Travis Kriens – KORN News Radio Sports Director
Fans, media and players were shocked at what the Minnesota Twins did Thursday at the MLB trade deadline. 11 players shipped out before the deadline, including nine on July 31 alone.
I haven’t been this excited about the Twins future in years.
I’m probably in the bottom 1% of fans based on social media reaction. Everyone hated it. I loved it. How could you dismantle the team and lose nearly half of the 25 man roster in the span of a week?
The Twins are in the worst spot for a franchise. They’re not that good, but they’re also not that bad. Right in the middle. In purgatory.
Either you are a playoff caliber team trying to win a World Series, or you should be building towards that goal with prospects and young talent. The Twins were doing neither.
The way that most Twins fans feel today is how I felt two years ago when the team chose to do nothing after the 2023 season. A playoff win for the first time in 19 years. A playoff series win for the first time in 21 years. Followed by an offseason of crickets. Nothing. That’s when fans should have lost faith, not after getting rid of a bunch of soon-to-be free agents and relievers.
No attempt seemed to be made to keep Sonny Gray (not that he would have wanted to stay anyway) after a season with a 2.79 ERA over 184 innings. A rotation of Gray, Pablo Lopez and the emerging Joe Ryan would have been as solid a top three as any rotation in baseball. It had already gotten the Twins to within two wins of the ALCS.
Trading Jorge Polanco to Seattle and signing 38-year-old 1B Carlos Santana were the moves made in the Winter of 2024.
The lack of local TV money coming in allowed ownership to push the brakes on any spending after their best post season run since 2002.
That was the time to be outraged, not now.
After being in playoff position for most of 2024, the Twins faltered down the stretch going 12-27 and missing out on the playoffs. Minnesota was the 30th and final team to execute a trade at the deadline last season, bringing in Toronto RP Trevor Richards. He appeared in 10 games, throwing 13 innings, allowing six runs with 11 walks and never pitched for the Twins after August 26.
That was the time to be outraged, not now.
The Twins have not been a good team for nearly an entire 12 month period. They are 63-84 over the last 147 games, a 93 loss pace over an entire season. It’s even worse when you consider the 13 game winning streak in early May.
It was time to make a change. Not doing anything was worse than what the Twins did Thursday. They certainly had some talent off a team that looked to be playoff bound in 2024, but it’s clear that Minnesota was not good enough as currently constructed to be any level of a contender and they were not going to add any significant payroll.
Jhoan Duran to the Philadelphia Phillies – The biggest trading chip that the Twins had and the biggest return with top 100 prospects SP Mick Abel and catcher Eduardo Tait. Abel has already had success in the majors with the Phillies with six shutout innings in his big league debut back in May, and two more starts with just one run allowed. He could join the Twins rotation in the coming weeks. Tait is an 18-year-old catcher that is already in High A and could be Minnesota’s backstop in three years by the time he is only 21. He’s ranked by MLB.com as the 56th best overall prospect and the sixth best catcher after hitting .288 in 206 minor league games with a .349 OBP.
Carlos Correa to the Houston Astros – The miracle of all miracles. The only team that would have taken Correa from the Twins is his former team and where Correa still lives in the offseason. Minnesota only has to pay $33 million of Correa’s remaining $103 million over the next three years. Two good seasons and two below average seasons for Correa over his three-and-a-half years with the Twins. He just didn’t produce like a $30 million a year guy should.
Harrison Bader to the Philadelphia Phillies – Bader played about as well as the Twins could have hoped. Had a 111 OPS+, the third best offensive season of his nine years in the majors with his usual terrific defense. A career .243 hitter with a below average .309 OBP and a $10 million mutual option that likely would not have been picked up.
Griffin Jax to the Tampa Bay Rays – Elite strikeouts numbers (14 K’s per 9), with a below league average ERA (4.50, ERA+ of 95). If only his results were as good as his stuff.
Willi Castro to the Chicago Cubs – Impending free agent that turned into an All-Star as a utility man for the Twins in 2024. Became slightly better than average offensively with defensive versatility playing the infield and outfield after four bad years with Detroit before 2023.
Brock Stewart to the Los Angeles Dodgers – A 33-year-old often injured reliever that had a 0.65 ERA for the Twins in 2023 and a 2.38 ERA this season in 34 innings. Returns to the Dodgers where he spent 2016-2019. Did not play in the majors from 2020-23 due to injury and being bad. Has never thrown over 35 innings in a season.
Danny Coulombe to the Texas Rangers – Traded from the Twins to Baltimore right before the 2023 season after spending three years up and down in Minnesota. Signed back with the Twins this winter and has been very good with a 1.16 ERA over 31 innings. Classic lefty reliver that is 35-years-old and will be a free agent.
Louie Varland and Ty France to the Toronto Blue Jays – Varland is the one piece I might have kept since he is young (27-years-old), cheap ($745,000), good (2.02 ERA in 49 innings) and a St. Paul native. Could have been put in the closer role after the bullpen reshuffle. France has struggled after a good start to the season. Often injured, 31-years-old and a free agent. Seems to be near the end.
Chris Paddack to the Detroit Tigers – An up and down season, Paddack threw six innings on Wednesday in his debut with the Tigers, allowing one run and three hits to lower his season ERA to 4.77. Had a 4.88 ERA over four years with Minnesota with injuries. Free agent at the end of the season.
Five of the 10 players traded are going to be free agents at the end of the season and likely not resigned (Bader, Castro, Coulombe, France, Paddack). You have to trade them.
The Twins five best relief pitchers were all sent packing. Minnesota’s bullpen ERA of 4.42 is 23rd out of 30 teams. Not great.
Duran is the best of the bunch, but the Twins may have found their future catcher, plus a solid rotation piece in Abel for a team that doesn’t have a lot of SP depth in the minors ready to come up.
The next couple years may be rough, but maybe not any rougher than if the Twins would have keep it’s current roster intact. Remember, they were 63-84 over the last 147 games, a 93 loss pace. Why keep that group together?
What the 2026/2027 Twins could look like.
OF: Byron Buxton, Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach, Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez
INF: Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee, Luke Keaschall, Kody Clemens, Kaelen Culpepper
SP: Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez, Zebby Mathews, Simeon Woods Richardson, Taj Bradley, Bailey Ober, David Festa, Mick Abel
Minnesota has six top 100 prospects and you just hope some of them pan out. Some will, some wont’.
OF Walker Jenkins – No. 12
OF Emmanuel Rodriguez – No. 40
INF Luke Keaschall – No. 42
C Eduardo Tait – No. 56
SS Kaelen Culpepper – No. 86
SP Mick Abel – No. 91
We will see all of these prospects besides Tait up with the Twins in the next two years. Keaschall has already made his Minnesota debut and has been injured. Abel could pitch as soon as next week with the Twins if they want to. Jenkins at CF and Culpepper at SS could be there by Opening Day 2027. Rodriguez will be up next season, if not later this year.
The cupboard is far from bare and that’s not even mentioning the other prospects the Twins received yesterday that will be hit or miss.
The Twins didn’t blow it up, they reset it. And for the first time in a long time, there’s a plan. That’s more than you could say about this franchise for years.