BREAKING: Twins Trade Jhoan Duran to Philadelphia Phillies

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

The Twins are moving on from the mountain of a man, the Autocorrect- (and barrel-)defying splinker., and the electrifying ninth-inning entrance. They're trading Jhoan Duran to the Philadelphia Phillies for a package of high-end prospect talent, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Twins Daily has confirmed Rosenthal's report. Minnesota will receive catching prospect Eduardo Tait and rookie pitcher Mick Abel.

Duran, 27, is under team control through 2027. The Twins promoted him on Opening Day in 2022, rather than game his service time, and he’s rewarded that faith. His triple-digit fastball was the first thing to open eyes throughout the league, not least because referring to it that way undersells him: Duran often topped 103 miles per hour in his rookie campaign. He rapidly matured into the team’s closer, and even as he’s seen some occasional velocity dips and struggled with an imperfect fastball shape, he’s found ways to thoroughly dominate opposing batters.

Much of that is attributable to Duran’s secondary pitches, which are even more valuable (and more indispensable) than the heater. His curveball and splinker are devastating, and this year, he’s added a sweeper to that arsenal. His strikeout rate has eroded slightly each year, but the .553 OPS opponents have managed against Duran in 2025 is the lowest of his career. He’s morphed into an elite ground-ball hurler, and his entrance production for save opportunities has been one of the delightful features of evenings at Target Field over the last two-plus seasons.

The lone constraint on Duran’s trade value, perhaps, is the likelihood that he’ll be one of the highest-paid relief pitchers in baseball for the next two seasons. He’s making $4.125 million in 2025, and given the season he’s having, that figure should rise considerably for 2026. Nonetheless, he’s been the trade chip teams have clamored for most in talks with the Twins, so when a move happened, it was sure to be a big one.

Tait, 18, is the headliner here. A left-handed batter and catcher, he's played almost the whole season at Low-A Clearwater, where he's hitting .251/.322/.436. He was promoted earlier this month to the Phillies' High-A affiliate, at a very young age. He'll turn 19 next month. His bat is his carrying tool; scouts view him as a hitter who can make enough contact to get to plus power at maturity. What is far less clear is whether he can stick as a catcher, but even without knowing for sure in that regard, Tait ranked third on Baseball America's midseason update of the Phillies' top 30 prospects list. He'll be slightly lower-ranked in the Twins system, but they'll hope to develop him into their catcher of the future.

Abel, 23, provides the immediate juice in the deal. He was Philadelphia's top pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, and has already made it to the majors for a brief look as a starter. He profiles as a pitcher who can stay in the rotation, though perhaps more as a third or fourth starter than as the frontliner the team envisioned when they drafted him. He figures to pitch for the big-league Twins for much of the final two months of this season, unless they have specific things they want to tweak with a stopover in St. Paul.

Bob Nightengale was first to report that the return will be Tait and Abel.

This move signals the degree of aggressiveness the Twins have elected to take at this trade deadline. They sought two high-end potential contributors in any deal for Duran, and they got them here. There's risk associated with both prospects, but the team is ready to shift gears and reshape their core for 2026 and beyond. Tait and Abel begin that process, by moving resources from the bullpen toward the positional core and the starting rotation.

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[Vanimal46]

Hopefully Painter is the headliner. It’s been a minute since Dombrowski went scorched earth on his farm system to win a World Series 

[DasBat]

Painter would be a great get

[MarkTwins]

Happy for Duran, gets to go to a great franchise and play in front of full stadiums. Sucks to be a Twins fan

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

It's not Painter. 

A minor league catching prospect and a pitcher currently on the Phillies roster.

This front office needs to go.

[thelanges5]

Twins are trading closer Jhoan Duran to the Phillies for prospects C Eduardo Tait and RHP Mick Abel.

[exeoud]

A catcher who's 3+ years away and a backend of the rotation guy. Get this FO out of here

Edit: Mick Abel's best FIP in the minor leagues is 4.04

[PseudoSABR]

Disappointing it's not Painter.  But that was probably a pipe dream.

[nicksaviking]

A starter with control issues and an A ball catcher? 

And now if this team does get a new owner next year who does want to win, now the Twins have to go back out and find more back of the bullpen help?

[Vanimal46]

2 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Twins are trading closer Jhoan Duran to the Phillies for prospects C Eduardo Tait and RHP Mick Abel.

Falvey flinched first 

[PseudoSABR]

 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Just now, nicksaviking said:

A starter with control issues and an A ball catcher? 

And now if this team does get a new owner next year who does want to win, now the Twins have to go back out and find more back of the bullpen help?

An awful franchise.

[FilthyMogwai]

F this team

[Dman]

I don't know much about Tait.  It looks like a promising bat and possibly could be decent behind the dish.  I hope the Twins scouts got that one right because it seems like lot's of teenage catchers fall big time as they move up levels.  The Twins will have a catcher in the top 100 for the first time since Joe Mauer I believe.

If Abel pans out an arm for an arm sounds good, but Duran is an elite arm so I don't know.  I hope Abel gets his control issues under control and it works out well for us.  He's close so there's that.

If these players work out as projected it's a steal for the Twins.  Let's hope they work out.

Have to say at the start I am disappointed in the return, but I haven't really watched these guys so maybe they are better than I think they are.

I think Dombrowski got the best of them personally.  Guy always wins deals.  Nice get for them.

[notoriousgod71]

Contract this team.

[Hubie29]

Abel 5.04 era this yr in 25 innings.  So that projects to about a 5.50 era and 7-8 man in the rotation. Catcher doesn't excite me at all, unless he's going to be a Realmuto type.

[DasBat]

I was definitely hoping for a little closer to the majors for the headlining piece

[nicksaviking]

Unless one is going off of some very dated prospect rankings, I think the Giants got just as good if not a better return for 2 months of the soft tossing Tyler Rogers.

[USAFChief]

Boooooooo

[notoriousgod71]

This is about as exciting as berrios for Martin and woods Richardson.

[notoriousgod71]

Just now, USAFChief said:

Boooooooo

I really hope attendance plummets to four figures at some point.

[Danchat]

Huh. I guess that's the cost of a top tier catching prospect, even though he's not even 19 years old yet. Abel is at least major-league ready, the frangraphs write-up on him paints him as more likely to end up in the bullpen... he was at least averaging almost 6 innings per outing at AAA. He has to give the Twins value as a starter in the next couple seasons to make the deal worth it before Tait contributes. If he ends up as a reliever, then even with around 5 years of control of him is that worth it for 2.5 of Duran?

I tell you what, if I'm a Phillies fan, I do this trade 100 times out of 100.

Oh, and the AJ Pierzynski trade lives on. Pierzynski -> Liriano -> Escobar -> Duran -> Abel/Tait.

[AceWrigley]

9 minutes ago, PseudoSABR said:

Disappointing it's not Painter.  But that was probably a pipe dream.

Painter was never on the table as the Phils have said they refuse to trade him.

[bunsen82]

Wow lots of hate for a very good trade. This was the exact haul discussed many times.  I would even say an overpay. Abel is a much better pitcher than SWR. 

[Dman]

I can't believe Seattle couldn't beat this.  He would have really helped their pen and if the Twins could have worked a deal around Ford they would have a catcher close to ready.  I am not a fan.

They tried for painter and couldn't even pry away their third ranked prospect in Crawford who at least has star potential.

How does Dombrowski do it?  We need that guy on our side.

[notoriousgod71]

Just now, Dman said:

I can't believe Seattle couldn't beat this.  He would have really helped their pen and if the Twins could have worked a deal around Ford they would have a catcher close to ready.  I am not a fan.

They tried for painter and couldn't even pry away their third ranked prospect in Crawford who at least has star potential.

How does Dombrowski do it?  We need that guy on our side.

He picks on the weak.

[Rik19753]

 

You know it's a bad trade when the fans of the team buying are calling the price "fair" or "reasonable", which is all I am seeing on X.

[nicksaviking]

2 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

Wow lots of hate for a very good trade. This was the exact haul discussed many times.  I would even say an overpay. Abel is a much better pitcher than SWR. 

He’s a better pitcher than a different pitcher nobody wants in the rotation? High bar.

[sweetmusicviola16]

Call me unimpressed. A C that is 3 or more years away. The price you pay I guess for not developing C's. Someone is responsible for that yet Falvey still holds a job.

[mikelink45]

I'm sorry to say but I am underwhelmed. I really want something to happen where it's exciting and gives us hope. But replacing Duran is a challenge that this team will not be up to. I just really believe his level of closer has to have been worth more than what we got.