Three Trades the Twins Should Wish They Had Made at the Deadline

[Matthew Taylor]

Image courtesy of Kevin Sousa, IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Minnesota Twins had a productive trade deadline.

After weeks of speculation about whether they would buy or sell, the front office ultimately made three additions over the final weekend before the deadline. They bolstered the rotation with Dean Kremer and strengthened the bullpen with A.J. Minter and Jeff Hoffman before the clock struck 5 p.m. While opinions varied on each move, the overall consensus was positive. Twins Daily's Cody Christie graded the club's trades between a B- and a B+, and most national analysts landed in a similar range.

Still, every trade deadline leaves behind a handful of deals that make you stop and wonder.

Some trades immediately spark the reaction of, "That's all it took?" Others look even better a few days later after you have time to compare the prices teams paid across the league. Looking back, there are at least three deals the Twins probably wish they had been the team making instead.

Kevin Gausman - Starting Pitcher
The Chicago Cubs acquired the veteran right-hander from Toronto for infield prospect Ty Southisene, the Blue Jays' No. 17 prospect, and outfielder Brett Bateman, their No. 20 prospect. Considering Gausman's résumé, it was a surprisingly modest return.

Yes, Gausman has struggled this season, posting a 4.38 ERA, and he's only a rental with two months of team control remaining. But this is also a two-time All-Star who finished third in American League Cy Young voting as recently as 2023. His underlying metrics still point toward a pitcher capable of performing much better than his ERA suggests.

The return is what makes this trade so intriguing from a Twins perspective. The Cubs only had to part with their No. 17 and No. 20 prospects despite owning MLB.com's No. 23-ranked farm system. According to FanGraphs, those prospects would rank below players like Bruin Agbayani and John Klein in the Twins organization.

Minnesota ultimately paid a steeper price to acquire Dean Kremer. Kremer brings another season of club control, which certainly adds value, but if the goal was simply maximizing the 2026 postseason push, it's hard not to wonder if Gausman would have been the better target at a lower acquisition cost.

Taylor Ward - Outfielder
Another missed opportunity came in the market for right-handed hitting.

The Mariners acquired Taylor Ward from Baltimore for reliever Alex Hoppe, who owns a 5.79 ERA, along with pitching prospects Brock Moore and Harrison Kreiling, neither of whom ranked among Seattle's top 30 prospects.

That feels like a deal the Twins should have been all over.

Minnesota entered the deadline with one glaring offensive need: another right-handed bat capable of punishing left-handed pitching. Ward checks that box while also providing the versatility to handle center field when needed. He's exactly the type of player who would've fit the roster without requiring a major overhaul.

Considering the Mariners didn't have to surrender a premium (or even good) prospect to get him, it's difficult not to look back and wonder why the Twins weren't able to put together a similar package. Ward is also a rental, but for that price, he would've addressed one of Minnesota's biggest weaknesses without significantly impacting the organization's long-term outlook.

The final deal that stands out happened inside the division.

Foster Griffin - Starting Pitcher
The Cleveland Guardians acquired left-hander Foster Griffin from Washington in exchange for Will Dion, Josh Hartle, Kendeglys Virguez and Nick Mitchell. Hartle was Cleveland's highest-ranked prospect in the deal at No. 25, meaning the Guardians landed an All-Star without giving up anyone inside the top 24 of their system.

Griffin has one of the more unique stories in baseball. After leaving for Japan in 2023, he spent three seasons dominating overseas before returning to Major League Baseball with the Nationals this year. All he has done since returning is post a 3.06 ERA with a WHIP barely over 1.00 while earning his first All-Star selection.

Perhaps even more enticing are the underlying metrics, which suggest the 31-year-old could be even better moving forward. He offers more upside than Kremer while costing Cleveland less prospect capital to acquire.

Making matters worse for the Twins, Griffin is now headed to Cleveland. The Guardians have built a reputation for getting the most out of pitchers, and it's hard not to imagine Griffin taking another step forward in their development system.

None of this is meant to criticize what the Twins accomplished at the deadline. Their front office addressed multiple needs and deserves credit for being aggressive enough to improve the roster for the stretch run.

But hindsight is part of every trade deadline. Once the dust settles and every deal can be compared side by side, there are always a few moves that leave you wondering what could have been. Looking back at the prices teams paid for Kevin Gausman, Taylor Ward and Foster Griffin, it's hard not to think the Twins had opportunities to come away with an even stronger deadline than the one they already had.

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Do you agree that these are the three trades the Twins should have made? Are there any other deadline deals you wish Minnesota had jumped into? Leave a comment below and start the conversation!

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[dxpavelka]

Have to think Larnach and / or Wallner might have fetched some sort of useful return.  However, alas, sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make.  Time will tell.  Look up in the division.  The Joey Bart deal is already not working out for the Sox,  

[jkcarew]

Ima go with…

1. Byron Buxton for a whole bunch of major-league-ready talent

2. Joe Ryan for a bunch of major-league-ready talent

3. Ryan Jeffers for a top prospect

[PuckettPond]

Twins needed to be sellers not buyers @ this year's trade deadline, putting them on pace for a trip to the World Series within 3 seasons. After last year's mass selling the team is better-stronger today than not selling. Sell high when players still have perceived value.

[DJL44]

Why would the Twins want another outfielder?

[weitz41]

16 minutes ago, PuckettPond said:

Twins needed to be sellers not buyers @ this year's trade deadline, putting them on pace for a trip to the World Series within 3 seasons. After last year's mass selling the team is better-stronger today than not selling. Sell high when players still have perceived value.

The Varland lovers are going to be at your door shortly! 

I don't disagree, but I believe Tom Pohlad isn't willing to go there. Falvey out Zoll in... 

I would have liked to seen Gausman as a Twin. I'd also like my lottery ticket to be a big winner. Not doing well on either...Such is life.

[mnfireman]

43 minutes ago, jkcarew said:

Ima go with…

1. Byron Buxton for a whole bunch of major-league-ready talent

Don't let little things like No Trade Clause or 10 & 5 rights or the fact that Buxton said he wants to stay here get in the way...

[Nashvilletwin]

54 minutes ago, jkcarew said:

Ima go with…

1. Byron Buxton for a whole bunch of major-league-ready talent

2. Joe Ryan for a bunch of major-league-ready talent

3. Ryan Jeffers for a top prospect

Agree 100% - if it even had been possible.

But Buxton would have exercised his no trade clause.

The ship had sailed on Ryan - likely permanently in terms of getting any significant value back in return (this is a colossal mistake by Falvey (last deadline) and TP/JZ (this year)).

Jeffers to the BoSox for Eyanson straight up should have been easily done.

[bean5302]

27 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Why would the Twins want another outfielder?

I think the Twins had tunnel vision. I like adding Taylor Ward, but I'd rather have moved Josh Bell and at least one outfielder if the Twins acquired Ward. 

[bean5302]

The Gausman thing eats me up. Gausman over Kramer makes so much sense.

[LyleCole]

10 minutes ago, weitz41 said:

The Varland lovers are going to be at your door shortly! 

I don't disagree, but I believe Tom Pohlad isn't willing to go there. Falvey out Zoll in... 

I would have liked to seen Gausman as a Twin. I'd also like my lottery ticket to be a big winner. Not doing well on either...Such is life.

Lets make it clear that the Varland issue is not a mistake of being market sellers at the deadline.  It is a mistake of player development and evaluation.   When you draft a player into your development system your team should be the biggest expert on their potential.  

Minnesota developed Varland as a starting pitcher through the lower minors and the statistical results were very encouraging.  But they just could not seem to get Louis over the hump as a starter in the higher minors and his three stints from 2022-2024 with the Twins as a starter.   They finally moved him to the bullpen in 2025 and he was getting solid results, with a 2.02 ERA (what is surprising is that Varland's K/9 in these 49 innings of relief were the lowest of his career, 8.6).

My view on why the Twins traded him was that they viewed Varland as a failed starter and never bought into his role in the bullpen. They considered his statistical results in 2025 as one of those statistical blips that can happen in the careers of relief pitchers and believed they were selling Varland high at the deadline. 

And as with the Sam Darnold saga with the VIkings, just because a player has success with another franchise does not mean he would have success with yours.  Darnold would have struggled with the Vikings offensive line failures, and it is doubtful that Minnesota would have used Varland as a late inning closer like the Blue Jays.  LIke I said, I just do not think they believed in him in that role.

And, before we short circuit this trade, lets see how Kendry Rojas develops.  Varland is 28 years old and he reached the majors when he was 25.   Rojas is 5 years younger and has already touched the major leagues and shown some talent at that level.   One issue I have with Rojas though, like Varland, will the Twins make up their mind if he is a starter or a reliever?

[jkcarew]

1 hour ago, mnfireman said:

Don't let little things like No Trade Clause or 10 & 5 rights or the fact that Buxton said he wants to stay here get in the way...

And a guy with an no-trade clause or 10;& 5 who says publicly he doesn’t want to be traded, has never, later, been traded? Did they even approach he or his agent? Will they ever? 

[old nurse]

Toronto and the Twins have been frequent trade partners. If the Twins had anything Toronto wanted that they were willing to give up a deal would have been made. Bateman can play CF, has been a good contact hitter. The Jays have called him up. The Twins didn’t have someone one similar that they would give up.  

[ashbury]

2 hours ago, jkcarew said:

And a guy with an no-trade clause or 10;& 5 who says publicly he doesn’t want to be traded, has never, later, been traded? Did they even approach he or his agent? Will they ever? 

I can be cynical, but that's a little too cynical even for me.

[arby58]

The article could more realistically been titled Three Trades I would Have Liked and We’ll Never Know if the Twins Could Have Made. Reverse engineering made trades and suggesting a set of similar prospects would have got it done is sheer conjecture. Using external prospect rankings isn’t convincing: teams have their own scouts and form their own opinions. We also don’t know if the other teams even like these proffered players. Finally, it’s entirely possible the Twins made plays for at least one of these players. When working with so much incomplete information, any judgements are futile

[jkcarew]

4 hours ago, ashbury said:

I can be cynical, but that's a little too cynical even for me.

Cynical to say at some point in a long stretch of mediocrity they should at least try to capitalize on the value he has left? He hasn’t been good AND healthy since June 15. Not unusual. (611 OPS in the 20 games he’s managed to play since then). The Twins are 24-21 since then with a plus 5 run differential. There are other ways to win besides waiting and hoping your star does something he’s never been able to do. In his career the Twins have played 12 postseason games. In those games, he’s had a total of 7 PA. I don’t think it’s cynical to question whether it’s smart to just ride it out without actually trying to seek alternatives. Nowhere have I insinuated that you just try to get rid of him for the sake of getting rid of him. It’s the return value, while he has it. The key is you have to have the courage to try or have that conversation.

Also, I think it flies in the face of history, or even common sense, to fully buy into what a player or management says on the record. It’s seldom, if ever, the full story. There’s no incentive, and much disincentive, for either party to get into it. And it can change rapidly.

[Western SD Fan]

Of those 3, I think Foster Griffin was the trade that would have been the best fit the Twins. 

Part of the reason Gausman's trade for a prospect haul was so small was because the Cubs took on the remainder of Gausman's salary.  Although Tom P did open up the pocketbook to expand payroll for the trade deadline, I think taking on Gausman's salary would have been too much and other options were available, such as Griffin, which wouldn't have taken as much payroll commitment.  Think of the offseason where we could have done a better job fixing the bullpen with the money we spent on Josh Bell.  That's how I look at the Gausman trade possibility.  We either wouldn't have been able to upgrade the bullpen or would have had to give up better prospects.

Ward is an interesting case as it seems like we already have too many OF or converted OF on the 40-man.  The better solution would be to just call up Walker Jenkins and save the $3.5M in remaining salary.  Yes, I know Jenkins is a LHB but, had the Larnach trade went through, that frees up the LH situation.  You could have swapped Ward for Larnach and still called up Jenkins for Roden or Martin.  Keaschall could then go to LF and Ward to CF.

No, I'm not secretly working for the Pohlads in suggesting that it's too much money.  My point is that the money is always a factor in a trade proposal.  I know both Zoll and Pohlad did say they were buyers and did buy at the deadline.  Even with those statements, I can guarantee there was still a budget in place on how much to spend at the deadline, as most teams not named the Dodgers have.  I think there should be a realization made that the team is flawed and there was no fixing an offseason's worth of missteps at the deadline, especially when you didn't trade any of the pieces that could have helped make the remaining pieces fit better, such as Larnach, either Jeffers or Jackson, and Bell if you could have found a suitor.

[Rosterman]

I question how much of a demand anyone had for members of the Minnesota Twins. Two months for a catcher who has to learn all your pitchers. What teams were really hurting.

I would like to have seen Taylor Rogers and Jason Bell trade teams, just to open spots for other players (not to mention Wallner and Larnach). But Larnach is an arbitration player on the cusp. A team trading for him wouldn't want to necessarily resign him. Now teams can wait to see if both Wallner and Larnach enter free agency, without having to gamble away any prospect.

But, yes, the joy of trading prospects is the percentage that actually do make the majors over the course of 4-7 years. There are always others pushing in the wings, and most that do change hands are those that are depth pieces. The only question a team needs to make is like what the Twins did putting a $2m pitcher draftee into a package for Hoffman, except they are recouping some of that back in reduced payroll for Hoffman, maybe.

I'm really wxcited to see how the bullpen continues to play out in 2026, and see who ends up anchoring the pen next season. I see five solid eprformers for the next year, joining a pretty rich starting rotation (if everyone... heals).