The Twins are getting in on the action. On the same day as the qualifying offer deadline, Minnesota has made a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Twins will send Jacob Kisting to the Rays, and they will acquire relief pitcher Eric Orze. For a bullpen that needs a lot of help, this is a move in the right direction. But considering this is a trade with the Rays, an organization that has seen several pitchers get injured, it could also come with a risk. Still, it's a trade to be excited about.
#MNTwins sent pitcher Jacob Kisting to Tampa Bay in exchange for reliever Eric Orze.
— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) November 18, 2025
Tampa Bay Rays trade relief pitcher Eric Orze to the Minnesota Twins
Orze, a 6-foot-4, 28-year-old right-hander, made his MLB debut with the New York Mets in 2024, but was sent to Florida as part of the Jose Siri trade one year ago. Orze pitched 1.2 innings that season, but he became a bigger part of the Rays' staff in 2025.
Across 41.2 frames with Tampa Bay, Orze appeared in 33 games, logging a 3.02 ERA with three saves. He produced a 40:19 K:BB, and 26 of his outings went scoreless. Orze is mainly a split-finger pitcher. He threw that pitch almost half the time while mixing in a slider and four-seam fastball evenly.
This marks the Twins' first player transaction this offseason, which could signify that they are ready to spend some money to continue to build a winning roster. Minnesota has revamped its coaching staff, which is ideally a hopefully first step in the right direction for a better 2026 campaign.
On Tuesday, the Twins also selected the contracts of six players to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft next month: Kendry Rojas, Connor Prielipp, Andrew Morris, John Klein, Gabriel Gonzalez, and Henry Mendez. It's been an exciting start to the offseason already, but there is plenty of more work for this organization to do.