Late Thursday night, the Minnesota Twins acquired left-hander A.J. Minter from the New York Mets. While Minter is no Mason Miller by any means, ESPN's Jeff Passan described the southpaw as "one of the top relievers on the market." In May, Minter returned from a long IL stint dating back to early last season and has since recorded a 2.35 ERA over 23 innings.
Trade news: The Minnesota Twins are acquiring left-handed reliever A.J. Minter from the New York Mets, sources tell ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 31, 2026
The Mets’ selling starts with one of the top relievers on the market. There will be many more Mets deals to come before Aug. 3.
To get Minter, the Twins surrendered two infield prospects: Billy Amick and Bruin Agbayani. Both are solid prospects but didn't rank among Minnesota's top 20 per MLB Pipeline. Even though both were ranked, the fact that they were ranked as low as they are means the Twins didn't have to surrender much to acquire a reliever who will likely join Andrew Morris and Yoendrys Gómez as one of the club's late-innings arms.
It's also interesting to note that the Twins are paying the rest of Minter's salary. Minter, who is set to be a free agent at the end of the season, is still owed $3.3 million. For an organization known to be "cheap" lately, paying a reliever over $3 million for only a couple of months is a bit surprising.
Interesting tidbit on the A.J. Minter trade from @WillSammon. The #MNTwins are taking on the entirety of Minter’s remaining $3.3m salary. https://t.co/RnwB9Z0cUL pic.twitter.com/x5Xzndpf9s
— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) July 31, 2026
But by paying that much for Minter, the Twins were able to get away with barely denting their farm system to acquire a much-needed high-leverage reliever.
More about new Mets prospects Billy Amick, Bruin Agbayani
The Twins selected Amick in the second round of the 2024 MLB Draft out of the University of Tennessee. He is listed as a third and first baseman.
Amick is known for his power. In 86 games with Double-A Wichita this season, he has slashed .217/.338/.482 with 23 home runs, 14 doubles and 72 RBI. While he has displayed a strong ability to draw walks and hit for power, his low batting average and the fact that he has struck out 108 times in 379 plate appearances are reasons to believe he may not pan out as a big leaguer.
Agbayani, the son of a Mets folk hero, was selected in the sixth round of last year's MLB Draft from St. Louis High School. He can play shortstop and second and third base. The infielder has appeared in just 10 games with Single-A Fort-Myers this year. He has shown elite plate discipline in those games, with a .412 on-base percentage, but doesn't appear to be much of a power threat, recording a .342 slugging percentage.
Add us as a preferred source on Google