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One Player the MN Twins are Supposedly Trading
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- One Player the MN Twins are Supposedly Trading
Matt Blewett-Imagn Images Matt Blewett-Imagn Images
The Minnesota Twins left Los Angeles losing a series in defeating fashion. Walked off during Wednesday's matinee, they return home with a 49-53 record . Short of going 5-1 in their next six games, they'll enter the trade deadline with a losing record.
The franchise has already indicated they will be serious sellers when that comes to the impending free agents. It's a bit more difficult to pry controllable pieces from teams, but Minnesota has six players they would move in a heartbeat.
Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Willi Castro , Harrison Bader , Chris Paddack , Ty France , and Christian Vazquez are all free agents at the end of the season. Any team asking on them won't have to part with much.
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Aaron Gleeman says Willi Castro is gone for Minnesota Twins
It's a pretty good bet to suggest that at least one of the impending free agents will be moved. Among them Willi Castro is the best all-around player. That's largely why The Athletic's Aaron Gleeman says he is the talent that will be with a new team.
"Castro is the best of the Twins' six impending free agents, each of whom figures to be very available. He can play anywhere defensively and he's a switch hitter with good speed and a .741 OPS over three seasons in Minnesota, making him a smooth fit in almost any lineup. Castro was an All-Star last season and he's having an even better 2025, so the 28-year-old should have plenty of suitors."
Last season when Castro was named an All-Star he owned a .247/.331/.385 slash line (101 OPS+). Of course he tailed off in the second half and that's partly why he wound up being roughly league average.
This season Castro has a .257/.346/.429 slash line (112 OPS+) and has remained every bit as reliable on the utility front. He is capable of playing both the infield and outfield, and can be an asset in the lineup. Essentially he's a guy who could help every single team looking to compete.
Willi Castro has a homer off a lefty this season. pic.twitter.com/YtWZEl0ZrN
— Ted (@tlschwerz) June 4, 2025
Castro was signed after being released by the Detroit Tigers . He is still just 28 years old, and is making just $6.4 million during his final year of arbitration. Castro isn't a candidate to receive a qualifying offer, and theoretically the Twins could sign him to a deal in free agency this offseason.
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For now he's the exact type of player that you should be looking to move and generate multiple bidders upping the price against one another.
What can MN Twins get for Willi Castro?
The New York Yankees just traded for Colorado Rockies infielder Ryan McMahon . His 88 OPS+ is worse than Castro's, he doesn't play the outfield, and he is making $12 million this season with $32 million on the books through 2027.
They were the 8th and 21st best prospects in the Yankee organization, according to MLB Pipeline https://t.co/bvmvoZQt2m
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 25, 2025
That looks like something of a salary dump by the Rockies, and New York stopped short of going after a more talented player like Eugenio Suarez . Like the Diamondbacks third basemen, Castro is a rental. He isn't in the same realm offensively (149 OPS+) but makes less than half of Suarez's $15 million.
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Minnesota should be able to get a couple of solid prospects for Castro, if not someone on the fringe of either readiness or top 100 consideration. He checks too many boxes for competing teams, and that's something other front offices should be lining up to acquire.
As Gleeman notes, it seems like Castro has less than six days left on the Minnesota Twins active roster.
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