BREAKING: Twins Acquire Starting Pitcher Dean Kremer from Orioles

[mikelink45]

I am just glad they are doing something.  This is what we all ask for.  They are not short on OF prospects so this is trading from a strength.  Is Kremer good?  I can't judge until we see how the Twins work with him and what he produces for us.  Our current rotation is working, but there is no arm in the minors that can come in if we have another emergency.  

[MMMordabito]

Not my gumdrop prospects!!

[Dave Borton]

Allowed 20 runs in 19 innings over his past four starts. Ouch.

[DJL44]

The real opportunity cost here is there is no room to add a good starter. They don’t have a 3rd starter for the playoffs. I guess the plan is to get there and lose.

[Dave Borton]

Quote

In making the deals, the Twins uncharacteristically took on payroll, paying the entirety of the roughly $5 million combined owed to Minter and Kremer.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7484568/2026/08/01/minnesota-twins-mlb-trade-deadline-payroll/

[AceBee]

7 hours ago, LA Vikes Fan said:

They are going to need another starter for sure because Prielipp is near his innings limit for the year and they just don’t have anyone else other than Rojas. They needed to pick up a starter in this guy must have been the only thing they could find for a price they were willing to pay. Too soon to get guys like Gausman or Ray. The teams that have them will hold onto them till Monday to see if they can get more competition involved as people get injured or ineffective.

 

Agreed. I don't expect them to trade for high end arm and they shouldn't. But every time I hear trade for some arm that was not in the trade chatter across MLB rumors I think of Mahle and his 5 starts. I hope my pessimistic mind is proved horribly wrong 

[LewFordLives]

I've been reading some of the comments on the Orioles fan sites. The reactions to the trade are generally positive. A lot of the fans are done with Kremer.

[clone52]

9 hours ago, darin617 said:

So this trade pushes Zebby to the minors or bullpen?

Ryan, Bradley, Ober, Prielipp, Kremer rotation. 

Prielipp is nearing a career high in innings.  Put him in the pen is what I would say.

See if the coaches can tweak a few things.  I am guessing they see something off after his injury and believe they can fix it.  If they can't, they probably put him in the pen.

Fretting over and 18 year old who is organizationally a top 10-20 prospect is silly.

[Fatbat]

We never have enough pitching. Trading a lottery ticket that wont make it to AAA sometime in the next 3-5 years is a great trade if Kremer gets healthy and eats innings.  Otherwise, its a footnote that will be lost to history.  I applaud the FO for taking the swing because they are in win now mode!

Kremer can be a solid #4 in our rotation and if thats where he is this September and all of next season, this will be a great trade!
We need pitching!!! We just sent out 3 prospects that wouldn’t have contributed anything to varsity in the next 3-4 seasons and in return, we got a high leverage LH RP and a solid SP that can get healthy and has a solid track record. No reason to be mad about it. The 26/27 Twins are now in a little better shape.

Do we need another guy or two? YES!! Are their names Jenkins and Culpepper? Maybe. Or Maybe the FO brings in some more proven talent.  
Its tough watching Gray, Kreidler and Roden on a daily basis.

On another topic, thank goodness the Tigers waited so long to bring Max Clarke up, all he did was ignite a 13-1 win over the A’s.  He will be a pest for a decade but they are in selling mode so Skubal will be gone…. Hopefully to the NL! 

[Fatbat]

10 minutes ago, LewFordLives said:

I've been reading some of the comments on the Orioles fan sites. The reactions to the trade are generally positive. A lot of the fans are done with Kremer.

Much like a lot of TD’rs that complain about Ober. 

[clone52]

Could even pair him up with Prielipp to limit Prielipps innings.  Let them each go 3-4 innings.

 

One note, on his first time through the order this year, Kramer has a .406 Babip.  Exceptionally bad luck.  2nd and 3rd time he Babip is way low, but he is giving up. A crap load of HRs.  Could be a great pairing with Prielipp.

[Fatbat]

37 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

The real opportunity cost here is there is no room to add a good starter. They don’t have a 3rd starter for the playoffs. I guess the plan is to get there and lose.

Its not Monday yet. Kremer is a depth piece and there is plenty of room to give him innings if he gets healthy.  If he is the next Mahle, then its a dumb trade but no one can say that before Kremer pitches a few games or not. 

[90stwinskid]

Feels like a SP depth move, which we needed. I don't mind the move, especially for a prospect who might be lottery ticket at this point. Plus we get another year of control for Kremer.

That said, we'd better not be done making moves, imo. Minimum one more reliever (on par with Minter or better), maybe even a big time starter.

[clone52]

57 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

The real opportunity cost here is there is no room to add a good starter. They don’t have a 3rd starter for the playoffs. I guess the plan is to get there and lose.

Yeah, I don't think this eliminates a Robbie Ray or even Reid Detmers type pickup at all.

[clone52]

8 hours ago, Dman said:

So how does this work for next year?  Ryan, Bradley, Lopez, Ober and Kremer?  No Preilipp, Abel, Mathews, or Rojas?  Not sure I get why they needed another year of control.  Kremer wasn't even deemed good enough for the Orioles starting rotation this year and got there due to injury.  Also I don't get the infatuation this team has with injured arms.  He's just coming back from a right quad strain and has a velocity dip.  It's another head scratching move IMO.  

I already don't like Zoll as GM.  Friedman would have got this done for Jimenez or Rosario or Olivares. prospects with lower ceilings rather than Reyes. Once Zoll is done with the Twins I don't see him in a GM chair if he is making move like this.

 

Hmmm, Kremer got there due to injury.  Expecting the Twins to be injury free next season?

[clone52]

I wonder how this message board would be reacting right now if the Twins had traded Ober for a prospect exactly like Reyes.

[SarasotaBill]

1 hour ago, AugieOjedaFanboy said:

Not really. The Twins have a much simpler path to the playoffs than Baltimore.

I think you might be over valuing Reyes a tad.

Ask yourself why have the Twins have made two trades in the past few days and no one else has done so.

Twins are overpaying.

Minter's cost was Amick (low average & contact) and a lottery ticket. Overpay for Minter but minimal trade cost.

Reyes had a .950 ops (comparison Emma had .870) in Rookie League.

Twins typically don't move 18 year olds up to A. Jenkins is the only other one that I know before doing so this year with Reyes.

This move is a "I want to watch the Twins shoot for the playoffs this year" vs trying to set up the team for a world series run starting next year. 

[howeda7]

1 hour ago, AugieOjedaFanboy said:

Not really. The Twins have a much simpler path to the playoffs than Baltimore.

I think you might be over valuing Reyes a tad.

Twins Daily folks over-valuing prospects? That never happens. 

[TopGunn#22]

In the bigger picture, I would have liked to see the Twins aim a little higher than Kremer.  Gausman has been mentioned, and I'd add Robbie Ray.  I realize Reyes is a pure lottery ticket.  He's got some very nice potential, but he's light years away from the major leagues, if he ever even gets there. 

But Kremer is so much like the Shoemaker and Happ moves of the past.  In a playoff race in the "here and now", the Twins are just not getting the Kremer of previous years.  You don't give up 12 HR's in 36 innings unless something is not quite right.  Kremer might help them next year, but I fear he will kill their chances THIS year.  

I would have preferred a Robbie Ray/Kevin Gausman type of move where I gave up something good and threw in Reyes to seal the deal.  Either of those pitchers are good enough to put in a playoff rotation with Ryan and Bradley.  I'm not sure where Kremer even falls in a playoff pecking order.  If they were going to make this kind of move, this is where Tom Pohlad needed to "go big or go home."  He didn't need to land Tarik Skubal.  But we should have aimed much higher than the current edition of Dean Kremer.  

[SteveLV]

This is simple.

No one minds trading good prospects if you get something good in return.

This guy isn't.

[saviking]

9 hours ago, AZTwin said:

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

 

👀

[saviking]

Just now, saviking said:

👀

Damn, moving Culpepper would be swinging for the fences. Ema aa well. Gonzales is a solid prospect that could bring a good reliever. 

We will know soon ..

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, clone52 said:

Fretting over and 18 year old who is organizationally a top 10-20 prospect is silly.

You need to have a pretty high ceiling to get ranked in the 10-20 range as an 18-year old. 

[Roach]

History has taught us that no prospect, regardless of level, is a sure thing.  Reyes has tremendous potential but a lot can happen between now and 2030 (maybe his earliest arrival date).  And evaluating each trade deadline move by itself in real time does not hold up over time.  This move might allow Zebby to move to the bullpen where focusing on three pitches might turn him into another Varland.  I know we are skeptical of Zola and ownership, it’s silly to think they don’t have a plan.

[mickster]

10 hours ago, darin617 said:

So this trade pushes Zebby to the minors or bullpen?

Ryan, Bradley, Ober, Prielipp, Kremer rotation. 

That is the move that makes sense, but you might see Prielipp in the pen to reduce innings

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, clone52 said:

Prielipp is nearing a career high in innings.  Put him in the pen is what I would say.

So five lefthanders in the bullpen? Minter, Rogers, Funderburk, Rojas and Prielipp?

[killercarewoliva]

10 hours ago, LyleCole said:

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. 

Reading about Reyes. he's a good player. his potential is I'd say above average. Kremer is below average. every once in awhile you can get a 4.75 and run average to pitch a really good game like somebody I really liked is Dobnak and suddenly he doesn't give up a run for seven innings against the twins. we are not going to go for higher priced players. however, the guy from New York did sign for $22 million for 2 years and this team doesn't sign relievers in that price range. he is in Minnesota to take up some innings because of all the injuries and we can just cross our fingers and hope for the best.

[tony&rodney]

7 hours ago, Western SD Fan said:

This could be a Tom Pohlad move trying to gin up interest in the team for a stretch run knowing that, after the new CBA, they are putting the team back up for sale. 

The odds of this being true are as close to zero as one can get. Have you seen Reyes play? Do you think Tom Pohlad is familiar with the DSL, GCL, and FSL rosters? This was a move made by the front office to strengthen the roster now. There will be more moves, most likely later with a couple of minor league players called up. The Twins are trying to win because the American League is wide open, not because this is a favorite to win it all. 

[clone52]

5 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

So five lefthanders in the bullpen? Minter, Rogers, Funderburk, Rojas and Prielipp?

Good point.  Maybe Funderburk goes down, or maybe they trade Rogers?

 

I doubt Prielipp can go the rest of the way in the rotation, though.

[Rod Carews Birthday]

Apparently some here think that you can just add whoever you want for free.  Reyes is a decent prospect - light years away from the majors.  He has a nice OPS right now. So does Kyler Fedko. It didn’t make him a star either.  

I don’t think Kremer is a world beater, but he is an upgrade from the minor league guys that you would need to bring up in the event of injury/innings limits/ineffectiveness.  The odds of Kremer not being cooked are probably better than the odds of Reyes becoming a good major leaguer.  .