About two weeks ago, the Minnesota Twins had already begun their fire sale as they shipped off starting pitcher Chris Paddack to the Tigers and closer Jhoan Duran to the Phillies as the MLB Trade Deadline on July 31st was fast approaching.

They were expected to be one of the sellers as they fell off a cliff and kept tumbling down following a hot month of May that saw them propel back into postseason contention with a 13-game winning streak.

That time of the season is now considerably far away, where the Twins at least then once everything cooled down had a plan to ship off players with expiring contracts.

There were a few expected players the team had put on the trade block: Utility Player Willi Castro, Outfielder Harrison Bader, First Baseman Ty France and some relievers to name a few. They had been in constant contact with several teams, including the Houston Astros, who had been interested in acquiring Castro given their influx of injuries.

However, one of the more interesting rumors that had begun popping up in the final week was a potential Carlos Correa trade that would send him back to Houston.

It was one that many reporters said was real but had no momentum, with there being some interest but the Twins not budging, until Brian McTaggart broke the news and reported that Correa would waive his no-trade clause and indeed be returning to the team that had drafted him first overall in the 2012 MLB Draft.

It was a shocking trade that would be one of the top headliners throughout the entire trade deadline.

Analyzing the Carlos Correa trade amidst the news of the Pohlad Family retaining majority ownership of the Twins

When it was all said and done, the Twins ended up trading 10 major league players at the deadline, completely reshaping the roster and money books.

But the obvious biggest player that was traded away was Correa. So what led to Minnesota departing with Correa for the second time?

The simple answer: they wanted some relief on the payroll. Correa had returned to Minnesota after opting out with a six year/$200 million contract that goes through 2028 with the potential of reaching 2033 with vesting and club options.

At the end of it all, Correa was owed about a remaining $104 million.

In return for Correa and even sending the Astros $33 million to help cover a portion of his contract, the Twins landed left-handed reliever Mike Mikulski, a 26-year-old whom the Astros had signed to a minor league contract back in mid-May, where he previously pitched in the Florida Complex League and High-A Asheville before the trade.

Most figured that the Twins were giving up Correa and nine other major leaguers solely so that the Pohlads, the current family who owns the Twins, would have some monetary relief so that they could ultimately begin the process of transitioning to a new ownership after decades of mediocrity and little investment even after the Twins won their first playoff game and series in 2023, especially after slashing payroll following the playoff run.

The Pohlads initially began exploring the idea of selling the team in October of 2024 after the Twins’ late-season collapse.

But now, after 10 months of searching and much anticipation, executive chair Joe Pohlad, on behalf of the Pohlad family, released a statement on August 13th that stated that the Twins would no longer be sold, but rather they would be adding two more minority owners into the mix.

While the players and management were certainly happy that the current ownership group would be staying, this left a rather unpleasant taste in fans’ mouths.

All of these trades were done with the expectation that the ownership would start a process of obtaining a new primary ownership group, as the Twins are currently dealing with a significantly large debt of $425 million.

But now, what’s the point if the current ownership, which hasn’t and won’t willingly invest in the team, isn’t going to sell the team after almost a year of leading on to begin with?

Along with the new minority owners coming into play soon, it was also reported that they would be getting significant capital that would help pay down the large debt. So there’s some good news there.

At the end of the day, Carlos Correa is no longer a Minnesota Twin. During Correa’s short Twins stint that lasted from 2022 to 2025, in 450 games, he slashed a .271/.345/.440 and had an OPS of .784, providing a WRC+ of 121 and one all-star appearance in 2024. He was having one of the worst seasons in his career this year with Minnesota as batted .267/.319/.386 with an OPS right at .704 before he was shipped out.

However, once he returned to Houston, he started seemingly batting once again. In this short sample size of two weeks, Correa is batting .364/.429/.545 with an OPS of .974, providing 16 hits, two home runs and seven RBI.

Meanwhile, Mikulski has appeared in three games so far in High-A Cedar Rapids. In 2 2/3 innings pitched, he’s pitched with a 10.13 ERA, along with a WHIP of 3.75 and one loss recorded.

It can be argued that this trade was pretty decent and made sense for both franchises. For the Twins, they dumped a massive salary off that would provide some needed financial relief and would somewhat open the Shortstop position to one of the many shortstop prospects they have sitting in their farm system.

As for Houston, they finally reunited with a longtime fan favorite with the hopes of fully cementing the dynasty for good with one more World Series title with the player that initially helped start the rebuild over a decade ago, whilst providing short-term relief due to injuries. They can certainly worry about roster management later when Issac Paredes returns next year.

In the end, Houston will ultimately be seen as the winner, which makes sense. But there are plenty of positives for Twins fans to look forward to in the future, maybe. But for now, it’s time to learn to stop worrying and love the bomb that’s unfolding in their eyes.