Twins GM's trade deadline declaration stops short of taking Ryan Jeffers off Yankees' radar

With mere days to go before the trade deadline, the New York Yankees are getting concurrent lessons in why it can be helpful to wait a while to get your business done, and why relying on others to fall in line can also interfere with said business.

The American League playoff picture is a cluster of clams this summer. Every team is "involved," to some degree (except the Blue Jays!). It's been near-impossible to figure out viable Yankees trade targets, considering only the dregs of the game have been clear-cut sellers all along. The Yankees' needs have also changed significantly. The bullpen felt like a blaring five-alarm fire when call-up candidate Carlos Lagrange went down a month ago, but Angel Chivilli and Paul Blackburn have emerged to the point where the Yankees certainly need one more dude, but maybe not a total overhaul. Meanwhile, the outfield without Cody Bellinger is bleaker than it's ever been — and that was hardly on the radar until the weekend.

The one constant has been the catcher position, and the one constant target has been Ryan Jeffers of the Minnesota Twins. MLB insider Jeff Passan went as far as to call a Yankees-Twins trade for Jeffers "preordained" on Tuesday morning. But a funny little thing happened along the way, as the Twins treaded water for a month, walked off the Royals on Tuesday, and now find themselves one-half game shy of a playoff spot, a win behind the Cleveland Guardians.

Many teams are trying to do advanced calculus this deadline, attempting to figure out whether they could navigate all the way to the World Series from the final Wild Card spot in an effort to determine deadline worthiness. The Twins? It would probably be extremely valuable for them to boost positive fan sentiment by sneaking in, no matter the outcome.

That's why GM Jeremy Zoll stopped the guess work on Tuesday night, saying flat out that the Twins will be buyers ahead of Monday's final bell. But ... he did get a bit cagier when Jeffers was brought up specifically. After all, the Twins can be competitive while adding 'pen arms and running out Victor Caratini five days out of seven instead.

Will Twins still trade Ryan Jeffers after GM Jeremy Zoll's "buyer" declaration?

Here's Zoll on the team's chosen direction: “We're really excited about how the team has played over this last stretch. We're really encouraged about that. In turn, we're going to use this next stretch, this next week, to do everything we can to find ways to improve the club and continue to execute on that goal and make it a reality.”

And here's Zoll when someone pressed him on Jeffers specifically: “In terms of individual speculation, I don’t think it’s particularly productive to work through all that. But what I’ll say is on Ryan specifically, he’s had an awesome year. We’re really excited about where he’s at, and looking forward to doing everything we can to keep the group together and put us in the best spot to keep pushing ahead.”

Now, part of that is undoubtedly trying to retain a shred of mystery. Most GMs don't talk about individual personnel, regardless of the direction they've chosen. No one wants to comment so granularly in public on a process that mostly happens in the dark behind the curtain. But you certainly could read that as Zoll saying, "I mean, I'm buying, but I'm not stupid. If I can get a haul for Jeffers that helps us thread the needle in other ways, I'd have to do it."

The door isn't closed to the Yankees, but it's also quite clear that the Twins' run to .500 is meaningful for them, and they won't allow themselves to be abused by the league's clear buyers. Five days left. It can only get stranger from here.

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