The Minnesota Twins shocked MLB on Aug 1, 2025, trading stars Carlos Correa and Jhoan Duran in a massive 10-player fire sale. See who's gone & what's next.
StatPro MLB Beat Reporter
Well, Twins Territory, take a deep breath. The team we knew yesterday is gone. In a stunning, franchise-altering flurry at the trade deadline, the front office traded away ten players—over a third of the active roster. The bombshells included sending superstar shortstop Carlos Correa back to Houston and shipping flamethrowing closer Jhoan Duran to Philadelphia, signaling a sudden and dramatic pivot from contention to a full-scale rebuild.
Now no one wants to stay if they are selling like this.
The sheer scale of the sell-off is difficult to comprehend. Beyond the headline departures of Correa and Duran, the Twins also bid farewell to key bullpen arms Griffin Jax, Brock Stewart, and Chris Paddack, along with utility man Willi Castro and pitcher Randy Dobnak. As longtime announcer Cory Provus put it, it was 'a transformative day in the history of Twins baseball.' The front office is selling this as a necessary evil, drawing parallels to past prospect-driven trades that built championship contenders. But for a team that was theoretically in the hunt, this feels less like a re-tool and more like a demolition.
So, what did the Twins get for their pain? A massive infusion of talent into the farm system. The Duran deal alone netted two Top 100 prospects: catcher Eduardo Tait (.255, 11 HR in Class-A) and righty Mick Abel, who has already made four MLB starts this year. The Chris Paddack trade brought in 19-year-old catching prospect Enrique Jimenez. Not all the return is for the future, however. In the deal sending reliever Brock Stewart to the Dodgers, the Twins acquired outfielder James Outman. The left-handed hitter brings power and speed and is expected to be plugged directly into the major league lineup, giving fans an immediate look at one of the new pieces.
While the front office looks to the future, the players left in the clubhouse are dealing with the present reality. The shockwaves have clearly shaken morale. An unnamed player's quote to The Athletic tells the whole story: 'Now no one wants to stay if they are selling like this.' It's a gut punch that reveals the human cost of a fire sale. How can the remaining players be expected to compete when the organization has so publicly given up on the season? The leadership void left by Correa and others will be immense.
There's no time to process, as the games go on. Tonight, this radically different Twins team (now 51-57 and fourth in the AL Central) opens a series in Cleveland. All eyes will be on the lineup card to see who is even playing. Joe Ryan takes the mound for Minnesota, his steady presence (10-5, 2.82 ERA) a rare point of stability amidst the chaos. He'll face the Guardians' Gavin Williams. This series isn't about the standings anymore; it's about seeing who steps up and what the foundation of this next era of Twins baseball looks like on the field.
The rest of the 2025 season has been redefined. It's no longer about chasing a playoff spot; it's about evaluation. It’s about watching James Outman, tracking the progress of Tait and Abel in the minors, and seeing who on this depleted roster has the heart to play through a rebuild. It will be a long final two months, but the future, for better or worse, started yesterday.
