The Twins have spent most of this season doing something that usually makes deadline shopping a lot easier: scoring runs. Minnesota leads the American League in runs, and the lineup has kept producing even with injuries and uneven stretches from a few regulars. That’s why most of the deadline chatter has naturally pointed to the bullpen, which has been one of the club’s clearest weak spots.
But if the Twins decide to chase help somewhere other than the mound, the most obvious place to upgrade is shortstop.
That’s the catch. The need is real, but the market is messy.
Ryan Kreidler has held down the job and deserves credit for that. He’s put together an 89 OPS+ and 0.3 rWAR, and his .675 OPS is roughly 160 points above his career average.
For Kreidler, that’s a nice step forward. For a team trying to push deeper into October, it also shows why Minnesota could use more punch at one of the sport’s most important defensive positions.
Even a small bump there would matter. The Twins already have a dangerous lineup; shortstop is the one spot not giving them the kind of impact a contender usually wants.
The easy answer would be to wait for Kaelen Culpepper. He’s still the organization’s top infield prospect and looks like Minnesota’s long-term shortstop. But the timing doesn’t line up cleanly with this season’s playoff chase.
Culpepper missed much of the last two months because of a glute injury, which interrupted what had been a strong year. He returned to Triple-A St.
Paul on Friday, but throwing him right into a pennant race after that kind of layoff would be a major leap. The Twins would probably rather see him get back into a groove and prove he’s fully healthy before handing him everyday major league work.
That leaves Minnesota in an uncomfortable middle ground: the future answer is close, but maybe not close enough for August and September.
The trade market, according to Diamond Centric, does offer shortstops who would clearly improve the offense. The issue is that premium shortstops rarely come cheap, and the Twins are not operating like a team that can casually empty out the prospect cupboard. They’ve hovered around Wild Card contention for most of the season, which makes a massive deadline swing harder to defend.
Jeremy Peña would be one of the more intriguing rental options if Houston decides to sell. Diamond Centric ranks him as the fourth-best trade candidate, and he’d be a clear upgrade on both sides of the ball over Minnesota’s current shortstop production. But as a pending free agent, he’d also draw plenty of interest, which would push the price up for only a few months of control.
CJ Abrams brings a very different kind of value. He’s under team control through 2028, which makes him the sort of long-term piece teams usually keep rather than move.
Washington is also in a similar spot to Minnesota, sitting only a few games out of the Wild Card race. That gives the Nationals every reason to hold him and revisit the trade market later if they’re not ready to make a real push.
If he did become available, the return would almost certainly be enormous.
Francisco Lindor is another name in the mix, though the contract makes him a long shot for almost anyone. He’s still owed about $170 million after this season, and that alone would likely take Minnesota out of the conversation unless the Mets were willing to cover a significant chunk of it. There’s also the added uncertainty that comes with his recent injury history and the possibility that he eventually moves off shortstop as he gets older.
Then there’s Zach Neto, who may be the most appealing of the bunch. He’s controlled through 2029, giving a team multiple seasons of value beyond 2026.
He also brings athleticism and defensive flexibility, which would matter if Culpepper eventually takes over at shortstop. If the Angels really decide that almost everyone outside of Mike Trout is available, Neto would be a major target.
The problem is the same one that follows every player with that kind of control: the asking price would be steep, likely one of the biggest prospect packages of the deadline.
So the Twins are left with three basic paths. They can keep riding Kreidler.
They can hope Culpepper is ready soon. Or they can pay a premium for a proven shortstop.
None of those options is clean.
That’s why bullpen help still looks like the likeliest priority before the deadline. Relief pitching is usually easier to buy, and Minnesota needs it more urgently.
Still, if the front office decides to make one surprise move, shortstop is the spot to watch. The upgrade is obvious.
The hard part is finding one at a price the Twins can live with.
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