Brian Dozier helped the Twins a series win over the Yankees on Wednesday.
It was the first time in nearly a decade that Minnesota took a series at home against New York, and the victory has the Twins just a half game back of an AL Wild Card spot.
With August around the corner and the MLB trade deadline just 12 days away, Dozier believes the team’s new front office executives – Derrick Falvey and Thad Levine – will be buyers at this year’s deadline.
‘We could use a couple more pieces’
“We’re a game back and still got a lot of baseball to go,” Dozier told GoMN Sports after Wednesday’s win. “So we’re playing good baseball to what we have but we could always use a couple more pieces to get to playing in October and I think they know what it is.”
Falvey and Levine have said the team wants to target players who are under contract beyond the 2017 season, and not trade for impending free agents.
There have been reports linking Minnesota to Oakland A’s ace Sonny Gray – who could be the best arm available at this year’s deadline. They’ve also kicked the tires on Dan Straily of the Marlins who wouldn’t cost as much as what Oakland would command for Gray.
“Thad and Derrick are very good at what they do,” Dozier added. “I think they’ve been really good at not necessarily speaking about it; I’m sure there’s a lot of things going on. They know what we need to make a final push at this thing.”
Important stretch coming up
The Twins open a three-game series against Detroit on Friday and then will hit the road for a 10-game road trip with their first stop against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who own the best record in the National League.
Cleveland’s on top of the AL Central, but the Indians have lost four out of five since the All-Star Break. If the Twins are still in contention for the rest of the month, the team is likely to live up to their word as buyers at this year’s deadline.
