The Minnesota Twins’ decision to trade Carlos Correa may have inadvertently set the wheels in motion on another major deal the team made last Thursday.
The Twins traded Correa to the Houston Astros a few hours prior to last Thursday’s trade deadline, sending a clear signal that the team was in sell mode after having traded Jhoan Duran to Philadelphia a day earlier. The Correa move prompted another Twins player, relief pitcher Griffin Jax, to ask for a trade.
Jax had a dugout confrontation with manager Rocco Baldelli late in Wednesday’s loss to the Boston Red Sox, and Correa tried to mediate between his teammate and manager, according to Dan Hayes of The Athletic. After a meeting in Baldelli’s office, Correa privately informed Jax that he and team president Derek Falvey had a frank conversation about the team’s direction, but that he only planned to waive his no-trade clause if the organization was pursuing a full firesale.
With that knowledge, Jax instructed his agent to request a trade from the Twins once he saw that Correa had been dealt. He was ultimately traded to the Tampa Bay Rays just before the deadline in a trade for former top prospect Taj Bradley.
Jax likely would not have taken such a bold step had Correa not tipped him off to the possibility of a full roster teardown. The Twins wound up trading nearly half of their MLB roster in the hours before the trade deadline in an apparent effort to shed salary and reset the organization.
Jax had been one of the top strikeout relievers in baseball for the Twins this season, with 72 strikeouts in 46 innings before the trade. Many were surprised that the team would trade both him and Duran, but it turns out there was more to the situation than met the eye.
