After a promising start to their 2003 Major League Baseball season, the Minnesota Twins limped into the All-Star break with a 44-49 record. They had lost 22 of their final 28 games before the break (including six consecutive defeats), going from a 5-game lead in the American League Central division to a 7-1/2 game deficit.
Just prior to their first game post-All-Star break, the Twins traded young outfielder Bobby Kielty to the Toronto Blue Jays for veteran OF Shannon Stewart. Since Stewart was slated to become a free agent after the season, the Jays enthusiastically dealt for a younger bat with multiple years of team control.
While fans applauded the Twins for adding a veteran presence, no one could've predicted that Stewart would be the catalyst for a phenomenal post-ASB resurgence. Of the Twins' final 69 games, Stewart played in 65, batted .322 with 6 HRs & 38 RBI while playing a Gold Glove caliber left field. His gritty play also seemed to elevate the rest of the team those final 69 contests (the Twins finished 46-23, literally winning two out of every three games post-ASB) as the club reached 90 victories and secured the AL Central championship. The MLB writers also took notice, as Stewart placed fourth in votes for American League MVP.
Like the '03 club prior to that season's All-Star break, this year's Twins team has certainly fallen short of expectations, compounded by limping into this season's break with a 45-46 record (yet are remarkably only 1/2 game out of first place). It's not hard to understand why this team has been so pedestrian - their offense has been downright....uh....offensive. As The Athletic's Aaron Gleeman pointed out, the six most highly paid position players have been utterly inept at the plate. As such, if the Twins are going to make any kind of substantive move at this year's trade deadline, the emphasis needs to be on upgrading the batting order. Since a significant number of solid prospects have been dealt over the past couple of years in an effort upgrade the pitching staff, there's legit concern the Twins organization doesn't have anything suitable to deal for an impact hitter.
In short, is it too much to ask for a seemingly under the radar move to once again rescue a Twins season? Probably. But standing pat is not an option, especially when possessing one of the most formidable pitching staffs this franchise has had in literally decades.
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