BREAKING: Twins Acquire Starting Pitcher Dean Kremer from Orioles

[Major League Ready]

48 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Zebby has more quality starts than not. I'm not sure why people keep saying this.

I would love for them to have 5 SPs better than Zebby.  When that happens, they can move Zebby to the BP but I don't see that as likely.

This was a smart move by the Orioles to get a high ceiling guy in this type of trade.

[singlesoverwalks]

I don't mind dealing a high upside 18-year-old for major league help, but could they have found a better pitcher if they'd waited a day or two? 

[Mike Sixel]

24 minutes ago, singlesoverwalks said:

I don't mind dealing a high upside 18-year-old for major league help, but could they have found a better pitcher if they'd waited a day or two? 

Yes. 

[D.C Twins]

3 hours ago, TopGunn#22 said:

I disagree, respectfully.  In any trade, it depends what you get back.  In Neto, the Twins would be getting a player who has a higher ceiling than Culpepper (unless you think Culpepper has 30/30 potential as soon as 2027).  In his first full season, Neto hit 23 HR's and stole 30 bases.  Last year, he hit 26 HR's and stole 26 bases.  He's 26 years old and stepping into his prime.  Neto would help the Twins immediately.  Especially with Buxton's injury status.

Neto is also a better SS.  He's already a solid Major League SS.  There are still questions about whether Culpepper can stay at SS.  But most importantly, as I've stated, Neto PLAYS.  107 out of 110 games so far this year.  In 2024, he played 155 games.  Culpepper has talent and potential, but he can't stay healthy.  (Yet...)

Agreed that everything is always on the table for the right price.

High bar for me on Culpepper because I would selfishly like to see a strong internal core rise up the ranks together and take us to the promise land a la the 1980s.

I acknowledge that there is a bit of a romantic/idealistic vision involved here, but pragmatically, If they do rise up together the window will actually be quite large. 

[Wedman13]

6 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Seems light from the twins.

Aren't the Blue Jays tired of us getting the best of them in trades 🤣  win/loss matters

[weitz41]

I'll tap in again on this one. Pablo likely won't be ready till late May early June. So, a nice piece for 2027 as well as a needed piece for late 2026. If you're concerned about giving up Reyes for 1 year and 2+ months of Kremer. Take a long look at Yovanny Duran. He likely a better prospect.

[Mike Sixel]

27 minutes ago, weitz41 said:

I'll tap in again on this one. Pablo likely won't be ready till late May early June. So, a nice piece for 2027 as well as a needed piece for late 2026. If you're concerned about giving up Reyes for 1 year and 2+ months of Kremer. Take a long look at Yovanny Duran. He likely a better prospect.

Pablo should easily be ready for the start of the year. 

[weitz41]

1 minute ago, Mike Sixel said:

Pablo should easily be ready for the start of the year. 

I want that to be true as well. Imagine...Pablo, Ryan, Bradley, Prielipp and then Abel, Matthews, Kremer. Plus Rojas, Parades and maybe even Quick waiting in 2027. Not a bad fantasy when it comes to baseball.

[nicksaviking]

10 hours ago, DJL44 said:

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

I mean, if it’s me, Rojas is in the rotation over Matthews and the new guy, and Rogers is either DFA’d or invited to enjoy the games from the press box.

[nicksaviking]

Yeah, this looks like a move just to make a move. This is a guy who would/should be left off of a playoff roster. Why wouldn’t you want Rojas getting those starts instead?

Kind of a symptom of post Correa Twins roster building though. Competitive teams add to the top of the roster. The last two years the Twins have primarily only tried to add to the bottom of the roster. Which is basically just DFA candidates.

[DJL44]

18 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Yeah, this looks like a move just to make a move. This is a guy who would/should be left off of a playoff roster. Why wouldn’t you want Rojas getting those starts instead?

Kind of a symptom of post Correa Twins roster building though. Competitive teams add to the top of the roster. The last two years the Twins have primarily only tried to add to the bottom of the roster. Which is basically just DFA candidates.

“Raise the floor”

[nicksaviking]

23 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

“Raise the floor”

Right. Instead of raising the ceiling, which without question is what real contenders do.

[Otto von Ballpark]

20 hours ago, darin617 said:

There are a couple of bright sides to the trade.

Kremer can be sent directly to St Paul and let him get his things together.

Kremer actually can’t be sent to AAA anymore.

Baltimore was able to send him down at the beginning of the season because he was still 60 days shy of 5 years service time (and with it the right to refuse an optional assignment).

But he’s accumulated more than 60 days service already in 2026 (albeit most of it spent on the MLB IL).

[Fatbat]

13 hours ago, DJL44 said:

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

But you can be a #11 at 18yo and the 1st mate of a fishing boat in the Bahamas at 21 yo. Happens every year. 

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

2 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Yeah, this looks like a move just to make a move. This is a guy who would/should be left off of a playoff roster. Why wouldn’t you want Rojas getting those starts instead?

Kind of a symptom of post Correa Twins roster building though. Competitive teams add to the top of the roster. The last two years the Twins have primarily only tried to add to the bottom of the roster. Which is basically just DFA candidates.

My opinion is I think the Twins like Kremer and they think they can get the prior years performance or even better.  I also think the asking prices are astronomical and they don’t want to get into bidding wars. So was Reyes an overpay, for a player that was likely to be traded or DFA possibly this season or next season, yes it was an overpay sending Reyes who is a high ceiling prospect.  There is risk with this trade. Now he is a long ways away but there is concern. The issue is let’s be clear, starting pitching is expensive.  When those on orioles podcast feel like they got fleeced it shows the deal isn’t terrible, even though it’s more a situation they don’t know Reyes or that he is massively jumping on lists.  Kremer would not surprise me if we can get #3 like performances out of him.  Plus he sounds like a very good guy,  
 

I agree with Froemming, Tom Pohlad doesn’t care about 3-4 years down the road or an 18 year old prospect. He wants to flip the team.  We should have done the full rebuild, here we are doing a half hearted attempt to get to the playoffs a year or two early sending now 2 prospects under age 20 both who flashed this year in small sample sizes at low levels. WAT and Reckless was TFT’s take and I agree. Logically it is high risks moves and shows either Zoll is a little out of his depth or just how much Tom Pohlad is pushing either for sale purposes or because he wants to back up his word of go big or go home because he’s been ridiculed for 6 months.  This was my worry with Falvey leaving. We have 2 inexperienced individuals and possibly Zoll unwilling to stand up to Tom and say this is short sighted and not smart.  I am now worried about the rest of the deadline, especially after the supposed Larnach trade which again seems light for the Twins.   

[Fatbat]

19 minutes ago, Hawkeye Bean Counter said:

My opinion is I think the Twins like Kremer and they think they can get the prior years performance or even better.  I also think the asking prices are astronomical and they don’t want to get into bidding wars. So was Reyes an overpay, for a player that was likely to be traded or DFA possibly this season or next season, yes it was an overpay sending Reyes who is a high ceiling prospect.  There is risk with this trade. Now he is a long ways away but there is concern. The issue is let’s be clear, starting pitching is expensive.  When those on orioles podcast feel like they got fleeced it shows the deal isn’t terrible, even though it’s more a situation they don’t know Reyes or that he is massively jumping on lists.  Kremer would not surprise me if we can get #3 like performances out of him.  Plus he sounds like a very good guy,  
 

I agree with Froemming, Tom Pohlad doesn’t care about 3-4 years down the road or an 18 year old prospect. He wants to flip the team.  We should have done the full rebuild, here we are doing a half hearted attempt to get to the playoffs a year or two early sending now 2 prospects under age 20 both who flashed this year in small sample sizes at low levels. WAT and Reckless was TFT’s take and I agree. Logically it is high risks moves and shows either Zoll is a little out of his depth or just how much Tom Pohlad is pushing either for sale purposes or because he wants to back up his word of go big or go home because he’s been ridiculed for 6 months.  This was my worry with Falvey leaving. We have 2 inexperienced individuals and possibly Zoll unwilling to stand up to Tom and say this is short sighted and not smart.  I am now worried about the rest of the deadline, especially after the supposed Larnach trade which again seems light for the Twins.   

Great points! Everyone is expensive and how many FO’s know details about what other teams’ 18 yo high ceiling prospects actually are.  There has to be minimum of 1 per team so nail it down to a total of 34 kids to be sold…. and does anyone care that the FO is pushing for a pennant this season? NOPE.  T.Pohlad is buying his best chance to win now and inflate the franchise value.  Just win games and get thru season to sell playoff tickets. Pure ego. He is building this playoff contender. Smile and enjoy it. 

[SarasotaBill]

Reyes ranked 12th among Minnesota prospects at Baseball America and 10th in the system according to Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan of FanGraphs. MLB Pipeline has slotted him 20th among O’s farmhands after the trade. He’s a left-handed hitting outfielder with a 6’3″ frame that leads to significant raw power projection. Reyes signed out of the Dominican Republic during the 2025 international period and has spent most of his time in the Florida Complex League, where he was hitting .275 with seven home runs.

The Twins just promoted the 18-year-old to Low-A last week. He’s years away from the majors but has a chance to develop into a power-hitting right fielder. There’s a fair amount of risk with this profile given the likelihood he ends up in a corner and concern about how often he swings and misses. There’s substantial upside as well, though, with the FanGraphs report noting that Reyes has the kind of profile that would likely have seen him taken at the back of the first round if he were a domestic high school draftee. That’s a strong get for a fifth starter.

What's worse: impatient fans, ego owner, or an inexperienced GM?