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Twins Select Darren McCaughan

By Steve Adams | August 4, 2025 at 1:24pm CDT

The Twins announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Darren McCaughan and placed right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson on the 15-day injured list due to an illness. No additional corresponding moves were needed, as the Twins’ 40-man roster had been sitting at 37 players following last week’s fire sale.

It’s the second big league stint of the season for McCaughan, though his surroundings this time around will be much different than they were when he was briefly summoned to the majors back in late March. He tossed 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball for a team that then harbored postseason aspirations. He’ll now return to a club that saw its roster — the pitching staff in particular — gutted ahead of last week’s deadline.

McCaughan, 29, has pitched 72 1/3 innings in Triple-A this season and been knocked around for a 5.35 ERA. The overall results aren’t particularly pretty, though they’re skewed a bit by a pair of nine-run implosions amid an otherwise serviceable year. He’s set down 20.1% of his Triple-A opponents on strikes and walked a lower-than-average 7.6% of the batters he’s faced.

McCaughan has a long track record as an innings-eating starter in the Mariners’ system, though he only ever received 14 major league frames with Seattle. He’s since pitched in Cleveland, Miami and Minnesota. In a total of 61 1/3 big league innings, he’s struggled to a 6.02 ERA. McCaughan sits 89-90 mph with both his four-seamer and sinker. He doesn’t miss many bats and has been homer-prone throughout his time in Triple-A, but he also typically avoids walks and takes the ball every five days. McCaughan has never been on the injured list in the big leagues or in the minors.

For now, McCaughan will add some length to a Twins bullpen that traded Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Danny Coulombe, Brock Stewart and Louis Varland for a combined seven younger players last week. There are plenty of innings to go around, and with Minnesota lined up for a bullpen game today, McCaughan could be in line for multiple innings behind scheduled opener Travis Adams.

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Minnesota Twins Transactions Darren McCaughan Simeon Woods Richardson

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AL Notes: Thornton, Buxton, Rays, Vargas

By Mark Polishuk | August 3, 2025 at 11:06pm CDT

The Mariners placed Trent Thornton on the 15-day injured list on Friday, and announced that the right-hander will miss the rest of the season due to a torn left Achilles tendon.  Thornton had to be carted off the field after he suffered the injury in the ninth inning of Thursday’s 6-0 M’s win over the Rangers, as the reliever fell while leaving the mound to cover first base on an Adolis Garcia grounder.  Follow-up tests revealed the unfortunate and expected news of an Achilles tear, and while a specific recovery timeline isn’t yet known, Thornton could be in jeopardy of missing some time at the start of the 2026 season.

Thornton has a 4.68 ERA over 42 1/3 innings for Seattle this season.  A few particularly rough blowups have inflated his ERA, but his 17.8% strikeout rate is well below Thornton’s 26.2 K% from 2024.  Owed a raise from his current $2MM salary in his final year of salary arbitration, Thornton will probably still be inexpensive enough that he won’t be non-tendered this winter, barring an unwelcome injury diagnosis.  Since coming to the Mariners in a trade from the Blue Jays prior to the 2023 deadline, Thornton has been a workhorse out of Seattle’s pen, with a 3.65 ERA over 140 2/3 innings.

More from around the American League…

  • Byron Buxton firmly denied any possibility of a trade away from the Twins back in mid-July, stating that he would use his contract’s no-trade provision to remain “a Minnesota Twin for the rest of my life.”  It probably isn’t surprising that Buxton hasn’t changed course just a few weeks later, but in the wake of the Twins’ deadline selloff, Buxton reiterated to the Athletic’s Dan Hayes and other reporters that “nothing’s changed.  It’s just part of baseball.  It’s the business side of it.  Just cause we go through these tough roads or whatever, it is what it is.  We’ll be better once we get on the other end of it and figure things out a little bit more….But I ain’t going nowhere.”  Buxton is owed roughly $49.6MM through the end of the 2028 season, and he has full no-trade protection until the end of the 2026 campaign.
  • Most of the Rays’ deadline moves saw the team obtain either big leaguers or big league-ready talent in return, which was the team’s stated goal in any deal involving controllable talent heading out of Tampa.  President of baseball operations Erik Neander told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that the Rays received “a lot of interest” in some veteran players, but “that wasn’t going to happen for A-ball prospects this time around.”  The intention is to keep the team competitive for 2026 but also not robbing this year’s team of a chance to make a late run.  The Rays have dug themselves into a hole with their dismal play over the last five weeks, as the club is now 55-58 and sit five games back of the final AL wild card berth.
  • Miguel Vargas was a late scratch from Saturday’s White Sox lineup, and the team placed the corner infielder on the 10-day injured list today due to a left oblique strain.  While oblique problems are difficult to diagnose in terms of a timeline, Vargas’ strain is believed to be mild, so he could only miss a couple of weeks.  A very streaky season has evened out to a 97 wRC+ for Vargas over 439 plate appearances, with 13 home runs and a .229/.305/.402 slash line in Vargas’ first full season in Chicago.
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Chicago White Sox Minnesota Twins Notes Seattle Mariners Tampa Bay Rays Byron Buxton Miguel Vargas Trent Thornton

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Astros, Twins Reportedly Discussed Christian Walker In Carlos Correa Trade

By Nick Deeds | August 3, 2025 at 5:17pm CDT

5:17PM: Nightengale clarified his earlier report, saying that it was the Twins who first floated Walker’s name and the Astros who passed on moving the first baseman.

2:56PM: The Astros and Twins pulled off a shocking move in the final hours before the deadline that brought three-time All-Star infielder Carlos Correa back home to the team that he spent the first seven seasons of his career with. The deal sent Correa to Houston in exchange for pitching prospect Matt Mikulski, with the Twins retaining $33MM of the $103.4MM remaining on Correa’s contract. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale provided additional details on the Correa negotiations this morning.

Most notably, Nightengale writes that the sides talked about including veteran first baseman Christian Walker as part of the return headed to Minnesota in exchange for Correa’s services. He adds that while the Twins “had the opportunity” to acquire Walker as part of the deal, they passed on taking the final two years and $40MM of his contract on. That’s not exactly a shocking decision. Given that Mikulski is a 26-year-old who has not yet even reached the Double-A level, it’s fair to view the Correa deal as a pure salary dump for Minnesota. Previous reporting has indicated that the Twins are more than $400MM in debt, and Nightengale writes that the club has lost $40MM this year.

That would make adding a larger contract like that of Walker counterproductive in most scenarios. Perhaps there was a version of the deal where the Twins retained less of Correa’s salary while taking on Walker’s contract, but given his mediocre 2025 campaign (96 wRC+, 0.6 fWAR) and the fact that he’s already 34 years old it’s understandable that the Twins wouldn’t be too interested in adding him at the beginning of a rebuild that might not end until Walker has already hit free agency.

There’s at least an argument to be made that he would’ve been a worthwhile addition to the club based on their lack of a long-term solution at the position, however. Kody Clemens is currently serving as the club’s first baseman and has blasted 12 homers in 65 games since landing in Minnesota, but is a career 82 wRC+ hitter in 222 big league games who seems unlikely to sustain that sort of production. Edouard Julien and Jose Miranda are both capable of playing the position and have past big league success but poor performance has relegated them to the minors for much of the year.

That could make the veteran consistency Walker could provide quite attractive in theory, especially after the loss of Correa and others from the clubhouse could leave a dearth of veteran leadership in the clubhouse outside of franchise face Byron Buxton. On the other hand, Walker lacks much upside; even his best seasons with the Diamondbacks saw him peak at a wRC+ of around 120, and the Twins could likely find a younger, cheaper alternative who has more of a chance to develop into a middle-of-the-order force if they were interested in doing so this offseason.

While the Twins may not have been a fit for Walker’s services, Nightengale suggests that the veteran might get shopped by the Astros this winter in a bid to make room for infielder Isaac Paredes as first base next year. That’s a sensible assumption based on the composition of the club’s roster. While the idea of Paredes moving to second was briefly floated last offseason, there’s been a great deal of skepticism since then about his viability as a defender at third base. Yordan Alvarez must be penciled in as the club’s DH even after a 2025 season that has been mostly lost to injury, and with a former Gold Glove shortstop in Correa who’s eager to move to third base in deference to fellow Gold Glove shortstop Jeremy Pena there isn’t room for Paredes on the left side of the infield anymore.

At the same time, Paredes’s bat is much too important to lose from the lineup. The two-time All-Star has hit an impressive .259/.359/.470 with 19 homers, 15 doubles, and triple in 96 games for the Astros this year. The third baseman is expected to miss the remainder of the 2025 season at this point, so fitting him into the lineup is not a concern in the short-term. First base seems like by far the most logical fit the slugger for the 2026 season, however. Paredes is under team control through the end of the 2027 season, so he’ll need to find a new long-term home in Houston with Correa set to take over the hot corner.

That will likely make Walker expendable this offseason. He’s certainly not had the season either side was hoping for when he signed with the Astros on a three-year, $60MM deal this past offseason. Back in June, MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk wrote about the lackluster start Walker had to his Astros career. He’s begun to turn things around since then, with a strong .288/.352/.466 (129 wRC+) slash line in 186 plate appearances since that article was published, but the concerns discussed in that piece still ring true. Walker is an aging, pricey veteran on a multi-year contract who has begun to show signs of decline.

It’s not the easiest profile to find a suitor for, but perhaps there will be a team in need of help at first base this winter with whom the club can work out a trade—particularly if they’re willing to pay down some of Walker’s remaining salary. The veteran’s play over the season’s final two months and into the postseason figures to have a major influence over how feasible an offseason trade will end up being and how much money, if any, the Astros would have to retain in order to move him.

If Houston’s front office doesn’t find an offer they deem acceptable for Walker, there are other avenues to working out the infield logjam, though each presents some issues. Perhaps Paredes could see some time at second base despite defensive questions. It’s possible that Walker could get some playing time at DH on days Alvarez plays the outfield, with Jose Altuve at second base. A trade of Paredes could even theoretically be considered, especially if a similarly well-regarded and controllable outfielder was available in return. As the Astros demonstrated for Jose Abreu, they’re also not opposed to simply cutting ties with a struggling veteran who no longer fits the club’s needs, though Walker would surely need to take an extreme turn for the worse in order for that option to be on the table.

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Houston Astros Minnesota Twins Carlos Correa Christian Walker Isaac Paredes Jeremy Pena

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Red Sox Notes: Ryan, Alcantara, Prospects, Mayer, Slaten

By Mark Polishuk | August 3, 2025 at 4:05pm CDT

It was a relatively quiet trade deadline for the Red Sox, as Dustin May and Steven Matz were the only additions brought onto the roster for the pennant race.  However, the Sox had their eyes on plenty of bigger targets, including the team’s previously-reported pushes for the Twins’ Joe Ryan and the Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara.  WEEI’s Rob Bradford provides some details on those pursuits, saying that the Red Sox were willing to dig deep into the prospect depth to try and secure a deal.

“Anybody and everybody from the Sox’s minor league system” was available to some extent, Bradford writes.  Boston offered multiple packages that included two of Jhostynxon Garcia, Payton Tolle, and Franklin Arias as the headliners, with other names also involved from the top ten names on the club’s prospect rankings.  Since the Marlins and Twins didn’t seem to be prioritizing the addition of big league players, Red Sox officials saw Alcantara and Ryan as particularly good fits since Boston didn’t want to trade from its Major League roster.

A match didn’t happen, of course, and Bradford characterizes the talks with the Twins as somewhat one-sided on Boston’s part.  “Ultimately, Minnesota never acted, not informing the Red Sox chief decision-makers what level of offer would be needed to pull off….a move for a controllable ace starting pitcher,” Bradford writes.  USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that the Twins actually did want some MLB-level talent, as Minnesota wanted either Jarren Duran or Wilyer Abreu in a Ryan trade package.

As much as the Twins’ deadline fire sale was about shedding payroll, Duran or Abreu are arbitration-controlled through the 2028 season.  Obtaining a controllable starting outfielder would’ve been a sign that the Twins still want to return to competitive baseball as soon as 2026, and Thursday’s stunning set of moves wasn’t the first step of a rebuild process.  The club’s other deadline moves saw multiple players with MLB experience obtained, including such names as Taj Bradley, Mick Abel, and James Outman.

Turning to the injury front, Nightengale writes that Marcelo Mayer could be facing a season-ending wrist surgery, as the rookie infielder’s “sprained wrist is more serious than the Red Sox initially envisioned.”  Mayer was placed on the 10-day IL a little over a week ago and he recently received an injection in his wrist to help with the healing process.

Speaking with MassLive.com’s Sean McAdam and other reporters, Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow didn’t rule out the possibility of surgery.  For now, the hope is that the injection “gives him the best chance to be back on the field this season.  It’s a credit to him to try to do anything he can to get back.”

Mayer has hit .228/.272/.402 over his first 136 plate appearances in the Show.  While not a standout performance, it isn’t unexpected for a player to need time to adjust to the majors, plus it helps that a healthy Mayer would be a luxury at this point for a crowded Red Sox infield.  Now that Alex Bregman is back from the IL and Ceddanne Rafaela has moved into regular second-base duty, the team’s everyday lineup is pretty set, so Mayer might only be in line for a bench role if he is able to get back to action.

One player whose return seems a little more likely is Justin Slaten, though Breslow warned that “it’s hard to put a timetable on it given the topsy-turvy nature of the recovery to date.”  Slaten hasn’t pitched since May 28 due to right shoulder inflammation, though as the reliever told Bradford and company, he was also dealing with a nerve issue related to his transverse bone.

That problem has now been corrected, and Slaten’s restarted throwing progression hit another checkpoint with a bullpen session on Saturday.  The Sox will continue with a more gradual build-up and a minor league rehab assignment will surely be necessary given how much time Slaten has missed.  If all goes well, Slaten feels he’ll be back by September, and ready to continue building on what is becoming an impressive resume.  Slaten has a 3.09 ERA over 78 2/3 relief innings since making his MLB debut last season.

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Boston Red Sox Miami Marlins Minnesota Twins Notes Jarren Duran Jhostynxon Garcia Joe Ryan Justin Slaten Marcelo Mayer Sandy Alcantara Wilyer Abreu

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Twins Select Jose Urena, Erasmo Ramirez

By Steve Adams | August 1, 2025 at 1:32pm CDT

The Twins announced Friday that they’ve selected the contracts of veteran right-handers Jose Urena and Erasmo Ramirez from Triple-A St. Paul. They’ve also recalled six minor leaguers from St. Paul: infielder/outfielder Austin Martin, infielder Edouard Julien, infielder Ryan Fitzgerald, righty Pierson Ohl, righty Travis Adams and newly acquired outfielder Alan Roden.

The staggering slate of eight newly added minor leaguers is reflective of the roster-gutting fire sale on which Minnesota surprisingly embarked in the 24 hours leading up to this season’s trade deadline. As the Pohlad family looks to sell the franchise, Minnesota traded not only rentals Harrison Bader, Chris Paddack, Willi Castro, Danny Coulombe and Ty France, but also controllable pitchers Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Brock Stewart and — most shockingly of all — shortstop Carlos Correa.

Urena, 33, is a veteran of 11 major league seasons. The Twins will be his fourth team of the 2025 season alone and his tenth overall. He’s pitched 18 1/3 MLB frames this year and yielded a 5.40 earned run average. Urena tossed 13 1/3 innings with the Twins’ top affiliate prior to his promotion and allowed six runs (4.05 ERA) on 13 hits and 10 walks with 13 strikeouts.

Early in his career, Urena was a solid mid-rotation arm for the Marlins. From 2017-18, he started 59 games (plus six relief outings) and totaled 343 2/3 frames with a 3.90 ERA. Though Urena throws hard, he’s never been a big strikeout arm, but he typically posts above-average ground-ball rates and has a league-average walk rate in his career.

Since that solid run with Miami, Urena has become a swingman who’s bounced all over the league. He’s posted an ERA north of 5.00 in six of his past seven major league seasons, though the lanky right-hander did turn in a sharp 3.80 ERA in 109 innings with the Rangers last year. He’ll add some length to the bullpen and give the Twins a rotation option, too, depending on how they want to shape a pitching staff that was decimated by this week’s barrage of trades.

Ramirez, 35, will head to the majors for what’ll be a 14th season. He’s previously suited up for six other clubs. Ramirez was a starter for the Rays and Mariners early in his career but has been in a swingman role since the 2019 season. He signed a minor league deal with the Twins over the winter but spent the first several months of the year on the minor league injured list due to a shoulder injury.

Ramirez was reinstated in late June and has pitched a total of 15 minor league innings. He’s sitting on an ugly 6.50 ERA in that time but has fanned 22.4% of his opponents against a 6% walk rate and 52.2% grounder rate. Ramirez posted a 4.35 ERA in 20 2/3 innings with the Nationals last year — a mark that’s a near mirror image of his career 4.37 earned run average. However, most of his best work came from 2012-17. He’s pitched 257 innings dating back to 2018 and turned in a 4.76 ERA. He’ll soak up innings as a long relief option for however long he’s with the big league club.

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Minnesota Twins Transactions Alan Roden Austin Martin Edouard Julien Erasmo Ramirez Jose Urena Pierson Ohl Ryan Fitzgerald Travis Adams

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Astros Acquire Carlos Correa

By Tim Dierkes | July 31, 2025 at 11:17pm CDT

Carlos Correa is coming home to play third base.  The Twins have agreed to trade Correa to the Astros, according to MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart, and Jon Morosi of MLB Network says he’ll man the hot corner for Houston.  Pitching prospect Matt Mikulski is going to Minnesota, according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic.  Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that the Twins are paying down $33MM of the approximate $103.4MM remaining on Correa’s deal.  The trade is now official.

The idea of the Astros bringing Correa back into the fold first surfaced yesterday in a report from Nightengale.  Rome and Dan Hayes of The Athletic went on to report that the Astros approached the Twins with the concept of bringing back Correa, a favorite of owner Jim Crane.

With $103.4MM remaining on Correa’s contract through 2028, reporting today suggested that the two clubs were too far apart on dollars to consummate a deal.  However, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports, the teams bridged their financial gap, Correa waived his no-trade clause, and the deal was resuscitated.  As Correa told McTaggart, “I let them know there was only one team I would allow that to happen.”

The Astros and Crane have a history of letting star players depart for longer free agent deals elsewhere.  In this case, Correa left after the 2021 season.  Nearly three years later third baseman Alex Bregman turned down the Astros’ overtures and landed in Boston, after the club had already landed his replacement in Isaac Paredes (acquired from the Cubs in part because the Astros knew they couldn’t win the bidding on Kyle Tucker).  Paredes tore his hamstring on July 19th, which may be season-ending.

Jeremy Peña has flourished in Correa’s absence, making his first All-Star team this year after hitting the IL in late June for a fractured rib.  Peña could rejoin the Astros tomorrow in Boston, playing next to his predecessor on the left side of the infield against Bregman and the Red Sox.  The Astros had picked up Ramon Urias from Baltimore last night, a move that paled in comparison to the division-rival Mariners adding Eugenio Suarez.  Now with Correa, Urias will be pushed into a utility role that could include time at second base.

Correa, 31 in September, owns an uninspiring 97 wRC+ in 364 plate appearances this year for the Twins.  His Twins career has been up-and-down in that regard, with a stellar 136 wRC+ in 2022, a down year in ’23, and a career-best 155 mark last year.

Correa played in only 86 games for the Twins in 2024, missing time due to an intercostal strain and plantar fasciitis.  He spent time on the seven-day concussion list in May this year, but has otherwise avoided the IL despite some minor injuries.

Injuries have long been part of the story for Correa, who was drafted first overall by the Astros in 2012.  He played 110 or fewer games in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2024, so he had a four-year run of good health encompassing his multiple free agencies.

Despite his injury history, Correa has been worth 3.7 WAR in seven separate seasons.  He won the AL Rookie of the Year in 2015, made his first All-Star team and garnered MVP votes in 2017, made another All-Star team and finished fifth in the MVP voting in 2021, and made a third All-Star game with the Twins last year.  Certainly Correa’s 2017 performance and the Astros’ championship are tarnished by the sign-stealing scandal, but the star players involved have largely been able to move on with minimal effects aside from perhaps extra boos from certain fanbases.

Correa has been a regular on the pages of MLBTR, perhaps beginning with that sign-stealing scandal in late 2019.  Though Correa suffered some reputational damage for cheating at the time, his first run at free agency seemed largely unaffected.  Hewing to their organizational philosophy on long-term contracts, the Astros topped out at a five-year, $160MM offer, even though Correa was heading into his age-27 season.

Though some major free agents such as Corey Seager signed before the 99-day 2021-22 lockout, Correa did not.  Correa switched to the Boras Corporation during the lockout, and “settled” for a three-year, $105.3MM deal with the Twins in March 2022 with opt-out clauses after each season.  After an excellent debut season with the Twins, Correa opted out as expected, but his second run at free agency was anything but easy.

Correa agreed to a 13-year, $350MM deal with the Giants in December 2022, which shockingly fell apart after his physical revealed concerns over his right leg.  Correa then agreed to play third base for the Mets on a 12-year, $315MM deal, only to have that deal fall apart for similar reasons.  That led to a January 2023 reunion with the Twins on a six-year, $200MM deal, ending one of the wildest free agencies this website has ever seen.

As Rome and Hayes wrote recently, “Though the Twins are enamored with Correa, believing he’s a difference-maker on the field, the team’s financial picture has changed drastically in the 30 months since he signed his six-year deal. The club has been up for sale since October, which is limiting how much the team can spend on players. Correa’s salary represents 25 percent of the Twins’ current $141 million payroll.”

Now, Correa will return to Houston and play a position other than shortstop for the first time in his 11-year MLB career.  He told McTaggart, “We were waiting for a shortstop to come in [with Twins] and now that I get to play third base, it will be great for me at this stage of my career.”  Whether Paredes moves to the right side of the infield next year or becomes offseason trade bait remains to be seen.

Correa is owed $103.4MM through 2028, which would represent a $31.4MM CBT hit for the Astros.  Given the approximate $33MM the Twins are kicking in, we estimate the Astros’ CBT hit to be around $21MM.  Future reporting will surely confirm the figure.  The Astros’ CBT payroll sits just below the $241MM threshold, so this trade easily vaults Houston into second-time tax payor status.  The trade has echoes of one the Astros made two years ago, when they re-acquired Justin Verlander after letting him go to the Mets via free agency.

Known to be seeking a left-handed bat, the Astros nonetheless added Urias and Correa within a short span at the deadline.  But shortly after landing Correa, they finally did get a lefty stick in the Marlins’ Jesus Sanchez.  Clearly in go-for-it mode, GM Dana Brown pursued the Padres’ Dylan Cease as well, but that did not come to fruition.

While the Astros have added to their first-place team, the 51-57 Twins have conducted a full-on fire sale.  Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey traded a whopping 10 players off his active roster in July, including both rentals and controllable players.

This post was originally published at 3:05pm central time.

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Houston Astros Minnesota Twins Newsstand Transactions Carlos Correa

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Rays, Twins Swap Griffin Jax For Taj Bradley

By Anthony Franco | July 31, 2025 at 11:16pm CDT

The Rays and Twins orchestrated a fascinating one-for-one swap at the deadline. Minnesota traded setup man Griffin Jax to Tampa Bay for young starting pitcher Taj Bradley.

Jax, 30, is one of a staggering five relievers whom the Twins traded in the past two days. He followed Jhoan Duran, Brock Stewart, Danny Coulombe and Louis Varland out the door. Minnesota dismantled what had been one of the best bullpens in the game. Of course, that doesn’t even address their biggest deal of the day.

A former third-round pick out of Air Force, Jax has developed into a high-end reliever. This year’s 4.50 ERA may not reflect that, but he misses bats an elite rate. Jax has punched out 36.4% of opposing hitters while running a 19.5% swinging strike rate. He ranks comfortably among the top 10 relievers in MLB in both categories. Jax posted very similar underlying numbers across 72 appearances a year ago. Last season’s ERA reflected that dominance, as he turned in a 2.03 mark through 71 innings.

Opposing hitters have a .389 average on balls in play against Jax. That’s the highest against any pitcher in MLB with at least 40 innings. Jax had allowed a sub-.300 BABIP in each of the previous three seasons. This season’s mark is a clear outlier, and teams continue to view him as a weapon at the back of the bullpen. Jax has the ability to run his fastball to 97 MPH on average, but his best two offerings are his sweeper and changeup. It’s a plus three-pitch mix.

Jax joins Pete Fairbanks, Bryan Baker and Garrett Cleavinger towards the back of a revamped Tampa Bay bullpen. He’s likely to work in a setup role in front of Fairbanks for the remainder of the season. The Rays opted not to trade their closer despite what appeared to be significant interest. Fairbanks could be the subject of trade chatter again during the offseason. If Tampa Bay pulls the trigger on a deal at that point, Jax would have a good chance of stepping into the ninth inning.

The Rays control Jax for two seasons beyond this one. He’s playing on a $2.365MM salary in his first arbitration year. Duran kept him from accruing many saves in Minnesota that would’ve built his arbitration earnings. He’ll likely land a salary in the $4-5MM range next season and could get between $6-8MM for his final run through the process. Tampa Bay straddled the line between buying and selling this summer, but they didn’t abandon hope of erasing what is currently a three-game deficit in the Wild Card picture. Even if they don’t make the playoffs, they’ll have Jax for another couple seasons.

It’s appealing enough that the Rays were willing to move on from Bradley. A former top prospect, the 6’2″ righty has held a rotation spot in Tampa Bay for most of the past three seasons. He has never really put it all together, allowing an ERA of 4.11 or higher in each season. Home runs were the biggest culprit over the first two years, but he missed bats at plus rates with league average control. It has been a different story in 2025. Bradley’s strikeout rate has dropped to a career-low 20.2% as he’s getting fewer swinging strikes. He has upped his ground-ball rate and gotten the longball under control, but his 4.61 ERA across 21 starts is right in line with his career mark.

Around the All-Star Break, it was reported that the Rays were open to offers on Bradley. It seemed clear that he’d fallen out of favor when they optioned him to Triple-A last week after he gave up four runs without escaping the second inning against the White Sox. That didn’t mean they’d trade him for whatever they could get, of course, but there was presumably a growing frustration with Bradley’s inconsistent results. Tampa Bay traded a pair of starting pitchers in Bradley and Zack Littell, but they’re giving the former’s rotation spot to hard-throwing righty Joe Boyle. They replaced the latter by acquiring Adrian Houser from the White Sox.

Coaxing more out of Bradley now falls on the Twins. He figures to return to the rotation in Minnesota. He’ll slot behind Joe Ryan, Zebby Matthews and eventually Pablo López in the starting staff. Minnesota also landed talented rookie right-hander Mick Abel from the Phillies in the Duran return. They’re clearly looking ahead to a 2026 season that might be under new ownership and hoping to build around young starting pitching.

Bradley may not have had sustained MLB success, but it’s easy to see the appeal. Controllable starting pitching is the most difficult asset to acquire. Minnesota has Bradley under team control for four seasons after this one. He has a four-pitch mix led by a 96 MPH fastball with the command to start. If the Twins can marry this year’s batted ball results with the swing-and-miss ability he has shown in prior seasons, Bradley would be a more valuable long-term asset than a reliever — even one as good as Jax.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Rays were acquiring Jax. Dan Hayes of The Athletic had Bradley’s return. Images courtesy of Lon Howedel and Jonathan Dyer, Imagn Images.

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Minnesota Twins Newsstand Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Griffin Jax Taj Bradley

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Red Sox “Not Even Close” In Late Joe Ryan Trade Talks

By Anthony Franco | July 31, 2025 at 11:09pm CDT

11:09PM: The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey provides a few more details on the Ryan negotiations, and top-100 outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia “was in the mix to be in the deal.”  Overall, however, the Red Sox weren’t willing to give up more of their highest-rated prospects, and weren’t willing to trade any outfielders from their Major League roster.

5:10PM: Ryan isn’t heading to Boston, as MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo hears from a source that the two sides were “not even close” to completing a trade.

4:42PM: After missing out on Merrill Kelly, the Red Sox are making a late push for Minnesota’s Joe Ryan, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network. Francys Romero suggests the Twins are seen as likely to deal the right-hander amidst what has become a shockingly big sell-off.

Aside from the usual rental players, the Twins have dealt one of the game’s best relievers in Jhoan Duran and their most expensive player in Carlos Correa.  With less than 20 minutes remaining until the deadline, could they move one of the game’s better starting pitchers in Ryan?  The 29-year-old owns a 2.82 ERA and 23.8 K-BB% in 121 1/3 innings and is under team control through 2027.

The Red Sox shockingly traded Rafael Devers to the Giants in June, but they’re still in position to secure a Wild Card spot.  Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow has taken a few big swings but has thus far only landed Steven Matz.

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Cubs Acquire Willi Castro

By Mark Polishuk | July 31, 2025 at 7:07pm CDT

The Cubs have landed utilityman Willi Castro from the Twins, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.  Minnesota will receive multiple prospects in return, and ESPN.com’s Jesse Rogers specifies those players as minor league pitchers Ryan Gallagher and Sam Armstrong.

The switch-hitting Castro can play all over the diamond, but he’ll surely get most of his playing time in Chicago at third base.  The Cubs haven’t gotten much from the position all season, even though top prospect Matt Shaw has been on fire since the All-Star break.  Shaw could continue to get at-bats as long as he continues to hit, with Castro spelling him on occasion and moving into more of a regular role if Shaw comes back to earth.

Since coming to Minnesota as a free agent in the 2022-23 offseason, Castro has hit .250/.335/.398 over 1388 plate appearances and played at every position on the field except catcher and first base.  Beyond just being a plug-and-play fill-in for the Twins’ many injuries over the years, Castro forced his way into more of a regular role with his solid hitting from both sides of the plate, and a 34-steal season in 2023.  That havoc on the basepaths may have been a one-year outlier (he is 23-of-35 in steal attempts over the last two seasons), but Castro is nevertheless a solid all-around contributor.

Castro is also inexpensive, as the Cubs will owe him roughly $2MM for the remainder of the 2025 season before the utilityman enters free agency this winter.  Between his salary, rental status, and ability to fit into pretty much any roster, Castro drew a lot of buzz as the deadline approached, with such teams as the Astros, Yankees, and Mariners listed as known suitors.

This interest allowed the Twins to land two pitching prospects for a rental player.  MLB Pipeline ranks Gallagher as the eighth-best prospect in the Chicago farm system, while Armstrong just barely cracked Baseball America’s preseason Cubs ranking in the 30th spot on the list.  This duo will join the haul of young talent Minnesota received as part of their enormous deadline-day selloff.

Gallagher was a sixth-round pick in the 2024 draft, and he has already reached Double-A Knoxville in his first pro season.  Gallagher has a 3.43 ERA, 28.2% strikeout rate, and 5.9% walk rate over 84 combined innings at the high-A and Double-A levels, with 11 1/3 of those frames coming in Knoxville.  His top two pitches are a changeup and a fastball, with the latter pitch standing out for its “quality induced vertical break and command” (according to Pipeline’s scouting report) moreso than velocity in the 90-93 mph range.

Armstrong was a 13th-round pick for Chicago in 2023, and he has a 4.62 ERA, 19.3% strikeout rate, and 8.3% walk rate in 89 2/3 innings in Knoxville this season.  BA’s scouting report says Armstrong has “a kitchen sink’s worth of pitches” but perhaps not a true signature pitch among his six offerings, as his slider gets the highest grade with a relatively modest 50.  Armstrong has posted some good grounder rates across his minor league career, but it would seem he might have trouble continually fooling batters without premium stuff.

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Blue Jays Acquire Louis Varland, Ty France

By Tim Dierkes | July 31, 2025 at 5:56pm CDT

The Blue Jays acquired reliever Louis Varland and first baseman Ty France from the Twins, according to Mitch Bannon of The Athletic.  Lefty Kendry Rojas and outfielder Alan Roden will head to the Twins in the deal, adds Bannon.  The trade is now official.

The Twins went well beyond expectations as sellers at the 2025 deadline, having also dealt Carlos Correa, Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Willi Castro, Danny Coulombe, Brock Stewart, Harrison Bader, and Chris Paddack.

Varland qualifies as an unexpected trade, given that he’s under team control through 2030.  The Twins dealt all five of their high-leverage relievers this month, Varland included.  The 27-year-old righty is in the midst of a breakout season, spending the entire year in the Twins’ bullpen and posting a 2.02 ERA in 49 innings.  That’s come with a 23.9 K%, 6.6 BB%, and greatly improved 54.5% groundball rate.  Working entirely as a reliever, Varland’s fastball velocity has soared to an average of 98.1 miles per hour.

The Blue Jays landed five-plus years of what looks like a very good setup man in Varland, though they could consider moving him back to the rotation in the future.  Varland comes from strong bloodlines, as his older brother Gus has pitched in the Majors for the Brewers, Dodgers, and White Sox.  Louis was drafted by the Twins in the 15th round in 2019 out of Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Varland made his MLB debut in 2022, and began last season as a member of the Twins’ rotation.  That lasted only five turns, plus some spot starts.  By September of last year, Varland had moved into more of a traditional relief role, and has since found his first sustained MLB success.

Given that Varland won’t even be arbitration eligible until 2027, the Blue Jays have plenty of time to decide his long-term role.  They will have some rotation openings next year given the impending free agencies of Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt.  For now, Varland can slot in alongside new bullpen addition Seranthony Dominguez behind closer Jeff Hoffman.

France, 31, joined the Twins in February on a $1MM free agent deal.  He’s logged the vast majority of the Twins’ innings at first base this year, posting a subpar 92 wRC+ in 387 plate appearances.  A righty batter, France has not done particularly well against lefties or righties over the last two seasons.  With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. locked in at first base and George Springer (and perhaps eventually Anthony Santander) typically handling DH duties, France seems set for a modest bench role in Toronto.

The Twins and their fans are left to pick up the pieces after president of baseball operations Derek Falvey traded 10 players this month.  Rojas, a 22-year-old who signed out of Cuba for $215K in 2020, made the jump to Triple-A yesterday.  Baseball America labeled him a 50-grade high risk prospect, saying he “shows starter traits with a deep arsenal of average-or-better pitches and command.”  Rojas has made 10 starts this year across four minor league levels and should be in the Twins’ rotation mix next year.

Roden, 26 in December, was the Blue Jays’ third-round pick back in 2022.  A lefty batter, Roden “projects to hit for a high average with high walk rates” per Baseball America, upon giving him a 50 high-risk grade as well.  He profiles as a corner outfielder.  While Roden has fared poorly in his 113 big league plate appearances, he has a 150 wRC+ at Triple-A this year and has little left to prove there.  He should be able to find playing time in left for the Twins this year given the departures of Bader and Castro.

This post was originally published at 5:05pm.

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