The Minnesota Twins had several players who appeared to be top trade candidates before the Aug. 3 deadline. If the Twins had decided to sell, they could have received a nice haul of young, controllable players. However, Minnesota bought, acquiring right-handers Jeff Hoffman, Dean Kremer and Tommy Nance and left-hander A.J. Minter.
Even though the Twins' top trade candidates survived the deadline, many of them will likely be playing for different organizations next year.
2 Twins players who will part ways with the organization in the offseason
C Ryan Jeffers
It's hard to imagine Jeffers, who has hit .279/.386/.484 (146 wRC+) this season, will play for the Twins in 2027. The backstop is set to hit free agency at the end of the year and will be the top available catcher on the free-agent market.
There's a decent argument for the Twins to attempt to re-sign Jeffers, as strong-hitting catchers are difficult to come by, and if there ends up being a salary floor with the new CBA agreement, then the Twins may need to increase their payroll.
However, with four catchers on their list of top 10 prospects (MLB Pipeline), the Twins would likely prefer to allocate payroll to other areas of the roster. Victor Caratini is under team control through 2027, and 2026 third-overall pick Vahn Lackey, a catcher from Georgia Tech, could be ready for the big leagues by the end of next season.
Most likely, Lackey, 21, will be in the majors in 2028 rather than 2027. But teams have been promoting top prospects sooner than ever lately. Therefore, it's entirely possible that Lackey could be the Twins' starting catcher at the end of the 2027 season.
OF Trevor Larnach
The Twins have Larnach under team control through 2027, but there's still a strong chance he will be on a different team next year. Before the trade deadline, the Twins reportedly had an agreement in place with the Astros to send Larnach to Houston in exchange for right-handed reliever Bryan Abreu. However, Astros owner Jim Crane vetoed the trade.
Sources: The Astros and Twins had agreed to a trade that would send Bryan Abreu to the Twins for Trevor Larnach. In the 11th hour, Astros owner Jim Crane nixed the trade. It is currently unclear if those talks will be revisited.
— Michael Marino (@MarinoMLB) August 1, 2026
The fact that the Twins were already willing to give up Larnach, who has slashed .273/.359/.429 (123 wRC+) this season, proves there's a strong chance he will be gone by next season.
Moving Larnach in the offseason would make perfect sense for the Twins. Minnesota should trade the outfielder to bolster the pitching staff and clear a spot for outfielder Walker Jenkins, FanGraphs' No. 4 overall MLB prospect.
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