‘Pure shock’: Twins players react to roster teardown during trade deadline

CLEVELAND – More than a half-dozen Twins players watched MLB Network’s coverage of the trade deadline together, lounging in a Cleveland hotel room as they waited to see which one of their teammates would depart in a trade.

Many of them were scrolling social media for the latest rumors on Griffin Jax and Joe Ryan inside the room. Matt Wallner downloaded the Twitter app on his phone for the first time in two years.

At 5:50 p.m. local time, 10 minutes before the deadline, Louie Varland looked at his phone and saw a call from Twins General Manager Jeremy Zoll.

“Pure shock,” Wallner said.

Twins players understood many of their pending free agents were likely to be traded. It was clear ownership wanted to slash payroll with the team falling six games under .500 and out of playoff contention — and the team shaved up to $26 million from its 2025 payroll.

It was understandable the Twins attempted to sell high when they traded Jhoan Duran, Jax and Brock Stewart. There wasn’t much surprise Carlos Correa accepted a trade to return to Houston, a salary dump that saved the Twins $70 million on his contract.

But Varland? Trading the North St. Paul native who was making a minimum salary and wasn’t eligible to reach free agency until 2031 was the trade that stunned the clubhouse. One player said Varland’s face turned white. Varland stepped out of the room, leaving his group of teammates in silence.

“Louie threw us for a loop, for sure,” Wallner said. “Definitely feel for him in that sense just being from Minnesota, his wife working in Minnesota. That’s going to [hurt] for a little bit. He’s an awesome player and he’s going to be fine through it, but I definitely feel for him.”

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli met with all the traded players who had already traveled to Cleveland for their upcoming series in their hotel rooms.

“It was hardest on Lou,” Baldelli said. “I don’t think that’s even close. I think it was tough for Lou to see how that could happen, a trade could happen, because he loves the organization, he loves being at home near his family and, on top of it, he’s been doing such a great job for us.”

When the Twins returned to the ballpark Friday, everything felt strange. Many familiar name plates were gone. On July 22, the Twins beat the Dodgers 10-7 in Los Angeles. The Twins used 17 players in that game; nine are now on other teams.

Baldelli and team President Derek Falvey spoke to players during a pregame team meeting.

On Aug. 17 last year, the Twins had a 70-53 record and were considered near locks to make the playoffs. Since then, they fell apart and never recovered. With Friday night’s 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Guardians, they have a 63-85 record in their past 148 games (.426 winning percentage), and that includes a 13-game winning streak in May.

It wasn’t an issue of talent. Contending teams gladly picked off 10 major league players from their roster and it’s not like their remaining roster is completely barren.

“For three years now, I think we’ve been a really good team, but we haven’t been able to win like we wanted to win,” Jeffers said. “We’ve shown glimpses of greatness and glimpses of one of the worst teams in baseball. Maybe a reset was needed. Maybe this is the harsh reality of what was needed for this club. It’s a hard pill to swallow for players, fans and everyone associated with the organization.”

More than 24 hours after the trade deadline, many Twins players said they were still processing everything that happened. Trading away 10 big-league players is the largest roster teardown in modern deadline history, and there weren’t many indications beforehand that it would be such a wide scope of players.

“It’s got to be historic, right?” third baseman Royce Lewis said. “Pretty unique situation.”

“From my wife’s perspective, she just lost a bunch of friends,” Jeffers said. “My daughter lost a bunch of kids she played with. There is a real human aspect of going through a trade deadline like that, not just the baseball side. The wives losing friends they developed over the last couple of years. So, I think it takes its toll on everybody.”

As much as it felt like everything ended at the deadline, so many players departing the organization, the Twins still have two months remaining in their regular season.

“Let me be clear: This is not take five steps back and just watch the young guys play and whatever happens, happens,” Baldelli said. “That is not what’s going on here. The mentality is to go out there and win every day.”

The difficult reminder when Twins players entered the visiting clubhouse at Progressive Field on Friday was this is a completely different team than it was five days ago.