New-look Twins look to regroup after trade deadline ‘reset’

CLEVELAND — A full-fledged meet and greet was the first order of business for the Minnesota Twins upon their arrival at the ballpark Friday.

Making nine trades and jettisoning nearly 40% of their team before the deadline the previous day meant there were plenty of new faces in the visiting clubhouse when the Twins began their three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians.

Minnesota’s sell-off included standout shortstop Carlos Correa, closer Jhoan Duran and four high-leverage relievers who were several years away from free agency, including St. Paul native Louis Varland.

“It’s a hard pill to swallow, but maybe a reset was needed,” catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “We were curious to see how far the front office would go, and they decided to go really far.

“The dominos just kept falling. It just kept coming. It felt like it never ended.”

Just two years ago, the Twins won the American League Central Division title and advanced to the division series. It turned out to be the high point of their post-pandemic era as they missed the playoffs in 2024 and are currently six games out of the final American League wild-card position.

“A lot of guys who were on our ’23 run aren’t here anymore because of the trades, so that hurt,” pitcher Bailey Ober said. “The business side of baseball sometimes shows its ugly face sometimes. It was surreal watching what happened.”

Ober was one of 10 players who spent Thursday together in a room in the team’s downtown Cleveland hotel, keeping track of the league-wide activity. The upbeat mood changed when several of them received phone calls from Twins president Derek Falvey, telling them they were on the move.

Manager Rocco Baldelli and Ober said no one took the news worse than hometown product Varland, an emerging reliever who was under team control through 2030.

“It was hardest on Lou and I don’t think it’s close,” Baldelli said. “He loves the organization and he loves being close to his family. Yeah, he took it hard.”

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