Josh Donaldson became the biggest free-agent signing in Minnesota Twins history with a four-year, $92 million deal in January 2020. Halfway through the contract, the Twins traded him to the New York Yankees, getting out of the remaining $50 million he was owed while receiving little in return.
Carlos Correa supplanted Donaldson as the Twins’ biggest free-agent move in March 2023 with a six-year deal worth $200 million. He didn’t even make it halfway through the contract before the Twins traded Correa back to the Houston Astros while receiving little in return at Thursday’s deadline.
Two team record-setting signings of big-name stars, followed by two salary dumps. Whereas the Donaldson breakup was fairly painless, the Twins are eating $33 million of the $104 million left on Correa’s contract in a shocking dismantling of the underperforming roster.
In order to technically say they received something in return for Correa, the Twins got Astros left-hander Matt Mikulski, a 26-year-old High-A reliever with a career 6.48 ERA who signed a minor-league deal in May. He’s a non-prospect, and it’s a pure salary dump in an uncapped league.
They also cleared $71 million off the payroll books between now and 2028, the final guaranteed season of Correa’s contract, but it’s tough to imagine any meaningful amount of those savings being reinvested in the roster as long as the Pohlads are in charge.
What a mess.
It’s been clear for weeks that the Twins would be sellers, but this is a true fire sale, with Correa, Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Brock Stewart, Willi Castro, Harrison Bader, Chris Paddack, Danny Coulombe, Ty France and Randy Dobnak excised from a team that was supposed to contend.
They traded 38.5 percent of the active roster, including the bullpen’s five best relievers, and a total of five players with at least two seasons of team control beyond this one. Varland is minimum-salaried and wouldn’t have been eligible for free agency until 2031. It didn’t matter.
Thank you, Jhoan Duran – for bringing the heat and the fire every time you came on the field!
We will miss your entrance, the leap and everything in between. Best of luck in, Philly pic.twitter.com/g3VEBLdCEw
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) July 31, 2025
All but certain to miss the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons, the Twins remain unsold nine months after going on the market, and the front office has cleared all but $38 million in guaranteed salaries off next year’s books, no doubt a Pohladian dream come true.
It’s been just 21 months since an exciting, celebratory 2023 season in which the Twins won the division title and their first playoff series in two decades. There have been nothing but slashed payrolls, bad decisions, injuries, on-field collapses and various other sure-fire ways to wreck fan morale since then.
Now, Twins fans are left hoping the trade deadline fire sale is followed by an actual sale, because 40 years of Pohlad ownership has led back to this familiar place that looks an awful lot like rock bottom. Fans deserve better, but they’re never going to get it until ownership changes.
Pierzynski trade tree grows
Shortly after the 2002 season, with stud catcher prospect Joe Mauer ready, the Twins sent starting catcher A.J. Pierzynski to the San Francisco Giants for Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser. It’s one of the greatest trades in Twins history, and it’s nowhere near done paying off for them.
Nearly a decade later, in July 2012, the Twins traded Liriano to the Chicago White Sox in a deal that included Eduardo Escobar, who became a quality regular for five seasons. Then, in July 2018, they traded Escobar to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a trio of prospects that included Duran.
Another branch has now grown from the Pierzynski trade tree, with Duran going to the Philadelphia Phillies for 23-year-old pitching prospect Mick Abel and 18-year-old catching prospect Eduardo Tait. Pierzynski is the gift that keeps on giving. Maybe they should build the trade a statue.
Tait rates second
Tait, a consensus top-100 prospect who ranked as high as No. 50 on some prominent lists, was the second-highest rated prospect to change teams at this year’s deadline. Only shortstop Leodalis De Vries, who went from the San Diego Padres to the Athletics in the Mason Miller trade, rates higher.
It’s interesting to note that the best two prospects on the move were both traded for flamethrower relievers. For any Twins fans wondering why Miller brought back a higher-rated prospect rather than Duran, consider that he’s under team control for twice as long, which carries substantial value.
In a trade deadline that many Twins fans likely won’t remember fondly, getting Tait and a second top-100 prospect in Abel for Duran stands out as solid value relative to the league-wide context.
(Photo of Carlos Correa: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)
