The Twins made it clear at the deadline what kind of move they were chasing: help now, but without lighting the farm system on fire. Jeremy Zoll didn’t land a true blockbuster, yet Minnesota still came away with upgrades in the bullpen and rotation, plus the biggest swing of the bunch in Jeff Hoffman.
It started on July 10 with Tommy Nance, who came over from the Toronto Blue Jays for catcher/infield prospect Ryan Sprock. The 35-year-old right-hander isn’t the sort of name that changes a season by himself, but he does give the Twins another useful arm in a bullpen that ranks 26th in ERA at 4.95.
In 7 2/3 innings over eight appearances since arriving in Minnesota, Nance has a 2.35 ERA and eight strikeouts. Sprock is a decent prospect, but he isn’t among Toronto’s top-30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline, which makes the return feel reasonable.
Nance is set to reach arbitration for the first time next year, and the deal lands in the solid-but-not-spectacular category.
On July 31, Minnesota went bigger, sending infield prospects Billy Amick and Bruin Agbayani to the New York Mets for left-handed reliever A.J. Minter.
That one carries more weight. Minter has been excellent since coming off the injured list in May, putting up a 2.35 ERA, a 1.00 WHIP and 20 strikeouts in 23 innings.
He’s only controlled through this season, but the Twins weren’t giving up premium talent to get him. Amick and Agbayani both sat outside Minnesota’s top-20 prospects, and Minter brings 10 years of big-league experience, a World Series on his résumé and a career 3.16 ERA across 384 innings.
For a late-inning bullpen piece, that’s a strong return.
The rotation got attention on Aug. 1 when the Twins acquired right-hander Dean Kremer from the Baltimore Orioles for outfield prospect Jhomnardo Reyes. Minnesota needed another starter, plain and simple.
Before the deal, the rotation depth behind Joe Ryan, Taj Bradley, Bailey Ober, Connor Prielipp and Zebby Matthews was thin. Matthews was optioned to Triple-A to clear space for Kremer, who is slated to make his first start as a Twin against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.
Kremer gives the Twins another arm, but this was the least exciting of the three moves. Baltimore put him on the injured list with a right quad strain after just two starts, and since returning on July 1 he has a 7.56 ERA over 25 innings in five outings.
His track record is mixed, too. He had a strong 2022 season with a 3.23 ERA in 125 1/3 innings, but his ERA has been above 4.00 in each of the last three seasons.
Last year, he posted 2.2 bWAR, a 4.19 ERA and 142 strikeouts in 171 1/3 innings. Reyes, meanwhile, is only 18 and has just been promoted to Single-A.
He went 2-for-21 for Fort Myers, but before that he hit .296/.409/.541 with seven homers, 44 RBI and 14 steals in rookie ball. The upside is there, even if it’s still early.
Then came the biggest move of the deadline: Hoffman on Aug. 3 from the Blue Jays for left-hander Dasan Hill, right-hander John Klein and infielder Dameury Pena. Hoffman is the type of late-inning weapon Minnesota was hunting.
He opened the season with a 6.31 ERA over 25 2/3 innings, but since then he’s been dominant, logging a 1.21 ERA with 30 strikeouts in 22 1/3 innings. He’s under team control through 2027, and according to Dan Hayes of The Athletic, the Twins are taking on the remainder of Hoffman’s 2026 salary while Toronto is covering part of his 2027 money.
The contract terms matter here. Minnesota will pay Hoffman roughly $3.24 million this year, and he’s set to make $11 million next season, with the Twins responsible for $7.25 million of that, according to Spotrac.
There are still reasons for pause. Hoffman started the year as Toronto’s closer before losing that role to former Twin Louis Varland.
Last season, he allowed a .749 OPS in 135 high-leverage plate appearances and a .590 OPS in 56 medium-leverage plate appearances. He also gave up the game-tying home run to Miguel Rojas of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the ninth inning of World Series Game 7 last year.
Still, the stuff is obvious: a 38.1% chase rate, a 37.8% whiff rate and a 34.9% strikeout rate this season.
Minnesota paid a real price for Hoffman, especially with Hill in the package. Hill is 20 and can run his fastball to 100 mph, and he pairs it with a 60-grade slider, a 55-grade curveball and a 50-grade changeup.
But the numbers have been messy, with a 5.80 ERA and 37 walks in 45 innings at High-A Cedar Rapids. That command trouble likely helped make the Twins comfortable moving him to strengthen the active roster.
In the end, the Twins didn’t chase the flashiest names. They filled needs, added control where they could, and pushed chips in just enough to say the message was clear: this was a win-now deadline.
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