The Minnesota Twins, who sit in fourth place in the American League Central, finished off their liquidation sale by making deals with a pair of AL East teams ahead of Thursday’s deadline.
The Twins dealt right-handed reliever Griffin Jax to the Tampa Bay Rays, landing right-handed starter Taj Bradley in return. And Minnesota shipped infielder Ty France and right-hander Louis Varland to the Toronto Blue Jays for rookie outfielder Alan Roden and left-handed prospect Kendry Rojas.
Jax, 30, has spent his entire five-year major league career with Minnesota and is 1-5 with a 4.50 ERA in 50 relief appearances this season.
He had a heated face-to-face with Twins manager Rocco Baldelli on Wednesday after being inserted into a blowout loss to the Boston Red Sox in the ninth inning. He gave up three singles on 12 pitches before Baldelli pulled him for position player Kody Clemens. Jax was angry with the odd decisions but later said he apologized to Baldelli.
While Jax gets a change of scenery in Tampa Bay, the Twins acquired a young arm in Bradley, 24, who is 6-6 this season with a 4.61 ERA in 21 starts. Across three years with the Rays, Bradley has gone 19-25 with a 4.70 ERA and thrown 378 strikeouts in 354 innings.
France, 31, played 101 games in his first season with Minnesota after previous stops with San Diego, Seattle and Cincinnati. France is batting .251 this season with six homers and 44 RBIs.
A 2022 All-Star selection, France is a career .262 hitter with 80 homers, 356 RBIs and a .736 OPS.
Varland, 27, is a St. Paul native and went to college in the Twin Cities before being drafted by Minnesota in 2019. He has made 51 appearances out of the bullpen this season, pitching to a career-best 2.02 ERA while amassing a 3-3 record. He’s 8-14 with a 4.62 ERA in 89 career games (22 starts) for the Twins.
Roden, 25, has batted .204 with one home run and eight RBIs in 43 appearances as a rookie. Rojas, 22, has gone 1-3 with a 3.46 ERA in 11 games (10 starts) this season across four minor league levels.
–Field Level Media
