Twins Stand Pat While Division Rivals Reload

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Before the passing of the July 31st trading deadline for Major League Baseball, many contending teams took the opportunity to add pieces to their roster to gear up for the playoff stretch. It was also an opportunity for many underachieving teams to dump salary and look to the future.

The Twins, however, took neither approach this year.

In recent years the Twins have made several deals before the deadline to improve their team and help them get to the playoffs. Granted, giving up prospects for a player under your control for only 2 months is a risky play, but can the Twins keep pace with Detroit and Cleveland in the second half without doing anything?

Cleveland, a team that usually deals players at the deadline, made arguably the biggest splash by acquiring former Colorado Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez.

Detroit shored-up its pitching staff as well by acquiring pitchers Doug Fister and David Pauley from the Seattle Mariners. The Tigers also acquired third baseman Wilson Betemit from the Kansas City Royals.

The passing of the July 31st deadline does not mean that the Twins couldn’t potentially add anyone for the rest of the year however. August 31st is the waiver deadline for all teams, and acquiring players via waivers is a much more difficult process than a simple trade before July.

The Twins need to make some moves if they really want to compete for the AL Central for the rest of the season. Starting pitching, bullpen, maybe even a middle-infielder would do a world of good. But it just depends on the Twins ability to make a deal.