AL Trade Deadline Targets
American League Central
Chief baseball officer Derek Falvey has made it public that he and his team wants to add bullpen depth to their club. Honestly, the Twins don't have a ton of great prospects in their AA or AAA system, at least not what I would consider good fits. But the guy I would focus on would be Steve Hajjar who is their #18 prospect and in A Fort Myers. He is a left-handed pitcher who the Brewers tried to sign out of high school, but he decided to honor his commitment to Michigan. He then led the Big 10 in strikeouts in 2021 after missing the 2020 season tearing his ACL playing pick-up basketball. The Twins then drafted him in the 2nd round. Hajjar has added a bit to his fastball and that makes his changeup with a good tumble even better. He does have some work to do, especially improving his slider. His overhead delivery creates deception, and he seems to have a good feel for pitching. So far in 2022 in 35.1 innings the LHP has a 2.04 ERA with 59 strikeouts and only 19 walks with batters hitting .145 off him.
For me this is a no-brainer, the Diamondbacks need relief pitchers and the Indians have them in bunches. I would concentrate on RHP James Karinchak. He recently rejoined the Guardians squad, and I know his numbers are not great this season on only 69 pitches, but for his career, he has struck out 144 and walked only 52 in 90.2 innings pitched. I also would be interested in Eli Morgan and Trevor Stephan, both right-handed relievers with good K/BB ratios. But Cody Morris is the wild card. He can be dominant, like 93 strikeouts to 20 walks in 2021 but he can't stay healthy. As he has yet to pitch this season after straining his shoulder in Spring Training.
Their best prospect may be an ex-Diamondback in Emilio Vargas that the White Sox claimed on waivers. They have a bunch of AAA and AA pitchers that all look alike and do nothing to stand out. You have Johan Dominguez, Kade McClure, and Anderson Severino and the one I would concentrate on is Caleb Freeman. He pitched well in the Arizona Fall League, he is improving his walk rates and has 3 quality pitches.
Two down one to go. The AL East and Central is complete now, we look at the AL West.