Here’s How The Twins Can Benefit From The Juan Soto Trade – Twins

It’s hard to argue that Juan Soto going to the New York Yankees is somehow a good thing for the Minnesota Twins. He’s a 25-year-old marquee player on a Hall of Fame trajectory, who will now don the pinstripes of Twins Territory’s most hated rival. But this monumental trade between the Bronx bombers and the San Diego Padres has many layers to it. If the Twins play their cards right, they could benefit from the shuffling of these rosters.

For those who missed it, Soto was sent to the Yankees along with outfielder Trent Grisham, for a package headlined by three of New York’s best young pitchers. While Childish Bambino will surely garner the most attention when looking at this swap, Grisham could be of interest to the Twins if the Yankees are willing to flip him.

Talks surrounding this trade went on for days before the Yankees and Padres finally made it official, and New York actually completed a separate deal in the meantime. In a surprising development, the Yankees acquired Alex Verdugo from the rival Boston Red Sox, and will have him seeing regular action in their outfield throughout the 2024 campaign. Was this a fallback option in case they couldn’t reel in Soto? A leverage play to soften San Diego’s demands? Or do they have more moves up their sleeve?

It’s unclear how all these pieces will fit together, but the club now finds themselves with a plethora of established outfielders, including Soto, Verdugo, Grisham and Aaron Judge. Each of those players are used to seeing everyday playing time, so somebody will have to take the back seat–and let’s just say Soto and Judge are assured to be sitting shotgun for the foreseeable future.

Could the Twins swoop in and make a play for Grisham? He would fill the hole left by Michael A. Taylor, that of a defense-forward true center fielder on a friendly contract. The fleet-footed 27-year-old has two years of club control remaining, and he’s expected to earn $4.9 million via arbitration in 2024. His stellar defense (92nd-percentile range, according to Statcast) makes him good enough to be a reliable option even if the bat falters, but he wouldn’t block playing time should Byron Buxton find himself healthy enough to take the field.

Grisham is a left-handed hitter, but he’s had reverse platoon splits throughout his career. Those numbers took it a step further in 2023, when he had a .790 OPS against fellow southpaws. That could fit nicely as a platoon option alongside Willi Castro, who had an .803 OPS against righties in 2023. In his whole career, Grisham has only 518 plate appearances against southpaws, so we have to do quite a bit of regression in order to project him in this way for the future, but it’s certainly worth noting.

The Yankees must have seen something they liked in Grisham when making the trade, but with Verdugo also in the fold, the former Padre could be expendable for the right price. Maybe the Twins can…