Twins reshape organization with flurry of deals, including Correa stunner

MINNEAPOLIS – A trickle of deals turned into a flood on Thursday as the Twins traded eight players from their Major League roster in seven trades, completing a drastic reshaping of the franchise’s direction.

The headline deal was the move of star infielder Carlos Correa to the Astros, but that was just one piece of one of the most momentous days in recent franchise history. Relievers Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Brock Stewart and Danny Coulombe, outfielder Harrison Bader, utility man Willi Castro and first baseman Ty France were all moved.

Those moves follow the trades of Jhoan Duran to Philadelphia on Wednesday and Chris Paddack to Detroit on Monday. In total, the Twins traded 10 Major League players this week, leaving major questions as to what the lineup, bullpen and roster will look like when the team begins a series on Friday in Cleveland. Five of the traded players were eligible for free agency after this year: Paddack, Coulombe, Bader, Castro and France.

“While painful and difficult at times to trade away players that have been with us for a while,” said Twins president of baseball and business operations Derek Falvey, “we felt we added a lot of talent to our group and our organization that will continue to build out the next great core of players coming up and contributing at the Major League level. In doing so, I think we felt like we added players that not only are great prospects, and guys that are maybe part of a longer term future, but we were able to actually access a lot of players who are going to find their ways up to help this team really soon.”

SUMMARY OF TRADES

Heading to Minnesota: OF Hendry Mendez, RHP Geremy Villoria, OF James Outman, LHP Garrett Horn, RHP Mike Mikulski, OF Alan Roden, LHP Kendry Rojas, RHP Taj Bradley, RHP Sam Armstrong, RHP Ryan Gallagher

Departing from Minnesota: SS Carlos Correa, OF Harrison Bader, RHP Griffin Jax, RHP Louis Varland, RHP Brock Stewart, LHP Danny Coulombe, IF/OF Willi Castro, 1B Ty France

In return, the Twins received some players with Major League experience, some top prospects, some volume in their Minor League system and a great deal of salary relief in both the short and long term.

James Outman (who came from the Dodgers for Stewart), Taj Bradley (added from Tampa Bay for Jax) and Alan Roden (who came from Toronto for Varland and France) could have roles on the Major League roster imminently. Among the more notable prospects acquired Thursday were pitcher Ryan Gallagher from the Cubs, pitcher Kendry Rojas from the Blue Jays and outfielder Hendry Mendez from the Phillies, all of whom slot into the club’s Top 20 prospects. They join Top 100 overall prospects Eduardo Tait and Mick Abel, who were acquired for Duran on Wednesday.

And then there’s the payroll relief – Correa is guaranteed more than $100 million over the remainder of his contract, and while the Twins will reportedly pick up about $33 million of it, that’s still a significant change to the club’s future commitments. While the changes to the 2025 roster are seismic, the hope is that the team’s ability to compete in future years has not been compromised.

“There's opportunity for us this Deadline with other teams that were in a better position competitively, just for this season, to make some changes,” said Falvey. “But we did keep an eye on what this means for ‘26 and ’27. There were plenty of other players asked about on our club who are part of next year and the following year that we chose not to engage in.”

Minnesota began the day by dealing Bader to the Phillies for prospects. The Stewart, Coulombe and Correa deals came together in mid-afternoon, and then shortly before the Deadline came the remaining flurry. Some of the moves, most notably those of the impending free agents, were expected. Jax had been mentioned in rumors for some time, and Correa’s name first appeared in reports of a potential trade Wednesday.

The move of Varland, however, was unexpected, given that he isn’t even eligible for salary arbitration this year. However, that explains why the return, highlighted by Rojas, was one of the most compelling of the day.

“We felt like those were two real prospects that will be a part of our future for a long period of time,” Falvey said.

Regardless, though, the biggest jolt was the move of Correa, a clubhouse cornerstone and recipient of the largest contract in franchise history. As recently as Wednesday, he had poured cold water on the possibility of a trade, and reports Thursday morning indicated that a move was highly unlikely. But by the end of the day, it had come together, with Correa approving the deal.

“Over the course of the last couple days, certainly when the Houston rumors came out, he wanted to have a brief conversation about it and I said my door is always open,” Falvey said. “We had that discussion. Not to get into too many specifics about the private nature of that discussion, but Carlos was never sitting there demanding a trade or wanting to do something else. If it was right for the Twins and it was right for him, he was open to the conversation.”

Correa, 30, has had an up-and-down season at the plate but was one of the best players in the league as recently as 2024. He had a full no-trade clause that he waived to go back to his first Major League organization. Correa will move to third base with the Astros.

“I’ve been wanting to play third base for the past couple of years, but it wasn’t happening in Minnesota,” he said. “We were waiting for a shortstop to come in, and now that I get to play third base, it would be great for me at this stage of my career.”