Bevy of moves at MLB trade deadline put Twins in unprecedented territory

The day the Twins signed Carlos Correa to the biggest contract in team history was a momentous one for the franchise. But it was nothing compared with the day they changed their mind.

The Twins executed their biggest midseason roster strip-down ever on Thursday, sending away Correa and seven of his teammates in a fire sale that gutted their bullpen and sapped their bench. Including Chris Paddack and Jhoan Duran, dealt away earlier in the week, the Twins lopped off 10 players — nearly 40% of the 26-man roster that started the week.

In doing so, the Twins also trimmed $26 million from this season’s payroll, minus two months of presumably minimum-salary players to play out the schedule. But team President Derek Falvey insisted after it was over that saving money was a byproduct, not the objective, of the deal-making.

“By and large across the board, [these] were baseball trades, and trades that we felt like we got real talent back, and were not geared toward the financial flexibility component to it,” Falvey said Thursday night. “The decisions that we [made] over the last few days were to try to continually explore ways that we could evolve this roster, to pump some health into it in different ways, not just for the short term, but for the long term. And we feel like we were able to do that.”

Falvey cited previous trades of Nelson Cruz in 2021, which brought then-little-known Joe Ryan from Tampa Bay to Minnesota, and Eduardo Escobar, dealt to Arizona for Duran in 2018, as parallels to what he and General Manager Jeremy Zoll were trying to accomplish this time.

Time will tell, but the remainder of the 2025 season figures to be a real challenge. The Twins, owners of the 12th-best record in the American League at 51-57, will take the field Friday in Cleveland without position players Harrison Bader, Willi Castro, Ty France and Correa, and relief pitchers Danny Coulombe, Brock Stewart, Griffin Jax and Louie Varland.

• Bader, a former Gold Glove outfielder who signed a one-year deal for $4.75 million in February, was sent to Philadelphia on Thursday morning in exchange for Class AA outfielder Hendry Mendez and 16-year-old Venezuelan righthander Geremy Villoria, a day after the Phillies sent two top prospects to the Twins for Duran.

• Coulombe, the lefthanded reliever on a one-year contract, is now with Texas, exchanged for another lefthander, Garrett Horn, a 22-year-old pitcher at Class A who was rated the No. 16 prospect in the Rangers system.

• Castro, the play-anywhere utility man who was voted the Twins’ MVP last season, was sent to the Chicago Cubs for Class AA righthanders Ryan Gallagher and Sam Armstrong. Castro, like Bader, Coulombe, France and Paddack, can become a free agent after the season.

• Jax, typically the Twins’ eighth-inning setup reliever, wound up with the Rays, exchanged for a major league starter, 24-year-old righthander Taj Bradley, who owns a 4.61 ERA this season and was demoted to the minors after a poor start against the White Sox last week. “Taj Bradley we truly think is one of the best young starters in the game. It felt like something we couldn’t say no to,” Falvey said.

• Reliever Varland and first baseman France were sent to the Toronto Blue Jays in one of the most surprising deals of the day, considering Varland’s strong development as a middle reliever and the fact the North St. Paul graduate isn’t eligible for free agency until 2031. That deal brought Class AAA outfielder Alan Roden and 21-year-old Cuban lefthander Kendry Rojas.

And then there was the day’s biggest stunner, with Correa waiving the no-trade clause in his contract to return to Houston, the team he starred for from 2015 to 2021.

In the end, the Twins received minor league lefthander Matt Mikulski in the deal, which includes the Twins sending $33 million to the Astros to help cover the $104 million that Correa is still owed through 2028.

“Carlos was a true pro,” Falvey said. “The last couple days, he wanted to have a brief conversation about it. … Carlos was never sitting there demanding a trade or wanting to do something else. If it was right for the Twins and it was right for him, he was open to the conversation.”

Again, Falvey said the trades were about baseball and the Twins’ future, not economics — despite the fact that the Pohlad family is trying to sell the team.