Rays, Twins Swap Griffin Jax For Taj Bradley

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.