Twins Acquire Lefty Reliever A.J. Minter from Mets for 2 Prospects

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of David Frerker-Imagn Images

The Twins have declared themselves a buyer days before the August 3 MLB trade deadline. Following an unlikely series win over the Royals at Target Field, they're making their move. Late Thursday night, Jeff Passan tweeted that the Twins have acquired left-handed reliever A.J. Minter from the New York Mets. 

Minter, 32, has pitched to a 2.35 ERA and 1.00 WHIP in 23 innings over 20 appearances this year. He signed a two-year, $22-million contract with the Mets before the 2025 season. The first year of that deal came to an end early in May, when he needed to have surgery on a torn left lat muscle. In 2024, he had surgery on his left hip labrum. Minter returned to the mound for the Mets at the end of May, though, and has looked strong. 

In return, the Twins will send corner infield prospect Billy Amick and middle-infield prospect Bruin Agbayani.  

Amick has been a borderline Top-20 prospect at Twins Daily throughout the last two years. The team's second-round pick in 2024, he was hitting .217/.338/.482 with 14 doubles, 23 homers and 72 RBIs at Double-A Wichita. 

Agbayani, son of former big leaguer (and, specifically, New York Met) Benny Agbayani, was the Twins' sixth-round pick in the 2025 draft. The 19-year-old was limited to just 10 games this season and hit .268/.412/.342 with two doubles. He had nine walks to just three strikeouts. Unfortunately, his season began late due to injury and after those 10 games, he went back on the IL and has not played since. 

What are your thoughts on the trade? Another lefty reliever, low-30s, with good stuff and an injury history the last few years for two intriguing prospects outside of the Twins' Top 20 prospects. 

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[dxpavelka]

solid move.  Not going to set world on fire but a nice start to adding to the pen.

[PseudoSABR]

I wonder if the Twins took on all the salary. He was set to make $11M this year, 4-5M remaining.

[Cory Engelhardt]

Really good addition to the pen. Absolutely in the mix with Morris and Gomez for higher leverage use.

[PseudoSABR]

 

[USAFChief]

Solid pickup, fairly cheap.

Apparently taking on the money, too. 

Me likey. 

[mikelink45]

Is Minter with us more than the rest of the season?  If so it is a great deal, if not it is okay.

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

Solid BP addition. Very nice start. 

 

[Fatbat]

Great trade! The two prospects are buried depth with warts and health issues.  The team can afford 4.5M for a 80 day rental. Maybe Minter resigns with us after the lockout and theWS Championship PARADE!

[Fatbat]

5 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

Is Minter with us more than the rest of the season?  If so it is a great deal, if not it is okay.

Free agent… right after the parade. 

[Danchat]

Eh, I'm not hot on this squad acquiring rentals, but the price is very cheap. Amick wasn't even in Fangraphs' top 50, Agbayani is #48. Amick's numbers do not indicate he's close to being a major league player, too many Ks and we have seen a reliance on minor league HRs rarely translate to major league success. Agbayani is 19 years old and what I'd consider to be a lottery ticket.

Minter's ERA has been great the past two years, but his K rate has dropped this year, and has only been healthy enough to pitch in 36 games in that stretch. Looks like he has been their 7th inning guy, maybe 4th best reliever. But in our pen, he's easily the third best they have now.

[Yoke]

This is a solid start. I thought it’d take a little more to get a decent reliever.

[David Brauer]

19 minutes ago, PseudoSABR said:

I wonder if the Twins took on all the salary. He was set to make $11M this year, 4-5M remaining.

We’re more than 2/3rds through the season so $3.5m assuming the Mets pick up nothing. 

[DataNerd]

Probably a little high on the price for what I would like (although that is probably more due to me being high on Agbayani), but it's a solid move.  Being this early in the deadline, we definitely targeted Minter for some reason, hopefully that works out.

[AlLagoon]

This is a good start- Amick has 23 homers this year as a  slightly underage AA player, 2nd rounder, so a decent asset heading New York's way.

Twins getting back a guy with a career 3.18 ERA over 10 years and 382 IP.. Fewer hits allowed than innings pitched, more strikeouts than IP. 

Solid baseball trade.

[nicksaviking]

17 minutes ago, Danchat said:

 

Minter's ERA has been great the past two years, but his K rate has dropped this year, and has only been healthy enough to pitch in 36 games in that stretch. Looks like he has been their 7th inning guy, maybe 4th best reliever. But in our pen, he's easily the third best they have now.

Yeah, that's where I am. **If they felt they had to get a bullpen arm, I presumed it would be a strikeout artist for late game scenarios. This is fine, and I'm definitely not in any way mad about it, but it's not what I thought was needed.

Don't care about the prospects, but I don't need more bullpen moves after this, because I do care about the roster spots and getting innings to the young relievers who still need to continue adjusting to relief work. That's who this team has to count on next year and the foreseeable future.

Possible bonus though, as he's a lefty, perhaps the Twins would then swap out Matthews for Rojas in the rotation. That's where both should be in 2027.

[Sampson5]

Solid move would of rather a strikeout artist since that's what pen is missing but getting a reliable pen arm for 2 low level prospects is solid work hopefully they add a reliever that has high strikeout stuff tho . Also think they should add a infielder preferably that can hit lefties that way can give other guys days off vs lefties instead of playing them because we got no other option 

[Connor Gould]

I like this, Minter's got a very consistent track record, and he slots in perfectly as the number 1 lefty. Seems like a fair return, both teams seem to have gotten a fair deal. Gomez, Morris, and Minter may not be a high end back of the pen, but it's hopefully enough to be pretty good. Nance is a fair 6th inning guy to grab but not an ideal leverage arm, and now he slots there. While Adams and Rogers are better lately than their bad starts and Anderson might have intrigue, we might be 1 steady 6th or 7th inning arm away from being real comfortable. I'm curious if we'll add more. I'd be down for another reliever, a righty platoon bat, and maybe a SS (probably too expensive, though). Fun stuff.

[GNess]

Minter has pitched in many high leverage situations. He makes the back end of the BP much better if he performs as he typically has.

The future asset cost was not huge and it is encouraging if the Twins took on salary as it appears to be the case.

Hard not to like this move.

My guess is the Twins will make another move or two, hopefully including a player with some years of control.

 

 

 

T

 

[RaoulDuke]

Sign me up.

Looks like a real established mlb reliever.  Big addition to the pen.

Get another one, get an established late game RH.

-- (TBD????)

Gomez

Morris

Minter

Rojas

********************

Nance

Anderson

********************

Adams

Fundy

 

 

[Parfigliano]

LH reliever.  Big need addressed 1st move.

[Western SD Fan]

This is a good trade that the Twins made.  This is the type of trade that the Rays make.  A reasonable expiring contract for a solid bullpen piece also equals payroll flexibility, exactly what the Pohlads like in a signing or trade.  The Mets get two prospects rated between 20-30 which both appear blocked anyways.  This is the type of trade that using a farm system from a position of strength is for.  Making the team better without sacrificing your future.  I could be bummed if this is it, but it is a good start for the Zoll deadline.

Fundy is probably the guy that gets sent down the Green Line to St. Paul.  He still has options and is still available in case either Minter or Rogers go down.  Since Minter doesn't have to report for 72 hours, I could see a scenario where he doesn't officially join the team until Saturday, thus they would pitch Fundy on Friday night before swapping him out for Minter on Saturday. 

[IndianaTwin]

I’ve liked him for a long time. 

[S Bart]

Super...have seen him pitch in NY..good addition..NL to AL...cutter..4 seamer...changeup..sinker