TRADE: Twins Trade Chris Paddack to Detroit Tigers (UPDATE: And Randy Dobnak, Too)

The sell-off has begun. In anticipation of Thursday's MLB trade deadline, the Minnesota Twins are sending right-handed pitcher Chris Paddack to the division rival Detroit Tigers. First with the news were Dan Hayes and Ken Rosenthal, of The Athletic.

Paddack, 29, will be eligible for free agency at the end of this season. He's owed just under $3 million for the balance of 2025. In 21 starts and 111 innings this year, he has a 4.95 ERA. He finished his Twins tenure, which stretched over parts of four seasons, with a 4.88 ERA in 226 2/3 innings. 

Minnesota acquired Paddack as the linchpin of a trade that sent Taylor Rogers to the San Diego Padres on the eve of Opening Day in 2022. Unfortunately, he was injured just a few weeks into that season and underwent his second Tommy John surgery. The team and the pitcher worked out a contract extension that kept him under team control through the end of this season, and Paddack returned to pitch well out of the bullpen at the triumphant tail end of the 2023 season. 

However, he wasn't able to make a successful transition back to the starting rotation in 2024. After 17 uneven starts last year, he was sidelined at the All-Star break and never returned to the mound. He's taken the ball every time through the rotation in 2025, and went on a long stretch during which he enjoyed good results to pair with a set of adjustments in his arsenal and approach, but ultimately, he departs after a mottled tenure in which consistent dominance eluded him.

Yet, Paddack was modestly in demand in the days before the deadline. He's been viewed as a valuable potential swing man, thanks to the glimpse he gave teams of himself as a short reliever in 2023 and to his positive presence in the clubhouse. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that the Yankees were interested in Paddack, and Jon Heyman adds that the Rays were, as well. (Twins Daily can confirm the Rays' interest, as well as that of at least two other teams.)

In exchange for Paddack, the Tigers are sending minor-league first baseman and catcher Enrique Jimenez to the Twins. Jiménez, 19, has a .779 OPS for Detroit's Florida Complex League affiliate. He's a native of Venezuela. Baseball America ranked Jiménez 17th in a healthy Tigers farm system at their midseason update of the team's top 30 prospects. He's a switch-hitter with blossoming power, and he's viewed as having a chance to stick behind the plate—but he's still miles from the majors, of course, and the risk attached to his profile is very high.

All told, it's a fair return for Paddack, who was hardly a premium piece. Detroit will absorb the remainder of Paddack's salary this year, a source says, so the Twins might have been able to extract a sliver of extra value. Instead, they'll roll the dice on Jiménez, and save the money that was otherwise owed.

UPDATE: Well, the emotional stakes of this deal just rose, at least incrementally. Randy Dobnak will also be sent to Detroit, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

Dobnak isn't an utterly incomprehensible fit for the Tigers' beloved "pitching chaos" approach, so branded last October, but he's unlikely to actually pitch for them in the major leagues. Rather, this reads principally as a way for the Twins to offload some extra salary. Dobnak is still owed just over $1 million, in the final year of the contract extension he signed after his fairytale ascent to the majors in 2019. Now, to whatever extent his professional pitching story will continue, it will do so outside the Twins organization.