The Minnesota Twins pledged to be buyers at the trade deadline and now have made their first move.
The Twins have reportedly agreed to acquire left-handed reliever A.J. Minter from the New York Mets, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported late on Thursday.
Infielder prospects Bruin Agbayani and Billy Amick will go back to the Mets in return.
Minter, 32, was in his second season with the Mets after eight seasons with Atlanta. He has a 2.35 ERA with 20 strikeouts and just two walks in 23 appearances out of the bullpen this season.
The Twins are one game back of a wild-card spot in the American League after a dramatic walk-off win over the Royals on Thursday afternoon, in which Kody Clemens erased a 3-0 deficit with a ninth-inning grand slam. The Twins are 7-6 since the all-star break.
On Tuesday, general manager Jeremy Zoll told reporters he was pleased with how his team has played and that he would be looking to add before Monday’s trade deadline.
“If we go back to Spring Training, we spent a lot of time talking about [how] our goal was to play meaningful games in September,” Zoll said. “We’re really excited about how the team has played over this last stretch. We’re really encouraged about that. In turn, we’re going to use this next stretch, this next week, to do everything we can to find ways to improve the club and continue to execute on that goal and make it a reality.”
The Mets, on the other hand, have been one of the more disappointing teams this season and are expected to offload multiple players before the deadline. Despite winning four of their last five, the Mets remain 10.5 games back in the National League wild-card race despite having the second-highest payroll in the majors.
Minter has a salary of $11 million this season and will be a free agent in the winter.
Amick was the No. 21 prospect in the Twins system while Agbayani was No. 29, according to MLB Pipeline.