The Twins didn’t wait long to find out why Dean Kremer mattered at the trade deadline.
Minnesota had already spent weeks trying to patch together a starting staff that kept getting hit by injuries, and general manager Jeremy Zoll made it clear the club was thinking ahead when the deadline arrived. “Knowing the way that our starting pitching group has gotten nicked up over the course of the year, we wanted to make sure that we were in a spot to make sure that that wasn’t going to be our Achilles’ heel the rest of the way,” Zoll told the Minnesota Star Tribune after the trade deadline.
That concern is looking pretty sharp now. The Twins brought in Kremer from the Baltimore Orioles to add depth, but the need has only grown since then.
Joe Ryan has gone on the injured list with a strained left glute. Zebby Matthews was recalled to fill his spot, then had to leave Friday’s start against Milwaukee after a blister on his right foot tore open.
Connor Prielipp is also being handled carefully, with Minnesota monitoring his workload after he recently moved past his previous career high of 82.2 innings.
So much for a crowded rotation.
For now, Kremer has quickly become one of the most important arms in the mix. He made a solid first start for Minnesota on Wednesday against Kansas City, allowing one run on three hits over five innings with two strikeouts and two walks in the Twins’ 2-1 loss. It was exactly the kind of stable outing the club was hoping to buy at the deadline.
The other part of the equation is time. Kremer is under team control through 2027, which gives Minnesota a real window to figure out what he can be in this rotation beyond just plugging holes.
His next start brings a neat twist. Nine days after Baltimore dealt him away, Kremer is scheduled to face the Orioles, the organization he spent his entire Major League career with before landing in Minnesota.
Baltimore knew what it had in Kremer for years: a reliable starter. From 2022 through 2025, he made 106 starts with a 3.95 ERA and led the Orioles with 171.2 innings last season.
This year, though, was a different story. A quad injury sidelined him for more than two months, and after returning he put up a 6.50 ERA across seven starts before the trade.
Now the Twins need him for more than just insurance. With Ryan out, Matthews banged up and Prielipp’s innings being watched closely, Kremer has a clear opening to settle into a meaningful role. If he strings together a strong run, he could help Minnesota hold the rotation together the rest of 2026 and make a stronger case for a bigger role next season.
In Other News...
Joe Ryan Is Giving The Twins A Problem They Can't Ignore
Joe Ryan has long been one of the more important arms in the Twins rotation, but the late-season picture around him has gotten murkier at exactly the wrong time. His second-half track record has become hard to overlook, and recent poor outings only added to the concern after a stint on the injured list because of a glute strain. For a team trying to stay steady through a playoff push, that kind of uncertainty around a frontline pitcher is a real problem.
The Twins have already started building around the possibility that they cannot count on Ryan the same way they once could, which helps explain the addition of Dean Kremer for rotation depth. Even beyond the stretch run, Ryans situation now carries an offseason angle, since the club may have to weigh trade possibilities if the fit keeps getting harder to trust. The catch is that his recent struggles could also make that conversation more complicated, leaving Minnesota with a pitcher who still matters, but no longer feels easy to project. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees May Have A Catching Target Back In Play Soon
Ryan Jeffers was one of the more closely watched names around the deadline, and it was not hard to understand why. The Twins catcher drew significant trade interest before the deadline, with Minnesota ultimately deciding to keep him in place while general manager Jeremy Zoll pointed to Jeffers value both for the current club and for what comes next.
Now the storyline could circle back in a different way, because the market that checked in on him before the deadline may not be done paying attention. Jeffers is still positioned as a possible move for the future if the Twins cannot keep him, and the next step in his contract situation could put his name back into the middle of the offseason catching discussion. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Suddenly Have A Tough Emmanuel Rodriguez Decision Ahead
Emmanuel Rodriguez has become one of the more intriguing names in the Twins system, but his path to Minnesota is getting harder to map by the day. The young outfielder still carries real upside, yet the combination of a crowded big-league outfield picture and his own injury history has made every step toward the majors feel more complicated than it should.
The bigger issue now is timing, because the Twins are heading into a stretch where roster choices, possible trades and Rodriguezs own health and performance will all matter. He has to keep pushing forward while the organization weighs how much room there really will be for him, and the answer could shape whether his future still runs through Minnesota or somewhere else. [Read more 🡒]