Assessing Full Cost of Minnesota Twins Trade Deadline Additions

Per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Twins added $8.53 million in payroll this year.

Reliever A.J. Minter signed a two-year, $22 million deal with the New York Mets in 2025 and he’s a free agent at the end of the year. The Twins are only picking up the remainder of the deal, which is approximately $3.411 million per Spotrac.

Starter Dean Kremer signed a one-year deal with Baltimore worth $5.575 million in 2026. The Twins pay the remainder, which is $1.752 million. Minnesota also has his arbitration rights for 2027.

Reliever Jeff Hoffman signed a three-year, $33 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2025. Minnesota must pay the rest of his 2026 salary, which is $3.235 million.

Nightengale’s numbers are generally accurate. But there’s future cost, too. Kremer will fetch more in an arbitration deal next offseason because it’s his third year. Hoffman has one more year on his deal worth $11 million. Toronto has agreed to pay down $3.75 million of Hoffman’s 2027 deal and the Twins will pick up the remainder, which is $7.25 million.

Ownership lived up to its assertion. It let Zoll add payroll. But he did it on a budget.

The Players

Let’s look at what the Twins gave up to acquire those players:

For Minter, Minnesota traded shortstop Bruin Agbayani and third baseman Billy Amick.

For Kremer, Minnesota traded outfielder Jhomnardo Reyes.

For Hoffman, Minnesota traded left-handed pitcher Dasan Hill, second baseman Dameury Pena, right-handed pitcher John Klein and other considerations.

Of the five players, Klein is the only one that has pitched in the Majors. He made his debut this season and went 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA in three games for the Twins. The Blue Jays optioned him to Triple-A Buffalo. Amick is at Double-A while the other two are at High-A or below.

Some are highly regarded. Agbayani is the No. 29 Mets prospect per MLB Pipeline. Reyes is now the No. 23 prospect in the Orioles system. Hill is No. 7 and Klein is No. 25 in the Blue Jays’ system.

Minnesota did give up talent. But it managed to retain much of its prospect future, including No. 1 prospect Walker Jenkins, who is at Triple-A, and shortstop Kaelen Culpepper, who made his MLB debut earlier this week.

When calculating the overall cost, the Twins appeared to get value in both the money it took on and the players it had to give up. Minnesota didn’t mortgage its future for a playoff run. Those were smart moves by Zoll and his staff.