The Minnesota Twins have shuffled the left side of their infield in recent weeks. Brooks Lee has taken over as the Twins’ third baseman and the combination of Ryan Kreidler, Tristan Gray and Orlando Arcia are holding down shortstop until top prospect Kaelen Culpepper is ready for his major league debut. All of this has injected excitement into the team, but also brings questions about the future of Royce Lewis.
Lewis was sent to Triple-A St. Paul one week ago and nobody seems to know when (or if) he’ll be back in a Twins uniform. Unless the Twins do something drastic, Lewis’s time in Minnesota could be over and it could lead to a trade to the Boston Red Sox.
The Red Sox are looking for offense as they make plans for the trade deadline and while it’s two months away, things seem urgent as Boston sits in last place in the American League East and it could pave the way for the Twins to trade for Lewis.
“We’ve been aggressive in terms of outreach and trying to identify players that we think can help us,” Red Sox president of baseball operations Craig Breslow said to The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey. “Obviously, we’ve talked about the fact that the league is very compressed and there’s a bunch of teams – despite poor performance – who are still in it. The other side of that there are other teams in the league who have not played well that otherwise could think about moving players and are saying ‘Hey, we’re not that far out of it.”
Red Sox could be Twins’ perfect trade partner if they’ve given up on Royce Lewis
Armed with a 23-31 record, the Red Sox need help immediately. But there may not be a lot of teams willing to give up talent at this point of the season. Entering Thursday, 15 teams were within six games of the final Wild Card spot in their respective league, and that includes the Twins, who are currently holding onto the final playoff spot in the AL before their series finale against the Chicago White Sox.
But the Twins may have a unique situation brewing with Lewis. With Lee at first base and shortstop seemingly filled, Lewis’s path back to the majors may be blocked. While a move to first base could be in play, it also is unlikely due to Lewis’s reluctance to switch positions in the past and his comments suggesting that the organization is cheering for him to fail.
With that, the relationship between Lewis and the organization may be strained and it could make him available on the trade block despite the Twins being firmly in contention.
If that’s the case, the Red Sox would be a team interested in striking a deal. Boston lost Alex Bregman to the Chicago Cubs in free agency last winter and his replacement, Caleb Durbin, is hitting .163/.241/.238 with eight homers, 27 RBI and 10 stolen bases in 48 games. Former Twin Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Nick Sogard have also spent time at third base, but it hasn’t helped as Red Sox third basemen own a collective OPS of .544 that’s the second-worst in MLB behind the Cincinnati Reds (.519).
Lewis’s 2026 season doesn’t indicate that he could help the cause, hitting .163/.261/.279 with three homers, 13 RBI and three stolen bases in 31 games before his demotion. But he’s looked like a different player since the move to St. Paul, going 7-for-24 (.291) with four homers and six RBI in six games.
If the Red Sox think they can get Lewis back to his 2023 form and the Twins are done with Lewis, there could be a trade in the works. Although there’s some blow-up potential, Minnesota could also capitalize on Boston’s desperation, perhaps targeting utilityman Kristian Campbell as a fellow buy-low candidate or pitching prospects Anthony Eyanson or Kyson Witherspoon.
It traces to a pair of trade partners that would make sense for a trade and could give Lewis an unceremonious ending to his time in Minnesota.
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