Twins To Acquire A.J. Minter

Opposing hitters have pummeled that diminished fastball. Minter has responded by leaning more heavily on an upper-80s cutter that remains an effective pitch. He carries a 2.35 earned run average, though he has been scored upon in three of his past six outings. Minter was in middle relief for New York and has only recorded one hold this year.

The 32-year-old should get more late-inning opportunities in the Twin Cities. Kody Funderburk and Taylor Rogers have been Minnesota’s top lefty relievers this season. Funderburk has a 3.52 ERA but an equal number of walks and strikeouts across 30 2/3 innings. Rogers has an ERA a little above 5.00 with a personal-low 19% strikeout rate.

Minter, Rogers, and mid-July trade acquisition Tommy Nance are the only veteran relievers in Derek Shelton’s bullpen. They’re relying heavily on rookie Andrew Morris and journeyman Yoendrys Gómez, who has pitched well since being acquired in early May. This should be the first of multiple bullpen adds, as they could also use a reliable right-hander to mix into the late innings.

An impending free agent, Minter is making an $11MM salary in the second season of his two-year free agent deal. If there’s no cash involved, the Twins would take on just under $3.5MM for the stretch run. As shown on MLBTR’s new Payroll Tracker, Minnesota had an approximate $101.4MM payroll before the trade. That’ll climb to roughly $105MM, which is still nowhere close to last year’s end-of-season payroll in the $130MM range. They’re not going to spend that much in 2026 but clearly have flexibility from ownership to make some mid-tier pickups.

The Mets will save 110% on any salary they shed over the next few days. Offloading Minter without any cash considerations would save them just over $8MM. It’s their first small bit of business with trades of Freddy Peralta, Clay Holmes, Brooks Raley and Luis Robert Jr. surely forthcoming. New York could also move Luke Weaver and Huascar Brazobán, each of whom would command a superior return to what they’re receiving for Minter.

Neither prospect ranked among Minnesota’s top 30 on the most recent update from Baseball America. Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan ranked Agbayani 48th in the organization and Amick outside the top 50 when they wrote up the Twins’ system in mid-June. MLB Pipeline is a little more bullish on both players, slotting them each among the back third of Minnesota’s top 30 prospects.

Agbayani, as a lot of Mets’ fans have surely surmised, is the son of former New York outfielder Benny Agbayani. Bruin was a sixth-round pick out of a Hawaii high school last summer. A lefty-hitting infielder, he’s a pure projection bet with essentially no minor league track record. Agbayani has been out since the middle of May with a shoulder injury. He has played 15 professional games, all in Low-A. The Mets are surely going mostly on their reports from when he was a draft prospect. He’s 6’2″ and viewed as an advanced pure hitter for a teenager but faces questions about his long-term positional home.

Amick, 23, is a right-handed hitting corner infielder at the Double-A level. He had a strong college career between Clemson and Tennessee and was a second-round pick in 2024. Amick has plus raw power but a three true outcomes approach that comes with a lot of whiffs. He’s hitting .217/.338/.482 with 23 homers, a 13% walk rate, and an alarming 29% strikeout percentage. Scouting reports peg him as a below-average defender at the hot corner who probably fits better as a first baseman.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Twins were acquiring Minter. Will Sammon of The Athletic reported New York’s end of the deal. Image courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images.