Deadline deals bring different vibe in Minnesota than 2025

This story was excerpted from Matthew Leach’s Twins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

KANSAS CITY -- One year ago in Cleveland, when the reporters walked into the visitors' clubhouse a day after the Trade Deadline, it was one of the weirdest, most surreal atmospheres I’ve ever encountered in 12 years on a baseball beat. Players were stunned, shell-shocked.

It was very, very different on Tuesday in Kansas City. There was undeniable energy. Players were excited about the additions made by the front office: Relievers Jeff Hoffman and A.J. Minter, and starter Dean Kremer. It was a stunning turnaround.

But what I wanted to get into today, actually, is perhaps the one similarity between the 2025 sell-off and the '26 acquisitions. In both cases, they were done in part with the next year in mind.

Yes, the Twins parted with 10 players off of their Major League roster last July, but only three of them were under team control for 2026. And many of the players they received in return were not prospects who were years away from the Majors. They were either young big leaguers already, or in the high Minors. Think Taj Bradley, Kendry Rojas, Alan Roden and Mick Abel.

When Minnesota executed that huge sell-off in 2025, the front office actually did less damage to the team’s '26 chances than many fans may have thought -- and almost certainly helped set the stage for this year’s team’s surprising performance.

And likewise, when the front office made the moves it did over the past week, it managed to avoid hindering the team’s chances in 2027, and arguably even helped them. Hoffman is under contract for '27, and Kremer is under team control, so they should both be back. And the prospects they dealt?

It shouldn’t be anyone they miss anytime soon. Jhomnardo Reyes and Dasan Hill are both really intriguing young players, and they both have very high upsides. But they’re both also a long way from the Major Leagues. John Klein was one of the players in the Hoffman deal, and he could be promising, but he didn’t loom as a major factor on the 2027 team.

By and large, the Twins sent away players who are a long way from the Majors. They didn’t deal away anyone ranked in their Top 5 prospects, and though Hill came in at No. 8, his stock fell this year.

By taking on the full amount owed to Minter and Kremer, the Twins almost certainly lessened the prospect cost to acquire those two pitchers. And although they will receive some money from the Blue Jays to defray the cost of Hoffman’s salary in 2027, they will still pay the bulk of what is owed to him over the next season-plus.

That’s not to say that none of these players could have really good careers. But when it comes to building the roster, it should be basically unaffected.

“I think that’s really important,” said manager Derek Shelton. “And a lot of people miss that when we talk about it. Because it’s really easy to talk about -- and it’s really easy from my chair to say, ‘Just give up prospect capital. Give it up.’ Because those guys aren’t here. We don’t see them.

“But [general manager Jeremy Zoll’s] job, and he has to be very careful, is making sure that the people that we have highlighted, that we think are going to be part of the '27 team or maybe even the '28 team -- not getting that far ahead -- that they’re still in position to be here. And that’s not to say they’re always going to be here. Because you may have to trade prospect capital to acquire players that you want. But I think in this situation, this Trade Deadline, we were able to keep the guys that we feel are the closest to the big leagues and can help us -- maybe not in '27 but maybe even in '26 -- while still acquiring guys to help our Major League team.”