The Twins Should Consider Reuniting With A Pair Of Nationals Relievers
The MLB Trade Deadline is July 30 at 5:00 p.m. CT, and the Minnesota Twins are buyers for the third season in a row. The number of sellers this deadline is uncertain because many teams are still in contention for a wild card spot.
However, the Washington Nationals are well out of it. They are seven games out of the last wild card spot and 17.5 games out of the NL East. The Nationals have multiple breakout players, such as CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, and Bloomington native Jake Irvin, but they are unlikely to deal any of them.
However, any player on one-year deals who will enter the open market again in the winter will likely be traded by Tuesday afternoon. The Nationals could trade two former Twins, Derek Law (2021) and Dylan Floro (2023), out of their bullpen.
Law and Floro have thrown over 50 games for the Nationals this season and pitched well. Law has pitched 63 innings, which is second among all relievers in MLB this season behind Ryan Yarbrough (67), and he has posted a 3.14 ERA, a 3.58 FIP, and a 7.71 K per 9 rate on the mound this season. However, Law’s shortcomings are the contact hitters are making off him. Opponents are hitting .269 off him out of the bullpen this year, and he’s surrendered six home runs.
His fastball velocity isn’t overpowering; he typically tops out at 97 mph. Therefore, opposing hitters are hitting well off his fastball arsenal. They have a .305 batting average (25-for-82) off his cutter, a .296 batting average (8-for-27) off his four-seamer, and a .417 batting average (10-for-24) off his sinker. However, Law is having a lot of success with his offspeed stuff this year.
Law’s slider has been very effective against hitters, as they hold a .174 batting average (16-for-92) against it this year. While he’s not a big strikeout guy, he’s getting more strikeouts with his slider than his other pitches. Opposing hitters are whiffing 39.8% of the time they swing at it.
Law has evolved from the reliever he once was with the Twins three years ago when he had a 4.20 ERA in just nine relief appearances. His slider alone could be worth an extra addition to the Twins bullpen this trade deadline. Plus, he’s on a team-friendly contract. The Nationals only signed him to a 1-year, $1.5 million deal this off-season, which means the Twins would only have to pay out approximately $500,000 if they reacquaint themselves with him.
Floro is having a phenomenal bounce-back season from a bad 2023 that he split between the Miami Marlins and Twins. The Twins acquired him in a swap for Jorge López on July 26 last season as both teams looked to provide their relievers a change of scenery due to their struggles up to that point.
Unfortunately for both teams, neither Floro nor Lopez panned out well to finish their 2023 seasons. In just 19 games with the Twins, Floro had a 5.29 ERA and was released by the team on September 29 before the season ended. This season with the Nationals has been a different story, as Floro has posted a 2.06 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP in 52.1 innings.
The downside with Floro this season is that all his pitches have gone down in their velocity from last year. In 2023, he averaged 92.3 MPH on his fastball but dropped to 90 MPH even this year. Still, opposing hitters’ batting average have dropped against his four-seamer as hitters had a .271 average (16-for-59) in 2023 compared to a .200 opponent average (7-for-35) this year.
Floro’s contract is slightly higher with Washington this year; the Nationals signed him to a $2.25 million deal for 2024. Therefore, a team trading for Floro would still owe him approximately $750,000 for the final two months of the year. Still, Floro and Law provide much more reasonable deals with the budgetary restraints Twins ownership has placed on the front office this trade deadline.
Floro has been one of the better pitch-to-contact relievers this season, which has helped him become a dependable set-up man for the Nats. With his performance down the stretch last season in Minnesota, it was understandable to let him go at the time. Relievers are tricky to project long-term as they can struggle in one season and then develop into dependable arms the following season, as Law and Floro have done.
The Kansas City Royals traded with the Texas Rangers to bolster their rotation, adding starter Michael Lorenzen Monday morning. That’s a sign the Twins need to make a move with their pitching depth. While Justin Topa may return from rehab assignment soon, teams can never have enough relievers. One of these two former Twins could be another dependable arm to give some of the ones they’ve used heavily a break as they continue their playoff push.
