Twins reduce payroll with trade deadline fire sale
Among the many reasons the Twins decided to trade over one-third of their big-league roster was to reduce payroll. After winning a playoff series in 2023, the team still slashed payroll by $30 million for the 2024 season due to the team’s substantial debt, which was last reported to be upward of $425 million on March 24, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. The team ended up missing the playoffs last year after a late-season collapse, which likely could have been prevented if the team supplemented its 2023 core with more talent.
Even though they went on an impressive 13-game winning streak earlier this season, the Twins have continued their struggles that started late last year. Minnesota made some minor offseason signings in Harrison Bader, Danny Coulombe and Ty France (who are all now on other teams), but did not make any significant moves to improve after its shocking collapse the season before. The Twins’ front office attempted to run a competitive team without making any considerable offseason splashes and failed miserably.
On the bright side, once the Pohlads ultimately sell the team, the new ownership group will have plenty of room under the luxury tax to make some big signings. Hopefully, highly sought-after players will be enticed to join a Twins team with new leadership.
Now that the Twins have traded nearly half of their roster, let’s take a look at the team’s payroll.
Here is the 2025 Minnesota Twins payroll after stunning trade deadline moves
The Twins' 2025 payroll dropped from $147 million to $134 million after their flurry of trade deadline moves, according to FanGraphs' Jon Becker.
Trading Carlos Correa to the Houston Astros was the biggest payroll slasher of the Twins' recent trade deadline moves. Minnesota will still eat $33 million of Correa's remaining contract, but will end up saving $71 million in the process. Additionally, trading away Jhoan Duran likely saves the Twins money in future years, and the Louis Varland, Brock Stewart and Griffin Jax trades have the potential to do so as well.