BREAKING: Twins to Acquire Right-Handed Reliever Jeff Hoffman from Blue Jays

[Rosterman]

Should've just kept Varland. WHy do the Twins allow all their lefty drafted prospects to leave to pitch elsewhere?

[terrydactyls]

5 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

No doubt the bullpen is better.  They could've done what I liked about their actual moves and cleared roster space at the same time from the sounds of it.  

The more I look things over there was absolutely no reason they couldn't have moved Jeffers and an OF, acquired the bullpen guys, and come away with another significant talent and be better prepared for both now and the future.  I don't normally think teams could thread that needle, but it sure feels like it was out there for the Twins.

There is a possibility that no one would cough up enough prospects to make trading Jeffers worthwhile and maybe no one wanted a slow footed, bad defensively platoon outfielder.  I would have liked to see it happen, but it didn't.

[DocBauer]

The Twins were never going to trade Jeffers unless they got an offer too tremendous to so nay NO to. You get that, right? He means too much to THIS SEASON. You just DON'T do this all the time. If you do, you mess with the organization as a whole.

But for THIS SEASON he's too important to let go. You can debate all you want to about prospects vs keeping him. But he was never going in a trade unless it was an overwhelming offer.

Reports are he will reject a QO offer. That means the Twins can bid for him, or just accept another top 40 ish pick for him entering FA. 

But he's too important of a player for THIS SEASON for the Twins to have moved him.

 

[Sampson5]

Giving up dason hill for a okay reliever certainly a choice but I guess to zoll it don't matter because if twins flame out down the stretch he's probably getting replaced after the lockout . Always possible hill flames out but struggling to see a scenario where he's not at minimum a high leverage reliever . Be interesting to look back in 5 years on this one certainly feel like it's gonna be looked at as a whiff he'd have to he elite for the next few seasons for this trade to even feel close to worth it . Maybe I'm to high on hill think he's worst case a quality 5th starter with a real path to being top of the rotation assuming Toronto can rein in the command hopefully I'll be wrong and it's a twins fleece but yikes so many better options if you were trading your best pitching prospect would of wanted a younger arm who's not already showing signs of regression 

[ashbury]

10 minutes ago, Rosterman said:

Should've just kept Varland. WHy do the Twins allow all their lefty drafted prospects to leave to pitch elsewhere?

[USAFChief]

45 minutes ago, Rosterman said:

Should've just kept Varland. WHy do the Twins allow all their lefty drafted prospects to leave to pitch elsewhere?

Why bring politics into this???

[howeda7]

8 hours ago, MMBoys93 said:

Tom, Joe, Jim…maybe the Pohlad’s should be a little more creative with names. I’m bad enough with names lol

 

The County Registrar used to charge by the letter in those days. The Pohlad's have always been thrifty...

[UK Twin]

I like this trade but feel Zoll should have done more to address the rotation and maybe added a bat as well. I feel good about the BP now though. But I really feel we should have gone out and got a Soriano or Detmers. It all feels a little half hearted.

[UK Twin]

2 hours ago, DocBauer said:

The Twins were never going to trade Jeffers unless they got an offer too tremendous to so nay NO to. You get that, right? He means too much to THIS SEASON. You just DON'T do this all the time. If you do, you mess with the organization as a whole.

But for THIS SEASON he's too important to let go. You can debate all you want to about prospects vs keeping him. But he was never going in a trade unless it was an overwhelming offer.

Reports are he will reject a QO offer. That means the Twins can bid for him, or just accept another top 40 ish pick for him entering FA. 

But he's too important of a player for THIS SEASON for the Twins to have moved him.

 

Agree with this but we should have then strengthened our rotation with getting someone like Detmers, Soriano or Hancock/Kirby. I just don't think our rotation is good enough for a team looking to get into the play offs.

[Fatbat]

Step 1 is done by adding pitching depth. Now add some prospects to varsity that can catch lightning in a bottle. It worked for Texas and AZ in 2023. No one will ever convince me that the Twins are better with T.Gray and A.Roden than K.Culpepper and W.Jenkins. 

[TommyLasordaAteSpaghetti]

OK with this trade. 3 prospects for a proven MLB arm?

Any day.

Now, Social Media sources speculating that Elon Musk is sniffing the Minnesota Twins?

Say it ain't so.....😥

[TommyLasordaAteSpaghetti]

And That's a Wrap, folks!

Grade: B+

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

Well, we added two quality arms to the bullpen, didn't trade away any starters, and we are still sniffing around the .500 mark. Time for a long winning streak! Man, if he have a healthy Ryan AND Buxton for the final two months, and if guys like Lewis, Larnach, Jeffers and Keaschall keep playing like they have been lately. this team certainly could be a playoff dynamo. 

[HrbieFan]

Shocked that Jeffers is still on the team! Do they spend on Jeffers to meet the new floor payroll that is proposed? Would  3 years $55 get it done? 

[jmlease1]

Heh. I'm enjoying this thread. 

Twins fans: "Cheap Pohlads need to improve this team at the deadline!"

Same Twins fans: "Not like that! God, I hate the Pohlads, they're so much stupider than me!"

The Hoffman acquisition is an interesting one. I'll be curious to see how much $$$ Toronto is picking up for next season; I'm guessing it'll be in the $3-4M range, which makes him very keepable for the team, but we'll see. He's a very good fit for the bullpen this year and next, with excellent stuff and experience late in games. Toronto fans certainly turned on him after giving up a key homer in the WS, but dude was nails before that throughout the playoffs. With him wobbling to start the season, they clearly fitted him to be the scapegoat but despite that he found his form again. A change of scenery will still probably be good for him. 

The Twins gave up a fair amount here, but TINSTAAPP principle does apply here with Hill. He's definitely a boom or bust kind of guy with eye-popping K numbers and unsustainable walk numbers. The stuff is amazing but he has no idea where it's going. Sure, he's young and should have time to figure it out...but a lot of these guys never figure it out. It may be that the only way he can throw enough strikes is to take something off his pitches...and will he be K-ing everyone in sight if he does? There's risk in sending him out, but that's the way it goes. Despite Toronto fans shouting loudly right now that they would have given up Hoffman for basically nothing, no actual professional in baseball would have, so ignore that kind of stupid fan garbage. Hill's a real prospect, but the shine came off him this season after he probably shot up the lists a little too high.

Klein is 24 and despite a bullpen badly needing help was not seen as much of an internal option. Notably, he hasn't been good at AAA in 2 stints there and I would not say he impressed when he did get a shot in MLB. There's some velocity there but he's pretty hittable. Maybe he can make it as a middle reliever, but lot guys like this out there. He was not a top 30 prospect internally at this point.

Pena is a lottery ticket. Maybe someone has him at the end of the top 30, maybe not. Maybe he turns into someone, maybe in 3 years we're saying "who?". If you hold on to all of these kinds of guys because you're afraid of what they could possibly become if they max out their skills, you'll never trade anyone. We needed help now.

It's a fair trade. I'd say the Twins addressed their 2 biggest needs, getting 2 quality arms for the bullpen that should be expected to pitch in the 7th inning or later in high leverage situations. They added a rotation arm to eat up some innings for a rotation that's short on arms and has no margin for error left. They didn't give up any of their best prospects, the guys who look as sure of a thing as anyone in the organization. The one real prospect they gave up with Hill, who probably drops out of the top 10 after this season where his control issues got worse, not better. You have to give up something to get something, but the Twins didn't surrender the crown jewels. 

The big issue is the bullpen issues could have been mitigated in the offseason, and wouldn't have cost them any prospects. And probably could have been done with similar money that they're taking on, and would have added some wins int he first half of the season. That's the disappointing part.

[Jeff K]

15 hours ago, Hunter4848 said:

Pass on reading the AI slop...

I see you are working hard on garnering the most on thumbs down.  You're a fun lad.

[Jeff K]

You've got to give to get.  I like the trade.  I suspect we lose Jeffers after the season, and maybe they could have gotten a haul from the Red Sox; but Rutchman has team control for another year.

[Fatbat]

@jmlease1 its been reported that BJ’s are pickingup $3.75M so Hoffmans cost will be$7.25M. That pocket change if he is getting the big outs. 

[Cris E]

11 hours ago, DocBauer said:

So after reading all 9 pages, I've decided to just say what I want to say and be done with it. 

IMO, the Twins had 3 targets to hit. A LHRP, a RHRP...both better than Nance with no insult intended...and they got both, and a solid, backend SP of SOME quality. I wouldn't have objected to a TOP rotation arm, but I ONLY wanted them to do that if they had additional control. This team/organization is not ready to sacrifice top prospects for a rental.

Basically, they did all of the above.

1] MINTER is not the same guy who earned a rather crazy $11M per from the Mets. But that's the Mets being the Mets. He showed a solid 94 FB so far. And he's starting to change his repertoire with success. He may not be what he was, but he's still showing good results pre trade. Considering he's not ancient, and might still be rebounding a bit, I wouldn't be surprised if he starts hitting 94-95 before the season is done. I seriously doubt at 33yo he's going to get another crazy deal. MAN would I love him as a resign for a Twins team with a sub $100M scheduled 2027 payroll to complement Banda, under control, to give the Twins a really good LH duo for next season.

I like acquiring him.

2] KREMER was NOT on my radar, but I'm not sure who else was without an over pay rental option. But I think he's a surprise to myself and everyone else. But let's pause for a moment to reflect. From 2022-2025 he was a very solid back end SP who had an ERA around 4 and was just a solid SP who won games and ate some IP. That's the kind of arm the team needs right now for depth. And it didn't cost much. And his first few starts this season...coming off injury if I understand correctly...he was throwing as well as he had previously. Then he had 2 really poor games. And that raised his ERA from sub 4 to over 6.

So for those who don't like his addition, are you focused too much on 2 bad games? Or will you accept 4 really solid seasons and a handful  of solid games before a couple of very poor performances?

He's nothing special. But he's been solid in his career. I'm betting on a change of scenery, and the FO and coaching staff looking at his first 4.2 years and making a couple adjustments, and he reverts to his 2022-25 self. Again, nothing special. But a solid #4-5 SP has value. Especially considering our depth is basically gone at this point. BONUS points we have him for depth in 2027, even if he's not special. 

IF he was having his NORMAL pre 2026 season, I think a lot of posters would be at least a little excited about his addition. But FOCUS on BAD ERA after 2 POOR appearances are not the way to evaluate a pitcher. 

The Twins tweak a couple of things and we get the "normal" Kremler for the rest of the season, are you going to continue to complain about his acquisition?

3] I really wanted Hoffman. I've been pissed since 2023 when Coulombe and Hoffman were both in camp with the Twins and thought both should have been kept. (Shaking off anger)!

I just didn't think the Twins would target him due to his 2027 salary. Does it matter that he allowed a big hit in 2025 that robbed the Jays? Is he to be defined by that? That's ridiculous! Nor should he be defined by a poor start to 2026. He's been his normal outstanding self the last couple of months. There's gas in the tank left. His numbers show that.

I DON'T like loosing Hill. He's a tremendous prospect. While I don't want him to ever be good facing the Twins, the truth is he's a talented young arm with vast potential. And I wish him the best.

But to all the naysayers, you do realize the future might make us hate trading away Reyes and Hill. But they also might never reach the ML level right? It's always a give and take guys. You have to give to acquire. 

I like what Zoll has done. He's overseen defensive changes in the lineup along with Shelton. And it's going to continue. 

But the only thing they didn't do was complete a smaller rumored trade to the Dodgers for OF Alex Call. He's a late development OF who can cover the entire OF with a good glove, and is tremendous against RHP. He's probably a better version of Martin. 

Other than that, I really like what the FO did. 

 

 

Liked this post, with a couple caveats:

Hill will probably be a good pitcher eventually, but the Twins have not had great luck at adding control to good arms. They do much better when taking a command guy and adding velo. Hill was going to be a challenge and being a trade piece was probably the best value they were going to get from him. 

Klein is one of those arms they added speed to, but it's a hittable 96 (if anyone could have imagined such a thing years ago!) He was found talent, and again might be most useful as a trade piece. Best of luck, thanks, etc.

I remember wondering what was wrong with Hoffman when he wasn't kept, but be fair and don't confuse spring 2023 Hoffman with the guy that was handed the ball in the 2025 World Series. He improved quite a lot, which is something to keep  in mind when discussing any developing pitchers. They can be a very volatile lot, and there's absolutely no reason to expect that Klein and Varland could be exact copies or complete opposites of one another. 

I liked the deadline work. it was good to accept more payroll. I will remain skeptical of Kremer's health until he proves everyone teeing off on that 4 seamer is not a sign of injury, but whatever, he's in the 4/5 hole.  I would have guessed that taking as much of Hoffman's due would have saved some on the prospect cost, but whatever.  I wish we could have pulled Detmers or Hancock, but whatever. I'm surprised no one pushed harder for Jeffers, but whatever.  It'll be a fun fall and we should be lined up pretty well for 2027. 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Cris E said:

Liked this post, with a couple caveats:

Hill will probably be a good pitcher eventually, but the Twins have not had great luck at adding control to good arms. They do much better when taking a command guy and adding velo. Hill was going to be a challenge and being a trade piece was probably the best value they were going to get from him. 

Will Hill figure it out before he’s out of options? That’s the Blue Jays dilemma now.

[twinfan]

Hoffman can be the closer we have needed but the Twins failed to bring in a good, right-handed bat. All in all I give the Twins a B- for this trade deadline. Pitching does win in the long run but we started to do better with our bullpen and now have turned it topsy turvy. So we now have 2 pitchers for each of the 6th, 7th 8th and 9th innings but no additional starter or right handed bat. Can we catch either or both Chicago and Cleveland? Based on all team's additions, I have my doubts.

[DJL44]

22 minutes ago, twinfan said:

Hoffman can be the closer we have needed but the Twins failed to bring in a good, right-handed bat. All in all I give the Twins a B- for this trade deadline. Pitching does win in the long run but we started to do better with our bullpen and now have turned it topsy turvy. So we now have 2 pitchers for each of the 6th, 7th 8th and 9th innings but no additional starter or right handed bat. Can we catch either or both Chicago and Cleveland? Based on all team's additions, I have my doubts.

Ryan Jeffers was the best RH bat on the market.