Minnesota Twins Acquire Pitcher in Trade With Diamondbacks

The Minnesota Twins and Arizona Diamondbacks reportedly agreed to a trade on Monday. Minnesota is receiving relief pitcher Taylor Rashi, Nick Piecoro reports. Rashi, 30, is a right-handed reliever who has displayed signs of potential.

Rashi has a career 5.40 ERA at the MLB level, but he has turned in a 3.47 ERA during his minor league career. At Triple-A this season, the right-handed hurler has recorded a 1.03 ERA across 17 outings. Meanwhile, he has turned in an underwhelming 9.82 ERA in three big league outings this year.

The Diamondbacks seemingly wanted to give him an opportunity, but he has continued to struggle at the MLB level. Arizona ultimately designated him for assignment, which led to the trade on Monday with the Twins.

The Twins’ pitching staff can certainly use the help. The ball club currently is 25th in team ERA, 25th in total runs allowed, 23rd in WHIP and 23rd in opponents’ batting average.

Taylor Rashi realistically will not make or break the Twins’ season. With that being said, acquiring pitching help is never a bad idea. Minnesota’s bullpen has been especially uncertain, so perhaps Rashi can help matters down the road. It remains to be seen if he will receive a big league opportunity, however.

Twins Competing Despite Difficult Season So Far

Minnesota was not expected to compete this year. While the team is just 30-37 overall, they are still in third place in the American League Central standings. Minnesota is seven games behind the Cleveland Guardians for first place in the division as of this story’s writing. 

Meanwhile, Minnesota is only three games back of an American League Wild Card spot. The AL is not especially deep this year, so Minnesota could possibly compete for a postseason spot. However, the Twins need to find more overall consistency if they want to make serious noise in the standings.

Minnesota is looking to perform well in its next series. The team is not playing on Monday. They are set to begin a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night. 

Taj Bradley (5-2, 3.56 ERA) is set to start the ball game for the Twins. For Detroit, Troy Melton (2-0, 1.74) is scheduled to start.

It should be a competitive contest between the American League Central rivals. First pitch for the game on Tuesday night between the Twins and Tigers is scheduled for 6:40 PM EST in Detroit.