The Minnesota Twins Should Trade Starting Pitchers: A Strategic Move for a Stronger Roster
The Minnesota Twins are at a crossroads in their offseason strategy. With the departure of two of their most speculated-about players, Pablo López and Joe Ryan, the team must decide whether to trade these frontline arms or utilize them to strengthen their current roster. While reports from The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal suggest a potential downplay of López and Ryan's trade likelihood, the Twins should still consider trading surplus starting pitching to address their roster holes.
The Twins' rotation is projected to include Bailey Ober, Simeon Woods Richardson, and Taj Bradley, with the potential addition of Zebby Matthews, David Festa, Mick Abel, Andrew Morris, and Kendry Rojas. This depth provides the club with 10 major league-caliber starting pitchers, a strong foundation for their rotation. However, the organization faces deficiencies in multiple positions, particularly first base and the middle infield.
Instead of trading López or Ryan, the Twins should focus on trading Ober or inexperienced, high-upside arms like Matthews, Festa, or Abel. The return packages for these players would be less exciting, but the team could find itself in a win-win scenario by trading one or more, adding much-needed talent and depth while clearing up the logjam at the back end of the rotation.
Ober, in particular, is an intriguing trade chip. With an expected arbitration salary of $4.6 million, he is a low-cost veteran arm seeking to rebound from a poor season. The Twins could potentially swap him with the Baltimore Orioles for right-handed hitting first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who also had a lackluster 2025 campaign. However, Minnesota would likely seek a secondary piece in the trade.
Alternatively, the front office could flip Ober for multiple prospects, clearing roughly $5 million from the payroll and providing more spending flexibility. This money could be directed towards a position player like Miguel Andujar, Rhys Hoskins, or Isiah Kiner-Falefa, on a one-year contract. Given that Woods Richardson, Bradley, Matthews, Festa, and Abel are pre-arbitration players, trading them wouldn't provide the same savings potential, but the intent would be to net similar value.
The Twins' strength lies in their starting pitching, with frontline talent under multiple seasons of control and a surplus of high-upside depth. By trading Ober or other inexperienced arms, they can address holes on the position player side. The Twins have the depth to absorb the loss of one or more arms and should make an effort to increase their chances of making the postseason in 2026 by addressing their lack of well-rounded positional talent.
