, from the Divisional round on will be “best-of-7”.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

But if for only one game, it was the pitching staff — led by rookie starter Joe Ryan and scoreless appearances from unknown relievers, Jhoan Duran, Jorge Alcala and Danny Coulombe — who kept the Twins within striking distance of the Seattle Mariners on Opening Day.

Jhoan Duran, 100mph Fastball and 96mph Splinker, Overlay. pic.twitter.com/zvXXoxIint

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 8, 2022

Offense Lacking, Pitching Not

Unfortunately, the highly touted offense, especially Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa, failed to drive in runs when given opportunities. Both superstars went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. A solo homerun from newcomer, Gio Urshela, was the only run the Twins got on the scoreboard. Correa did have one of four Minnesota hits and his glove can’t be left out of this equation. He saved a run or two with his play at shortstop.

Carlos Correa showing off his platinum glove in his new colors! ???????? pic.twitter.com/Hiycite6nk

— Just Baseball (@JustBBMedia) April 8, 2022

Joe Ryan is the first Opening Day starter the Twins have trotted onto the mound since 1969. He certainly wasn’t perfect, surrendering a 2-run HR to Mitch Haniger in the first inning and struggling to locate his fastball all day, but Joe Cool battled and certainly held up his end of the bargain (4 IP 2 R, 2 H, 4 BB, 4 K), especially given the circumstances.

Gary Sanchez: Almost a Hero

Down 2-1, the Minnesota Twins gave one more heart-stopping run at a victory in the bottom of the 9th inning. Luis Arraez manufactured a pinch hit single to leadoff the inning but it was followed by two-straight strikeouts. Then with two outs, Gary Sanchez connected with 2-2 pitch from Seattle closer Drew Steckenrider.

Sanchez thought he had walked off the Mariners in his first game as a Twin. Dick Bremer was convinced of the same fate. They were both wrong. Jesse Winker caught it at the left field fence and the game was over. Seattle wins 2-1.

Gary Sanchez thought he was still at Yankee Stadium pic.twitter.com/IQnaswvRfP

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) April 8, 2022

Now, the 0-1 Minnesota Twins will look to get back to .500 tomorrow with Sonny Gray on the hill.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Another weekday gone, another roster dump for the Minnesota Twins:

Sources: zach duke to Mariners

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 30, 2018

Sometimes, the changes that have happened over the last 10 years, when it comes to how sports news is reported, make me want to laugh. I don’t mean to bring down big timers like Jon, in the least. They’ve been pushed to this by the internet age. Zach Duke isn’t even capitalized. That’s how important it is to be the first one. If you got the text message, so are other reporters. You don’t even have the 7 seconds it takes to correct your phone. That shit is just funny.

Moving on.

So, Zach Duke gets traded after a very mediocre stint with the Twins, that didn’t even make it to the partnership’s first trade deadline. Duke, like most other pitchers brought in during last offseason, is on just a one year deal and set to hit free agency when the 2018 season comes to a close. Duke will do his best to get back to the pitcher he was two years ago before requiring Tommy John Surgery immediately after the 2016 season, causing him to miss most of 2017.

In return, the Twins received (IF) Ryan Costello and (P) Chase De Jong. As has been the narrative, the Twins didn’t get anything stellar back in return. “So-so” is what Parker Hageman of TwinsDaily.com calls it. Here are both prospects’ stat tables from MiLB.com

Ryan Costello:

Chase De Jong:

I’d say the #MNTwins wound up getting so-so value out of Zach Duke.

Ryan Castello, 3B, a little old for low-A (22) but has some power: league-leading 16 HRs in Midwest League.

Chase De Jong, RHP, reportedly has a very good curveball but just an OK low 90s fastball.

— Parker Hageman (@ParkerHageman) July 30, 2018

That’s not all the news that came out though, this afternoon. Eduardo Escobar was close to Twin fans’ hearts but trading Brian Dozier may lead to more rioting on our facebook page than even Escobar did. He is the ultimate piece that, WHEN traded, will have the detractors yelling “Pohlad Pocket Protectors!”. But, it looks like he is more likely to go, than to stay. Most of us already knew this but the writing looks to be thicker and thicker on that locker room wall…

There’s still a strong sense that the #Twins will deal Brian Dozier to a contender by the deadline, even though no obvious fit jumps off the map.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) July 30, 2018

And before I can even finish this post, Lance Lynn has now been moved to the Yankees. Off the bat (how do you like that pun), this looks like a guy that some really like and others have given up on. Brandon Warne from ZoneCoverage.com says below, that part of his issues have been health related…

It looks like nobody wanted Lance Lynn more than the Yankees. And for Lance, he now gets to go back to a place where he was very good, for a team that has a REAL chance at winning the whole damn thing. Good for him.

Former top-100 guy. Big raw. Can really hit, has struggled to stay healthy. https://t.co/mUGf5FChre

— Brandon Warne (@Brandon_Warne) July 30, 2018

For the record, I never like negative news surrounding one of my teams and nobody likes to see franchise staples be traded away from the Twin Cities. Unfortunately, that’s just how the MLB works. This is how teams operate when the deadline comes, depending where they are sitting in the standings that season. You can hate that if you want. But, that’s what’s been proven throughout the league, for any team outside of Boston and New York. It’s about gaining assets. In professional baseball, more than any other sport, top prospects fizzle out and lower-tier guys end up with long professional careers. It’s a numbers game.

And, if you believe that this is how every competent MLB front office would operate (which I do), then it’s difficult to get out my pitch fork. We can’t let our impatience from the incompetence of the past affect how we treat this new regime. They deserve SOME of the patience and time that the last regime got. So, that’s what I’ll give them.

At least until I see what they do with the $100 Million they will have to spend this offseason….

Eric Strack
Minnesota Sports Fan (@RealMNSportsFan)