The Minnesota Twins are reportedly aiming to land a starting pitcher before the MLB trade deadline strikes at 3 p.m. Central Time Monday.
According to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi, the Twins are “working aggressively to trade for a starter.” Two names that continue to be linked to Minnesota are right-handers Dylan Bundy and Lance Lynn.
Source: The #Twins are working aggressively to trade for a starter today. Dylan Bundy and Lance Lynn are among the options they have considered. Minnesota has lost five straight and dropped to third place in the AL Central. @MLB @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) August 31, 2020
Bundy is 4-2 with a 2.47 ERA in seven starts with the Angels this season. That’s well below his career 4.53 ERA, though it’s possible that he’s finally figuring it out at the big-league level after debuting as a 19-year-old in 2012 after being taken with the fourth overall pick by the Orioles in the 2011 MLB Draft.
Bundy has allowed four hits or fewer in six of his seven starts, which includes three starts against both the Mariners and Athletics, and one versus the Giants.
Lynn, 33, is 4-1 with a pristine 1.93 ERA to go along with 56 strikeouts in a league-leading 51.1 innings. The right-hander has been a workhorse for the Rangers, whom he went 16-11 with a 3.67 ERA in 208 innings last season. He certainly appears to have regained the form that made him very good with the Cardinals for six seasons prior to posted a 5.10 ERA in 20 starts with the Twins in 2018.
Another name Minnesota has “checked in on” is Brewers All-Star lefty reliever Josh Hader, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. But Heyman says there is “nothing serious” between the two clubs yet.
Heyman also notes that the Twins aren’t too worried about their current starting staff.
Twins like their rotation of Maeda, Berrios, Odorizzi, Hill, Pineda and Dobnak so aren’t desperate for a starter. While they checked in on Hader and like him, there’s nothing serious happening there yet. General consensus is: Brewers would need to be bowled over to move JH.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 31, 2020
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