Who pitches for this team tomorrow?
Well, the Twins went from light sellers to absolutely decimating the best part of their team. With the best bullpen in the game, by a long shot, the Twins decided to blow things up and trade away their five best relievers, on top of Carlos Correa, Willi Castro, Harrison Bader, Chris Paddack, and Ty France.
Let’s try to recap all the moves, with a caveat that details are still emerging about many of them.
Carlos Correa traded to the Astros
- Twins are paying $30M of the $105M left guaranteed on his contract.
- Return: RP Matt Mikulski (26-year-old in rookie ball)
- This is a straight up salary dump, folks
Jhoan Duran traded to the Phillies
- Return: SP Mick Abel (#91 ranked MLB Prospect), C Eduardo Tait (#56 ranked MLB Prospect)
Griffin Jax Traded to Rays
- Return: RHP Taj Bradley, potentially more…
Louis Varland, Ty France Traded to Blue Jays
- Return: LHP Kendry Rojas (#5 Ranked Blue Jays Prospect), OF Alan Roden
Brock Stewart Traded to Dodgers
- Return: CF James Outman
Willi Castro Traded to Cubs
- Return: RHP Ryan Gallagher (#8 ranked Cubs Prospect), RHP Sam Armstrong
Harrison Bader Traded to Phillies
- Return: OF Hendry Mendez (#18 Ranked Twins Prospect), RHP Geremy Villoria (16-year-old recent international signee)
Chris Paddack, Randy Dobnak Traded to Tigers
- Return: C Enrique Jimenez (#23 Ranked Twins Prospect)
Danny Coulombe Traded to Rangers
- Return: LHP Garrett Horn (unranked)
So… there’s that.
Now… the Twins have a baseball game to play tomorrow and several roster spots to fill, especially on the pitching side where injuries were already wearing down the staff. They’ll need to fill four position players and five pitchers, which could be tricky with a recently decimated roster.
On the position player side, current options on the 40-man roster include Austin Martin, Carson McCusker, Edouard Julien, Jose Miranda, Ryan Fitzgerald, and the recently acquired James Outman and Alan Roden. Luke Keaschall is currently rehabbing in AAA, but has looked rusty in his return from a lengthy absence.
For the pitchers, options are more limited and will likely require players being added to the 40-man roster. Taj Bradley and Bailey Ober should slide into the remaining two rotation spots, while some combination of Travis Adams, Mick Abel, Pierson Ohl, Marco Raya, and Mick Abel are the only remaining pitchers on the 40-man roster to fill the last bullpen slots. After that, it’s anyone’s guess.
As a fan of the team, I’m a bit in shock. This went from a light sell to a full on fire sale, with the trade of Jax and Varland especially odd given the lack of other bullpen options. But maybe that doesn’t matter as the Twins pivot toward evaluating the young players for 2026 and beyond. We’ll have more on what this means for the future of the Twins later this week, but for now I will leave a single note in the comments with language I shouldn’t use in the post itself.