We’ll wait a few more minutes to be sure, but we think that the Minnesota Twins are done selling this trade deadline season.
Minnesota traded a staggering 10 players, including All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa and closer Jhoan Durán, before the clock hit triple zeroes. Although five of the 10 were pending free agents, Correa still had over $100 million owed on his six-year, $200 million deal.
“Well, today was truly a transformative day in the history of Twins baseball,” Twins announcer Cory Provus quipped on X/Twitter.
Now, the 51-57 Twins can focus on 2026 and beyond … not that all those around the club are thrilled. Very rarely in modern baseball have we seen an organization completely dismantle its entire big-league roster over a four-day span, with most of the trades coming on Wednesday and Thursday.
“Now no one wants to stay if they are selling like this,” an unnamed player told The Athletic’s Dan Hayes.
Things could get ugly for the Twins following the 2025 trade deadline
There’s a significant difference between a team selling and a team undergoing such a distinctive overhaul, the way that the Twins did this week. Sure, there was no guarantee that outfielder Harrison Bader or starting pitcher Chris Paddack — and, in fairness, we don’t know if the Twins would have wanted them, or any of the pending free agents, back for 2026.
Hendry Mendez was the Phillies 12th best prospect.
— Twins Talk (@LetsTalk_Twins) July 31, 2025
Defense is shaky and I’d be curious if he sticks in right or maybe there’s potential for some 1B
Still only 21, Mendez has a lot to like on offense. Slashing .290/.374/.434 in AA#MNTwins
pic.twitter.com/VZoS11AWis
Parting ways with Correa and Durán is another conversation entirely. It’s hard to blame the Twins for capitalizing on obtaining as much value as they could have for both players, especially considering the salary relief on the Correa deal. Compare the Twins’ approach to that of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who held onto Andrew Heaney and Isiah Kiner-Falefa despite both being on one-year contracts.
At the same time, it’s telling that at least one player is so openly cynical about the Twins’ chances to attract big-name players down the road. Even if the Twins don’t offer another Correa-type contract, they still frequently tend to compete for other notable veteran players in free agency.
It’s also fair to ask if the Twins will even bother attempting to make those moves in the future, or if they’ll take the Pirates’ approach of giving prove-it deals to veterans that they can flip at the next deadline.
On the one hand, the Twins deserve credit for accepting their status as a seller and trying to make the most of it. The one-year contracts, like those issued to Bader and Paddack, worked out because Minnesota acquired prospects in return.
However, we’ll see if the Twins’ radical makeover does, in fact, scare players away — because if it does, the Twins are in significant trouble moving forward.