Re-Grading the Twins’ 2026 Trade Deadline Moves

[NYCTK]

1 hour ago, TheLeviathan said:

Also, gushing articles on Twinsdaily assured me that we had a whole new level of aggression from the Twins!

Those articles were laughable, and there were like 4 within 24 hours. What the heck were the authors smoking? 

[sweetmusicviola16]

We're going to stand pat, 2024. We're going to sell, 2025. We're going to buy, 2026. No solid plan that is stuck to. But Tom says we're competitive so that's all that matters.....

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

The Nance trade looks a little worse at the moment due to his recent struggles. He was acquired as a low leverage arm and we used him in a lot of higher leverage situations. Im hoping he shows some improvement for next season. We gave up a decent C prospect, though.

Grade: B - We dealt from a healthy stockpile of catchers and got what should be a decent BP arm for next season. 

Minter has performed well for us, but Billy Amick has 38 HRs and 108 RBIs this season. I dont care how he "profiles", thats darn good production and would look great at 1B for us. He has produced at every level so far. We gave up that production plus another player for 2 months of a reliever.

Grade: D - Overpaid for 2 months of a lefty RP. 

Kremer pitched well for us. Gave up a player struggling in A ball to get him. Comes with another season of team control. 

Grade: A - He outperformed expectations. Zero complaints about this deal. Trade him while his value is higher than its ever been. 

Hoffman struggled a bit initially, but he turned it around and pitched quite well since then. We'll have him next season. If he continues to pitch well, he will be a big boost to next year's BP.

Grade: C- - Yes, he's pitched well, but we gave up too much for him. He had a high ERA when he got here. At the time, Dasan Hill alone should've been more than enough to acquire him. Unfortunately we added 2 more players to the deal. High strikeout lefty starters are not the easiest kind of pitcher to find. Seems like a guy we'll regret trading away. 

[Major League Ready]

2 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

There is just no world in which it can be argued the deadline was a success.  It was a catastrophic failure.  There was no fan boost immediately after and any goodwill has long since died with the entire month of September being out of contention.  The team didn't get boosted by half-measure moves that merely elevated their floor.  There was absolutely nothing accomplished.  

I think the deals themselves were fine in terms of value, but the true outcome is years from knowing.  If any of those prospects do become players, it's more salt in an already gaping wound.

What we do know, and why this is the F-st F that ever F'd, is that they LOST value in holding on to Jeffers, Ryan, and Larnach to chase the delusion they were contenders.  We did significant damage to our long-term upside so that Tom Pohlad could crow to the media and diehards here could lap it up while lecturing the rest of us on why it was such a great moment for Twins baseball.

F.  And one we'll be talking about for years and the value it cost this franchise.

I think you have pinpointed the real issue.  They had a great opportunity to lift the ceiling of this team for the next 6-7 years and they could not have blown it more spectacularly.  Milwaukee / Cleveland would never miss an opportunity like the Twins had this year to elevate their team's chance of contention.  They could of probably had Tolle / Arias / Eyanson or LeGrange.  They probably could have gotten a decent prospect for Lopez as well.  IDK about Buxton but there was potential to pull off a deal for him too.  

BTW ... Half of Chicago's position players we acquired when they sold off.

This might be the dumbest sequence of events I have ever seen from this organization.  Zoll just did what he was told.  This is on Tom Pohlad.  I was never thought ownership was our #1 problem but I am there now.

[Parfigliano]

Minters 2.70 ERA out of the pen is MVP level stuff for TC

[Parfigliano]

6 hours ago, Brandon said:

The Buxton injury killed our post season hopes.  The trades for these pitchers gave us extra time with hope.  My grades for the trades. 

Minter was an A.  Billy Amick is not going to be a starter here.  He could be a bench player or platoon bat maybe.  He is a 3 outcome hitter.  Agbayani is only interesting because of his father and more so for the Mets.  We got a top notch lefty reliever.  He gave us best possible outcome.  I hope he liked it here and we resign him for the pen next year.  

Nance is a A-.  We gave up a 21 year old A Ball C at Fort Myers.  We have plenty of A ball C now.  Nance would be an A or A+ but he had some moments that didn't go his way.  

Kremer surprised and pitched way better than expected.  He is either a trade candidate or back of rotation arm for next season.  Either way it's a good value for an 18 year old prospect with a high upside.  He seems on track for the majors at some point.  But good starting pitching is hard to find.  B+/ A- 

Hoffman trade is a bear to grade.  He pitched great and we have him for next season with 4 million of his 11 million salary paid by Toronto.  However, Dasan's control was vastly improved with Toronto If he makes it up and becomes a star, what a deal for Toronto.  I am not sure where to grade this one.  On one hand a A-  for the creativity and he is back with us next year for .65 cents on the dollar..  On another, Toronto had Dasan was pitching closer to what we were hoping for which makes this trade an incomplete. Since The odds of Dasan becoming a top of rotation arm are still pretty low, I think a B-/C+ is in order until we have more certainty how good Dasan will be.

If a Buxton injury kills TC playoff hopes then TC playoff hopes are DOA for as long as Buxton is a TC because Buxton is often injured and can be counted on to be available maybe 65% of the season.

[JADBP]

7 hours ago, MeleMouth said:

The whole thing was an "F." Any other grade misses the forest for the trees.

I would not give an F to this season's trade deadline because last season was an F and it was far, far worse!  So we either give last season an FFFFFF X 1,000 or we give this season an F+.  But, yeah, it was a bad, bad trade season.  Zoll only made the team WORSE overall!  FIRE ZOLL, quickly, please!

 

[djvang]

I like Minter and Hoffman.

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, NYCTK said:

Those articles were laughable, and there were like 4 within 24 hours. What the heck were the authors smoking? 

Hopium.  Hellofa drug.

[MeleMouth]

22 minutes ago, JADBP said:

I would not give an F to this season's trade deadline because last season was an F and it was far, far worse!  So we either give last season an FFFFFF X 1,000 or we give this season an F+.  But, yeah, it was a bad, bad trade season.  Zoll only made the team WORSE overall!  FIRE ZOLL, quickly, please!

 

I'm OK with F+ for this year, but I have to say that last year's trades, even if painful and not executed well, at least seemed based on a coherent long-term plan with potentially high upside of competing for a World Series title.

In contrast, this year's trade deadline action was based on a long-shot short-term dream with limited upside of sneaking into a wild card playoff series, which actually worked against any kind of coherent long-term plan.

[Mike Sixel]

People love the catching depth, Bradley, and think Abel has a future here....and last year was a failure? I don't even know what to say. They traded relief pitchers, and got starting pitchers back, and some prospects. I don't even know what to say. 

[Parfigliano]

If you take out inter league (48 games) TC would be .5 back in wild card.  That's what positive spin Provus has for TC.

Sad.  Pathetic.

[Vanimal46]

12 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Tom Pohlad said he's a decisive owner. Zoll's changes were not decisive, they were fairly leveraged.

Acquiring 2 bullpen arms and a back of the rotation arm was all I could muster as well if my directive is being a buyer.

Zoll is not at the point in his career where he can tell a baseball newby like Tom P he’s wrong. We probably need an old timey baseball GM to lead us out of this mediocre purgatory.

[Woof Bronzer]

4 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

People love the catching depth, Bradley, and think Abel has a future here....and last year was a failure? I don't even know what to say. They traded relief pitchers, and got starting pitchers back, and some prospects. I don't even know what to say. 

Thinking about it another way...the Twins dumped 10 major leaguers last deadline, did little in the offseason, and are going to end up with a few more wins this year.  In other words, losing a quarter of the 40 man did not "hurt" the MLB team in terms of wins and losses, and the team did add some potentially nice long term pieces, Bradley in particular who in my mind is already their best starter.  So in hindsight they pulled off phase 1 of the rebuild pretty nicely (except they should have gone 1 step further and traded Ryan.  Absolutely franchise altering trade if Tolle and Arias were indeed on the table.)

The problem is, they didn't finish the rebuild.  The biggest half-measure since trading for Matt Capps in 2010.  Ryan, Jeffers, Larnach should have all been moved.  The kids should have gotten more run with the big club in a rebuilding year.  But neither happened, and now the opportunity has passed.  It would be dumb to trade Ryan now at his absolute low, and they'll lose Jeffers and Larnach for nothing.  They're stuck, because they half-measured it, and while I'm pretty optimistic about the young guns, there are still going to be growing pains next year.  Some/all of them will struggle at some point.  And there are still massive 40 man roster problems that aren't going to be easy to fix.

I think the repercussions for not finishing the rebuild are going to cost this organization for years to come.  Middle revenue teams like the Twins simply cannot afford to botch these opportunities.  I hope I'm wrong!  

 

[Russ]

Affect of the acquisitions to where the Twins are in the Standings? F

 

[stringer bell]

The Twins have Kremer, Nance and Hoffman for 2027. If there is no work stoppage (or if it is brief), all three guys should contribute to the pitching staff in the coming year or perhaps the return for one of them if traded. I don't think the reason the team faded is because of the acquisitions and it remains to be seen if the Twins gave away too much to acquire these pitchers. 

[Whitey333]

Yes i do like many of the younger players.  I think it was pure folly to label yourself contenders.  Just as much of a folly to not trade some veterans that likely wont be back and get little or nothing in return.  Is a compensatory draft pick enough for Jeffers?  Hardly.  If the moves were meant to appease fans it hasnt worked.  Twins will very likely finish with a second consecutive year of record low attendance at Target Fueld thid year.

The upcoming work stoppage or lockout by the owners doesnt lay allowed the blame on them.  The players need to make some reasonable effort to reach agreement on a new CBA.  Just saying no is hardly worthy of a serious effort.  Both sides need to compromise.  Both sides should be ashamed and embarrassed if any part of 2027 is delayed ok canceled.  Its disgraceful.

[LastOnePicked]

22 hours ago, LA Vikes Fan said:

decided to do a tear down and rebuild, and next year will be the year when we see if that strategy starts to show signs of success.

I liked your post. I thought it was thoughtful. The "thumbs down" is just a disagree. They certainly did not decide to complete the tear down and rebuild. That would have involved selling high on players who won't be a part of the future and restocking the system with high-end talent.

Instead, they got older, lost talent this year and took on contracts that can't help them when a rebuild might come to fruition. If that's their plan, then it's the kind of plan that should get all involved fired.

I don't think people realize how impossibly tight their margins are for a potential postseason run next season. They're losing their team MVP and betting heavily on zero sophomore slumps and full health recoveries from some of their most prominent players in the last year of their contracts. There are no high-upside arms waiting at AAA at this point. It's all a very risky bet, but it's certainly not a serious plan to build a winner here.

[LastOnePicked]

10 hours ago, Woof Bronzer said:

I think the repercussions for not finishing the rebuild are going to cost this organization for years to come.  Middle revenue teams like the Twins simply cannot afford to botch these opportunities.  I hope I'm wrong!  

You're not wrong. Winning organizations don't miss these opportunities to improve. The Twins, on the other hand, never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

[MapleGroveTwinsFan]

23 hours ago, LA Vikes Fan said:

I think there is a very good chance that Lopez gets an extension that keeps him here at least two or three more years after 2027

Lopez turns 31 at the start of next year and will be a FA going into his age 32 season, what agent/player is going to say yea a 2 or 3 year extension is a good idea, unless it is a huge over pay like (3/80 or more), because I would think (unless things drastically change with a new CBA) he would be looking at a 5 year deal in excessive if 110 or more. And if he would take a 2 or 3 year extension we should really worry about his health. 

[LA Vikes Fan]

6 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

I liked your post. I thought it was thoughtful. The "thumbs down" is just a disagree. They certainly did not decide to complete the tear down and rebuild. That would have involved selling high on players who won't be a part of the future and restocking the system with high-end talent.

Instead, they got older, lost talent this year and took on contracts that can't help them when a rebuild might come to fruition. If that's their plan, then it's the kind of plan that should get all involved fired.

I don't think people realize how impossibly tight their margins are for a potential postseason run next season. They're losing their team MVP and betting heavily on zero sophomore slumps and full health recoveries from some of their most prominent players in the last year of their contracts. There are no high-upside arms waiting at AAA at this point. It's all a very risky bet, but it's certainly not a serious plan to build a winner here.

Appreciate the post. I think where we disagree is how they handled Jeffers, Ryan, and Larnach at the deadline. I was one of the people here that was a little seduced by the possibility they could make the playoffs so I was against trading Jeffers, at least for what was reportedly being offered. I felt and still feel like making the Q0 and getting a Comp A pick could and should lead to getting at least as much prospect value as we could get in a trade. Not trading Larnach was a bad move; they should have pivoted once the Houston owner nixed the trade they liked.

I think Ryan is a more interesting situation. I would like to get back some controllable MLB talent for him, not just prospects like you get at the deadline. I think if they really do have the rebuild strategy, the right move here is to trade Ryan this off-season. We should get more now than we would at the 2027 trade deadline and he is not coming back after next year. I think you can mitigate the potential short-term issues by re-signing Lopez to another three or four year deal, Bradley replaces Ryan, keep either Ober or Kremer in the rotation (I pick Kremer), you have two open spots for Prielipp and either Matthews or Abel, with the other one plus Rojas and others at AAA. Trading Ryan should also give you the chance to potentially fill the hole at C, 1B, or 2B with young talent. If you do that and say pick up a good young C or 2B and move Clemens to 1B, we really have completely turned over the entire lineup from two years ago outside of Buxton. There are a lot of steps that have to happen for that reality to occur but I hope they can do that. 

[TheLeviathan]

19 minutes ago, LA Vikes Fan said:

Appreciate the post. I think where we disagree is how they handled Jeffers, Ryan, and Larnach at the deadline. I was one of the people here that was a little seduced by the possibility they could make the playoffs so I was against trading Jeffers, at least for what was reportedly being offered. I felt and still feel like making the Q0 and getting a Comp A pick could and should lead to getting at least as much prospect value as we could get in a trade. Not trading Larnach was a bad move; they should have pivoted once the Houston owner nixed the trade they liked.

I think Ryan is a more interesting situation. I would like to get back some controllable MLB talent for him, not just prospects like you get at the deadline. I think if they really do have the rebuild strategy, the right move here is to trade Ryan this off-season. We should get more now than we would at the 2027 trade deadline and he is not coming back after next year. I think you can mitigate the potential short-term issues by re-signing Lopez to another three or four year deal, Bradley replaces Ryan, keep either Ober or Kremer in the rotation (I pick Kremer), you have two open spots for Prielipp and either Matthews or Abel, with the other one plus Rojas and others at AAA. Trading Ryan should also give you the chance to potentially fill the hole at C, 1B, or 2B with young talent. If you do that and say pick up a good young C or 2B and move Clemens to 1B, we really have completely turned over the entire lineup from two years ago outside of Buxton. There are a lot of steps that have to happen for that reality to occur but I hope they can do that. 

Like the post, but more I'm responding because you're the first person I've seen with enough integrity to call themselves out for the deadline and the "seduction" that swayed so many.  We all get things wrong, the problem isn't the error in judgment but the continued commitment to it even after the dust settles.  Kudos sir.