SEATTLE -- As an appropriate capper to a busy week and month, the Twins have gotten their man at the back of the bullpen.
Minnesota acquired former All-Star Jeff Hoffman and cash from the Blue Jays for a package including prospects Dasan Hill (Twins' No. 7 prospect), John Klein (No. 17) and Dameury Pena, as well as international bonus pool space. According to a source, the Twins will pay the entirety of the approximately $3.25 million owed to Hoffman for the remainder of this season, and will receive $3.75 million from Toronto toward his 2027 salary.
Trades and Transactions presented by CohnReznick
• Tracking every Deadline trade
• Skubal heads to Dodgers in Deadline blockbuster
• Rutschman traded to Red Sox for big prospect haul
• Phillies get 3-time batting champ Arraez, relief ace Raley
• These 7 clubs loaded up on prospects at the Deadline
• Every prospect traded before Deadline
• Ranking the 25 top prospects traded ahead of the Deadline
The acquisition of Hoffman completes the rebuild of a Twins bullpen that has added multiple pieces since the beginning of July and undergone a complete overhaul since the beginning of the season. The pre-Deadline upgrades started with another pickup from the Blue Jays, righty Tommy Nance. Minnesota also added veteran lefty AJ Minter from the Mets earlier this week, as well as starter Dean Kremer from Baltimore.
TRADE DETAILS
Twins get: RHP Jeff Hoffman, cash
Blue Jays get: LHP Dasan Hill (now TOR's No. 6 prospect), RHP John Klein (No. 25), 2B Dameury Pena, international bonus pool space
But Hoffman was the biggest piece, a late-inning right-hander to join Andrew Morris and Yoendrys Gomez and provide manager Derek Shelton another option for late in games. It’s unclear whether Gomez will continue to close, share ninth-inning duties with Hoffman or move into more of a setup role, but regardless, Hoffman brings experience and swing-and-miss stuff that the Twins lacked on the right side of their pen.
“He has the experience of pitching in the back end of games,” said Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll. “He’s pitched in a variety of different roles. He’s closed. He’s pitched in other forms of high leverage. So that flexibility I think gives different options. And it’s high-end stuff to both hands, to right-handed hitters and left-handed hitters.”
Hoffman, 33, closed for Toronto last year, racking up 33 saves, and has 50 saves in his big league career. He’s racked up 75 strikeouts in 48 innings this year, giving the Twins relief corps a piece it simply didn’t have before. Gomez and Morris have been very effective finishing out games, but neither misses bats at that kind of rate.
The moves also lengthen a Twins pen that has often struggled to keep small deficits from getting bigger. While Gomez and Morris have thrived, the team has searched for consistency elsewhere in the bullpen and had a harder time when one or the other is unavailable.
Beyond bolstering the roster and providing a lift in the clubhouse, Minnesota’s Deadline moves indicate a willingness to spend money that has not always been present. The three pitchers combine for approximately $29.4 million in salary for the full 2026 season, meaning the Twins’ share for the remainder of the year is more than $8 million.
“The ability to add payroll was huge,” Zoll said. “It was really helpful to be able to work through a wide variety of conversations. I’m really grateful for [Twins chairman] Tom Pohlad’s partnership and support along the way. We had really productive conversations leading into this deadline process about how we wanted to attack that and do everything that we could to improve the club.”
Currently in the second year of his three-year, $33 million deal signed with the Blue Jays, Hoffman will be a free agent following the 2027 season.
In Toronto, Hoffman was a lightning rod. He gave up the game-tying home run to Miguel Rojas in Game 7 of the World Series, and though he’d been spectacular all postseason before that, his tougher moments had a way of dominating the conversation.
That bled into 2026, with Hoffman losing the closer’s role to Louis Varland a month into the season. He’s gotten his home run problem from a year ago under control, though, and with a strikeout rate of 14.1 K/9, it’s obvious Hoffman can still be a dominant back-end arm.
The Twins are counting on it, looking at both his underlying metrics and recent performance and seeing a pitcher who fits exactly what they were looking for.
“Being able to add someone as a right-handed reliever that’s running it up there in the upper 90s with a really good breaking ball, that’s what you’re looking for when you’re trying to improve the back end of a pen,” Zoll said. “He checks so many boxes in that regard. Really excited about that, and gives Shelty such a wide range of options to push forward here.”