The Twins Left No Stone Unturned in Trade Deadline Fire Sale

The life of a Minnesota sports fan is cruel. Perhaps more cruel than that of any other city with all four major sports represented. Anyone who is one will tell you that they have grown numb it all. No longer phased by disappointing seasons, heartbreaking losses, or general ineptitude.

Yet, somehow the July 31 deadline felt like one of the worst days in the last 20 years of sports in the land of 10,000 lakes.

In a world that includes Blair Walsh missing wide left from 27 yards, numerous seasons from the Timberwolves with fewer than 20 wins, and of course the Twins’ playoff losing streak, this year’s trade deadline might take the cake.

Here is a look back on the Twins’ trade deadline and some reasons as to why it may not be as bad as it seemed.

Deals Made

If you missed it, there were a flurry of deals made by the Twins. Here is a brief summary of the moves made:

For those keeping track, that is 11 players going out and 13 players coming in. Despite the Twins being obvious sellers, some of the names came as a surprise. Some of the returns surely also surprised some.

The Good

While it certainly stings to trade away over one third of your active roster, the Twins were still able to accomplish some good things. Here are some silver linings from their fire sale.

Shed Payroll

This is perhaps the most crucial thing that the Twins were able to accomplish. After spending an estimated $134M in 2025, they are now projected to have less than $49M on the books for next season.

Yes, payroll is typically a good indicator for team success. Twins fans could be in for a long 2026 season if the payroll stays that way. However, by slashing the amount of payroll that they did, it has made the team a much more attractive purchase.

As most of you know, the Twins are currently up for sale. It appears that a sale could come before or shortly after the end of the season. When it comes to the Twins’ longterm success, the quicker that the Pohlads are out, the better.

With Carlos Correa suffering from a down year while also being on the wrong side of 30 years old, that was not the most attractive contract for a potential buyer. It would be the same as going to buy a house with hideous carpet and linoleum throughout. Is it a deal breaker? No, but its an expensive renovation that you would rather not deal with.

Sticking with the analogy, the Twins are now a nice starter home with lots of possibilities. A new owner can come in and choose to allocate money where they see fit and build the team in their own image. An image that is hopefully one that doesn’t cut payroll after the first playoff series win in two decades.

Committed to a Direction

Since 2020 (not including this season) the Twins are 356-352. They have made the playoffs twice in that time frame, winning a total of three playoff games. This team has been dreadfully average over the last five seasons while experiencing ups and downs.

Outside of the Correa signing (both of them), there has been very little investment in this team. As stated earlier, following the first playoff series win in two decades, the front office slashed payroll in back-to-back seasons.

With a clear lack of willingness to invest, the Twins needed to commit to the opposite and tear down. In the words of Jack McMullen on the Just Baseball Show “If you are gonna tear it down, tear it down… they did the sell job the right way.”

The Twins could have easily moved off of their expiring contracts and kept everyone else. Correa, Jax, Duran, and Varland could have all stayed Twins as they play .500 baseball the rest of the way. Then they could have run it back again next year to finish fourth in the division again.

Instead, they have committed to sucking for the rest of this year — and possibly most of next year — with the hope of being able to rebuild and compete again in 2027.

Also, if the Twins are sold in time for a new owner to make offseason payroll decisions, there could be some investment sooner than expected. Granted, that is wishful thinking.

Addressed Organizational Catching Issue

Perhaps the weakest part of this farm system has been the catching position.

Pre-deadline, 26 year-old Noah Cardenas or 24 year-old Ricardo Olivar would probably be considered the best catcher in the system. Neither currently project as impact major-league players. While that could change in the future, the Twins needed to add some depth there.

The best prospect acquired by the Twins at the deadline was Eduardo Tait from the Philadelphia Phillies for Jhoan Duran. Tait is currently the No. 63 ranked prospect in the Just Baseball Top 100. He is already in High-A as an 18 year-old and posting plus exit velocities.

In perhaps a more surprising return, the Twins received Enrique Jimenez from the Detroit Tigers for Chris Paddack and Randy Dobnak. While Jimenez was not one of the Tigers’ top 15 prospects for Just Baseball, he was an honorable mention.

The 19 year-old performed well at the complex for Detroit and is worth keeping an eye on as he starts out in Low-A Fort Meyers.

Both of these catchers are really young, but the Twins have Ryan Jeffers under control through 2027. When it comes time to extend or let Jeffers walk, Tait and Jimenez should be in the upper minors. Tait is obviously the more highly touted prospect, but Jimenez comes with his own intrigue as well, and both are worth keeping an eye on.

The Bad

With the good, there comes some bad. While overall I would say that the Twins had a good deadline, it still had its fair share of not great moments.

Caving on Duran and Jax

Prior to the deadline frenzy, it was reported that the Twins’ asking price for both Duran and Jax was two top 100 prospects. That is not what they would end up getting.

While Tait was certainly a great get for the Twins, I am not sure if Mick Abel still holds the value of a top 100 prospect. At Just Baseball, he was ranked as the eighth-best prospect in the Phillies’ system for 2025.

Even if you do believe that Abel should still hold the value of a top 100 prospect, where does he slot in for Minnesota? Is he as good as David Festa or Zebby Matthews? He has more upside than Simeon Woods-Richardson, but Woods-Richardson has proven to be a dependable big-league starter.

The Jax return is even more puzzling. I like Taj Bradley a lot, but there is no way he holds the value of a top 100 prospect. Respectfully, if Duran got what he got, the Twins were never going to get two top 100 prospects for Jax. But only getting Bradley still feels light.

Maybe Tre Morgan was too much of an ask, but he made more sense in a one-for-one swap. This Twins team is going to need someone to play first base next year. Morgan is in Triple-A and looks like a prospect with a high floor who should debut next season.

Both of these deals left me feeling like the Twins should have come away with more, even if just marginally.

The Ugly

As you might be expecting, there is one more category to go over. There was not much ugly for the Twins at this deadline. However, there is one thing that I think stands out amongst the fans.

Trading Louis Varland

This was the trade that I think had the most shock factor for Twins fans. Trading the relief pitcher who still had team control through 2030 seemed like an unnecessary move for the team to make.

Since moving to the bullpen full time this season, Varland had been a weapon for the Twins. In 49 innings he posted a 2.08 ERA. He looked like a true high-leverage reliever this season, and as stated earlier he is under team control until 2030.

This falls into the ugly for a completely different reason than the Twins caving on Duran and Jax falls into the bad category. This was not incredibly bad business by the Twins to move Varland. Everyone knows how volatile relievers can be.

By moving him, the Twins added an outfielder in Alan Roden who projects as an everyday player under control through 2031. They also added a 22-year-old left handed starter Kendry Rojas, who is currently in Triple-A. Rojas has only thrown 41.2 innings this season across three levels but is striking out over 13 batters per nine and has a 3.46 ERA.

Despite this not being a terrible trade value wise, it hurt emotionally. One of the beautiful things about sports is getting to be irrationally in love with certain players. Louis Varland was one of those in Twins Territory because he was one of our own.

He grew up and went to high school in St. Paul, Minnesota. He went to college at local D2 Concordia-St.Paul. Then he was selected by the Twins in the 15th round of the draft and climbed his way through the ranks. It felt like he was destined to be a Twin for his entire career.

Then after hearing reports that he was shocked to learn he was traded, it stung bad. Outside of Byron Buxton, there likely wasn’t another player on the Twins that it would suck more to see in another teams jersey.

Overview

The Twins had a good deadline. As much as it sucks to see your entire team get shipped off in a 48 hour span, it was necessary.

The team has a direction, and considering that they were not going to spend in free agency, it made sense to ship everyone off in an attempt to start anew.

They didn’t go half in and only ship off rentals that were not going to return much. Shipping off controllable, high-leverage pitching in order to maximize the returns was a good long-term strategy.

The Twins now have six prospects in the Just Baseball Top 100. That is tied for the second-most with three other teams and only trails the Seattle Mariners who have seven. Two of those prospects were added via the trade deadline in Kendry Rojas and Eduardo Tait.

If you are a Twins fan reading this, yes, selling off this many players does not feel good. It never feels good, until maybe a couple years later if you successfully rebuild with the pieces acquired from your fire sale.

The Twins could be frisky as soon as next season if all goes to plan. Keep that in mind and have fun keeping tabs on newly acquired prospects as well as the pre-existing ones. There are a lot of talented ball players in this system who will be in Minneapolis sooner rather than later.