BREAKING: Twins Acquire Starting Pitcher Dean Kremer from Orioles

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of Eric Canha-Imagn Images

 

The Minnesota Twins have doubled down on their stated intention to support the existing roster and make a push for the postseason. On Friday night, they made the biggest move for a starting pitcher of the trade deadline period to date, scooping up Orioles right-hander Dean Kremer for minor league outfielder Jhomnardo Reyes . Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic broke the initial trade news on Twitter.

 

Kremer is a seven-year veteran who has been a fairly durable mid-rotation innings-eater with a career ERA of 4.37 and a 7.8 K/9 strikeout rate. He avoided arbitration with the Orioles by signing a $5.75M contract, but started the year in AAA after losing the fifth starter job to Zach Eflin. He was recalled on April 13th when Eflin underwent Tommy John surgery.

In Kremer's first two starts this year, he struck out 16 before a right quadriceps strain shelved him until July. His results since returning have been uneven. He beat the White Sox with a six-inning, one-run outing on July 1, then surrendered four solo homers to the Cubs, lasted just four innings against Houston, and gave up 14 runs over his last two outings. His 6.50 ERA looks worse than the arm behind it: a 38:11 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 36 IP suggests a pitcher throwing better than the runs indicate.

The thirty-year-old's biggest problem this year has been home runs; he's given up 12(!) in 36 IP. That rate is an outlier - he only had a 1.3 HR/9IP rate coming into this year - but that will need to be lowered considerably if he's to have any success. One thing that will work in his favor is no longer pitching in Camden Yards, which has become notorious for giving up home runs since they moved the fences in. 

He has a five-pitch mix, with a fastball and a cutter that he throws a little over one-third of the time, a splitter he throws another third, and a sinker and curveball to round out his options. His fastball averages about 93 mph, which is slightly lower but still in line with his career average. He's only been throwing his splitter - his most-used pitch now - for the last three years. 

In addition to his contributions to this season's postseason push, the Twins can offer arbitration to Kremer next year, too. He doesn't qualify for free agency until after the 2027 season. As of now, it is not clear who is paying the roughly $1.9M that is due Kremer through the end of this year. 

But that remains to be seen. He was acquired this year to help a rotation that has grown increasingly thin, starting on the first day of spring training when staff ace Pablo Gomez was sidelined with a sore elbow that required Tommy John surgery. They've also lost Mick Abel, David Festa, and Mike Paredes to injuries, and Simeon Woods Richardson was released. The three most reliable starters - Bailey Ober, Taj Bradley and Joe Ryan - have all dealt with injuries or arm fatigue. Those move have necessitated callups for Zebby Matthews, Conner Prielipp, and Kendry Rojas, who have all had some success but also have their own usage limitations. 

Kremer, at the very least, provides some additional and necessary depth in case there are any further injuries. He may also allow one of the recent call-ups to be moved to the bullpen, which helps the bullpen, providing a potentially high-octane arm. 

In return for Kremer, the Twins sent the Orioles Jhomnardo Reyes, who is not in Twins Daily's Top 20 Prospect List, but he made Limestone Pipeline's 7/20 update as the 16th overall Twins prospect. True to form for the prospects that tend to get moved at the deadline, he's got "steam." The 18-year-old Dominican outfielder excelled in the Complex League the first half of this year, posting a 950 OPS, and was recently promoted to Low A Fort Myers. He's got a very long way to go, but there is plenty of potential there. 

This is the Twins second trade deadline deal that involved acquiring a veteran pitcher for a lower-level Twins prospect that is not in their near-future plans. 

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[Fatbat]

Its been a tough season for him. Must have been a low level prospect sent out? 

[Danchat]

Can't say I'm a fan of this one, Reyes is one of the better international prospects in the organization of which Fangraphs ranks him #10 in the whole org (pre-2026 draft) calling him a "late first-round high school hitter" and a 45 AV prospect. MLB.com ranks him #24 which is more where I would put a guy who is only 18 years old.

Kremer is a rehab project with one year of control, given he's made $5.75M this year, would he get something around $7M? That's possibly a better price than he'd get on the open market, but given Bailey Ober is in a similar spot going into Arb Year 3 and not being what he used to, I don't like it. Losing Reyes isn't a big deal, but I just don't like the return.

[Permanent Twins Fan]

I like the trade. He is not going to blow you away which is why they were able to get him for a lottery ticket in DSL. It is a low-wattage move, but they did get an established major league pitcher at the deadline. If nothing else he does provide depth for the rotation in the case of injuries. Good start but hopefully another starter is coming before the trade deadline. Go Twins.

[LyleCole]

8 minutes ago, Danchat said:

Can't say I'm a fan of this one, Reyes is one of the better international prospects in the organization of which Fangraphs ranks him #10 in the whole org (pre-2026 draft) calling him a "late first-round high school hitter" and a 45 AV prospect. MLB.com ranks him #24 which is more where I would put a guy who is only 18 years old.

Kremer is a rehab project with one year of control, given he's made $5.75M this year, would he get something around $7M? That's possibly a better price than he'd get on the open market, but given Bailey Ober is in a similar spot going into Arb Year 3 and not being what he used to, I don't like it. Losing Reyes isn't a big deal, but I just don't like the return.

Jusr watched Reyes play.   Tall skinny kid with good bat speed.   Has great stats, but a long way to go.  

[DJL44]

Some scout must really like him. Not sure how this helps.

[Permanent Twins Fan]

4 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Some scout must really like him. Not sure how this helps.

It might just be a depth move. I wouldn't be shocked if he starts in AAA and gets called up if there is an injury.

[tony&rodney]

Watched Reyes play tonight. He is an athlete. Not sure this helps the Twins.

[LyleCole]

Typical Twins move.   Of course, if you get teh Dean Kremer of 2022-2025 you are getting a pretty solid 3is-4th pitcher in the rotation and a guy who if healthy you can get 170 innings out of with reasonable results.   

From 2022-2025 he made 106 starts and ate up 598 innings with an ERA of 3.96.   

But that is a lot of iffffs with limited chances of him actually helping the team this year or next.  It is another bargain basement acquisition based on those hopes rather than investing in quality.    

I will say that the two pick ups help our playoff probability, but that is basically backing into the playoffs, bot advancing as a solid contender.   

I think the fans of the Twins, long suffering fans of the Twins for that matter, deserve better. 

[Dman]

13 minutes ago, Danchat said:

Can't say I'm a fan of this one, Reyes is one of the better international prospects in the organization of which Fangraphs ranks him #10 in the whole org (pre-2026 draft) calling him a "late first-round high school hitter" and a 45 AV prospect. MLB.com ranks him #24 which is more where I would put a guy who is only 18 years old.

Kremer is a rehab project with one year of control, given he's made $5.75M this year, would he get something around $7M? That's possibly a better price than he'd get on the open market, but given Bailey Ober is in a similar spot going into Arb Year 3 and not being what he used to, I don't like it. Losing Reyes isn't a big deal, but I just don't like the return.

Giving up a potential star player for Kremer is why I hate deadline deals.  Reyes with a batting line Jenkins would have been proud of.  Yeah it's a long way to go and he might not get there, but young players that produce well against older competition have a better chance than most to turn into star players.  

Obviously the Twins scouts disagree or Zoll just doesn't care as much about the future as he does the present, but I fail to see given Kremer's recent performance how he is going to help this team? I get you can't hang onto to every prospect and you have to give to get and maybe I cling to prospects too much but I don't like this deal.

I think the Orioles scouts did a marvelous job here.  It might take some time but Reyes is clearly worth giving up Kremer IMO.  

[Possumlad]

This is an absolutely awful move. Liked the Minter move, but this one blows. Reyes is a real deal massive upside prospect... Obviously he may not work out, but among the highest upside prospects in the entire system.

[Cris E]

Wow. something is wrong with Kremer, as his 2026 is way out of line with the rest of his career.  So far seven starts, 36 IP, 12 HR. But if you go back two starts where he gave up 14 ER in 10 IP and he was at 4.15 ERA, but even that's bad.  His Baseball Savant page shows that his 4 seamer, which he throws 21% of the time, is getting tattooed at a .897 SLG.  It's only expected at about .630 xSlg, but he's thrown 128 of them and it's looking like Top Golf. Not confident this is something they fix quickly.

 

EDIT: Just read the article. Maybe they just shelve him for a week or three and let the bicep heal? Still not loving it. 

[darin617]

The Twins should have tried to get Kevin Gausman from Toronto. Send Reyes and another prospect around 20th overall and have Toronto eat some of the remaining money.

[darin617]

So this trade pushes Zebby to the minors or bullpen?

Ryan, Bradley, Ober, Prielipp, Kremer rotation. 

[Brandon27]

they probably move kremer to the bullpen and add another SP from another trade 

[FlyingFinn]

13 minutes ago, darin617 said:

So this trade pushes Zebby to the minors or bullpen?

Ryan, Bradley, Ober, Prielipp, Kremer rotation.

I'm betting the Twins are going to be very careful with Prielipp the rest of the season with the innings pitched high for him, maybe skipping him at times.

[Possumlad]

32 minutes ago, Permanent Twins Fan said:

It might just be a depth move. I wouldn't be shocked if he starts in AAA and gets called up if there is an injury.

They didn't trade a real prospect for Kremer to stick him in AAA. He's been in the bigs for 7 years now.

[jkcarew]

Hilarious. This is your favorite organization “buying”. Everyone knows that when you’re trying to bolster your starting pitching, you look to the very bottom of the Orioles rotation. Even at two years…and even assuming there is a 2027, this is just throwing darts. And Reyes ain’t nothing.

[AZTwin]

Terrible trade. You could get someone on waivers or use a minor leaguer to eat some innings for a 6.50 ERA.  The fact that we gave up a young piece that has a lot of potential is insanity

[IndyTwinsFan]

Not sure why so many are up in arms about this trade.  I'll admit that Kremer is no world beater, but he is a somewhat competent arm that can give the team some innings from a starter it can't get right now.  Take out the 2 blowout appearances and his numbers aren't terrible. 

Reyes, while putting up decent numbers in Low A (and the DSL before that), is really nothing more than a long shot lottery ticket at this point in time.  Maybe he makes a name for himself in professional baseball and maybe he doesn't.  There's just no way to know right now.  It's not like he was knocking on the door and we just gave up on him.

[IndyTwinsFan]

5 minutes ago, Possumlad said:

They didn't trade a real prospect for Kremer to stick him in AAA. He's been in the bigs for 7 years now.

Probably a tad premature to call Reyes a real prospect at his age and limited experience level.

[LastOnePicked]

"He beat the White Sox with a six-inning, one-run outing on July 1"

I see the plan here. They're gonna have him start all six remaining games against the Pale Hose. Smart move.

[Brandon]

The Twins must see how they can fix Kramer and get him from giving up a HR every 3 innings to 1 every 6 or 7 innings.  Usually a team makes a trade to raise the floor not lower it.  But it's buying which is better than last year.  And the prospect we gave up is too far away to be upset about.  

[IndyTwinsFan]

26 minutes ago, darin617 said:

The Twins should have tried to get Kevin Gausman from Toronto. Send Reyes and another prospect around 20th overall and have Toronto eat some of the remaining money.

Maybe we are currently trying for Gausman, Ray, or someone else of that relative caliber.  You don't know that and neither does anyone else on this board.  We won't know for sure until the trade deadline passes.

[AZTwin]

4 minutes ago, IndyTwinsFan said:

Maybe we are currently trying for Gausman, Ray, or someone else of that relative caliber.  You don't know that and neither does anyone else on this board.  We won't know for sure until the trade deadline passes.

K. culpepper, Gabriel Gonzalez and Emanuel Rodriguez all sat on the bench tonight so I imagine they are being used as potential trade bait  

 

[darin617]

16 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

I'm betting the Twins are going to be very careful with Prielipp the rest of the season with the innings pitched high for him, maybe skipping him at times.

That would make sense. I didn't mind the piggyback of Prielipp and Paredes. 

[Wedman13]

1 hour ago, Danchat said:

Can't say I'm a fan of this one, Reyes is one of the better international prospects in the organization of which Fangraphs ranks him #10 in the whole org (pre-2026 draft) calling him a "late first-round high school hitter" and a 45 AV prospect. MLB.com ranks him #24 which is more where I would put a guy who is only 18 years old.

Kremer is a rehab project with one year of control, given he's made $5.75M this year, would he get something around $7M? That's possibly a better price than he'd get on the open market, but given Bailey Ober is in a similar spot going into Arb Year 3 and not being what he used to, I don't like it. Losing Reyes isn't a big deal, but I just don't like the return.

You go for it, or not.  I'm a prospect who're, but not not this one.

[AZTwin]

https://x.com/baseballamerica/status/2083390885333438740?s=46

[Mike Sixel]

46 minutes ago, Possumlad said:

This is an absolutely awful move. Liked the Minter move, but this one blows. Reyes is a real deal massive upside prospect... Obviously he may not work out, but among the highest upside prospects in the entire system.

I think I agree. 

What happened to no half measures? This is the definition of half measure.

[Mike Sixel]

14 minutes ago, IndyTwinsFan said:

Maybe we are currently trying for Gausman, Ray, or someone else of that relative caliber.  You don't know that and neither does anyone else on this board.  We won't know for sure until the trade deadline passes.

You think they are going to add two starting pitchers?