Three days after being released by the Toronto Blue Jays, former Minnesota Twins right-hander Justin Topa signed a minor-league contract with the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, per his transaction log on MLB.com. Kansas City assigned the right-hander to Triple-A Omaha.
The Twins released Topa, whom Minnesota acquired from the Seattle Mariners as part of the Jorge Polanco trade in the 2023-24 offseason, on May 23, four days after designating him for assignment. He then signed a minor-league deal with the Blue Jays.
After making just three appearances in 2024 due to left patellar tendinitis, Topa had an inconsistent but overall solid 2025 season, posting a 3.90 ERA and 3.04 FIP with an 18.3% strikeout rate and 6.7% walk rate over 60 innings. The Twins counted on Topa much more than before after trading nearly their entire bullpen, including Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax and Louis Varland, as part of last summer's fire sale. Entering the 2026 season, Topa was one of Minnesota's more experienced and promising relievers.
Unfortunately, Topa, 35, posted an abysmal 8.05 ERA and 6.46 FIP with a 13.0% strikeout rate, 12.0% walk rate and .338 opponent batting average across 19 innings this season before being cut by the Twins. His sinker velocity was notably down with Minnesota, dropping from an average of 95.2 mph in 2023 to 93.2 mph in 2026.
Topa had decent results with Triple-A Buffalo, posting a 3.38 ERA in eight innings across eight appearances. However, he had a poor 5.31 FIP, 13.0% strikeout rate, 12.0% walk rate and .338 opponent batting average, which is likely why Toronto released him.
Twins likely had no interest in a Justin Topa reunion
The Twins need bullpen help. However, they decided it wasn't worth bringing back Topa unless the right-hander preferred to sign with the Royals.
Rather than bringing back Topa, Minnesota acquired right-hander Woo-Suk Go, 27, from the Detroit Tigers for cash considerations on Sunday, and signed right-hander Matt Bowman, 35, to a minor-league deal on Wednesday after he opted out of his minor-league contract with Toronto. Go is on Minnesota's 26-man roster, and the Twins assigned Bowman, who had been with the organization earlier in the year, to Triple-A St, Paul.
As of Thursday morning, the Royals are tied with the Twins for the worst bullpen ERA in the majors at 5.24. Both teams need bullpen help, but the Twins are still in the postseason race, while the Royals entered Thursday 8 1/2 games back of the final Wild Card spot. Since the Royals may just need pitchers to eat innings at this point, Topa seems to have a good shot at returning to the majors with the club.
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