Minnesota Twins reliever Taylor Rogers was placed on the injured list on Tuesday but that doesn’t mean the left-hander is off the trade market.
Rogers left Monday’s win over the Detroit Tigers when a pitch sailed toward the backstop in the ninth inning. After a brief examination, Rogers was removed from the game with a sprained middle finger.
Despite the injury, several teams should be interested in Rogers’s services ahead of Saturday’s trade deadline. Rogers owns a 2-4 record, 3.35 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 40.1 innings this season.
MLB.com’s Mike Petriello pointed out on Twitter that players can still be traded when injured and that Rogers would still be a great fit on a contender.
(Yeah, injured players can be traded. That myth comes up all the time. Corey Dickerson, Carl Crawford, and Bronson Arroyo all say hi.)
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) July 27, 2021
Rogers is under contract through the 2022 season but could be on the move. Byron Buxton and José Berríos, who are also under contract through next season, declined extension offers from the Twins and could trigger a full-blown fire sale at the deadline.
Speaking on MLB Radio last weekend, Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said that pairing two or more players to maximize their return in a trade was “something we have talked about.”
Still, Twins owner Jim Pohlad said in an interview with Dan Hayes of The Athletic said the team is “absolutely not” going into a rebuild.
“We want to be in the win window all the time,” Pohlad said. “We expected that to be the case this year.”
Despite their preseason expectations, the Twins entered Tuesday night’s game with the Detroit Tigers in last place of the American League Central with a record of 43-58. With a roster that has several intriguing pieces, the Twins could make a deal if the price is right.
