The biggest thing the Minnesota Twins gained from trading Carlos Correa to the Houston Astros was the fact that the Astros are absorbing a majority of the remaining money owed to Correa. The Twins are kicking in $33MM, but the Astros will be on the hook for nearly $70MM. It was a salary dump for the Twins, which is why they only got a low-level pitching prospect in exchange for Correa.
While the Twins dumping Correa's salary does match with the other moves they've done, tearing down their Major League roster as they reset their competitive timeline, the deal with the Astros almost had a completely different look to it.
In his original postmortem of the trade deadline, USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported that the Astros wanted to trade veteran first baseman Christian Walker to the Twins as part of the Correa trade.
"The Twins had the opportunity to acquire Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker in their Carlos Correa trade talks, but passed, not wanting to take on the two years and $40 million left on his contract. It’s possible Walker is shopped this winter to make room for Isaac Paredes at first base."
That reporting makes sense with the other moves the Twins made ahead of the deadline. The Twins stripped down their roster, and adding Walker wouldn't have made sense for a team engaged in a full rebuild. However, Nightengale updated his reporting, suggesting it was the Twins who wanted Walker to be involved in the deal.
Carlos Correa trade reveal shows Twins were this close to a wild alternate return
The Minnesota Twins were the ones who brought up Christian Walker in the Carlos Correa trade talks. The Astros declined. https://t.co/Qv3mjsU1XI
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 3, 2025
Other than Walker's contract being included as a way to balance out the money that was exchanged, it doesn't make too much sense for the Twins to want Walker. Turning 35 next season with $20MM owed to him in each of the next two seasons, that's not aligned with a team that had a fire sale at the deadline.
All things being equal, the Twins made it well for the situation they were in---trading Correa. They found a team to take on most of his remaining money, and their books are mostly clean. If Correa was going to be traded, this was the best possible outcome.