Why the MN Twins Chose Not to Trade Chris Paddack… and How it Could Bite Them

This offseason was a weird one for the Minnesota Twins. The Pohlad family gave up on winning years ago, when they turned their focus to balancing the fiscal budget, which caused payroll and talent reductions, just to save the billionaires a quick buck.

And now, they’re selling. Longterm, that’s good news. But in the interim, it has the Pohlads even more sensitive toward spending. Because of their financial limitations, Twins president Derek Falvey pretty much ignored the free agent market for almost the entire offseason.

There were trade rumors that connected the Minnesota Twins to some intriguing talent on that market, but nothing ever materialized. At the time, we had a pretty good idea of the players Falvey was dangling out on the trade market.

In essence, the Twins were offering two of their depth veterans — SP Chris Paddack and C Christian Vazquez — both of whom the organization has pegged as overpaid for the roles they currently fill. Catcher Ryan Jeffers’ breakout 2024 season made the 34-year-old Vazquez expendable, especially for a team looking at ways to better allocate the $8 million he’s being paid in 2025.

The same can be said for starting pitcher Chris Paddack. His slot in the back of the Twins’ rotation was reserved going into Spring Training. But the organization’s impressive young starting depth at Triple-A St. Paul allowed Falvey to offer the 29-year-old “Sheriff” and his $7.5 million salary to interested trade partners.

Paddack signed a contract extension with the Minnesota Twins prior to the 2023 season, that was worth $12.53 million. This is the final year of that deal. Because of his injuries, the bulk of cash ($7.5 million) was pushed back into 2025. But for Falvey and the Twins, trading Chris Paddack wasn’t just about dumping salary.

Why the Minnesota Twins chose not to trade Chris Paddack

According to Minnesota Twins insider Aaron Gleeman (The Athletic) on the most recent “Gleeman and the Geek” podcast episode (Patreon subscribers only), the front office thought Paddack could bring back some intriguing talent, on top of some savings. Unfortunately, the offers Falvey would up receiving for the seven-year big leaguer did not allow the Twins to have their cake and eat it too.

While interested teams were willing to take on most, if not all of Paddack’s $7.5 million salary, they were not interested in sending talent along with the cash. That’s why, in the end, Twins decision makers decided not to move the 6’5″ righty out of Austin, TX.

“It is my understanding that the Twins decided that they weren’t going to trade Paddack just to shed the salary. He’s owed $7.5 million this year. They deemed him worth that money, or most of that money. It’s not that they didn’t have some level of trade interest.

They could have shed the whole salary, or at least the vast majority of it, but not gotten anything, or anything of substance in return…They were not closed to the idea of trading him, but it would have to be a “baseball trade.” It would have to be value coming back that we think is sufficient for Chris Paddack, setting aside the salary.”

Gleeman and the Geek

The Minnesota Twins got Chris Paddack as part of the shocking 2022 Opening Day trade that sent then closer Taylor Rodgers to the San Diego Padres, in exchange for Paddack and Emilio Pagan. At the time, Paddack was only two years removed from a rookie season where he pitched 140.2 innings with a 3.33 ERA, 0.981 WHIP and 3.95 FIP.

If Paddack’s struggles continue…

Now in his fourth year as a Twin, the Sheriff has undergone two Tommy John surgeries and has yet to pitch more than 88 innings in a season. That came in 2024, where he posted a 4.99 ERA (4.18 FIP) in 17 starts. That was an improvement on the 27.1 total innings he pitched in a Twins uniform between the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Three innings
Three homers
NINE RUNS!

The @WhiteSox! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/2YpcL69LTn

— MLB (@MLB) March 31, 2025

We don’t know if Chris Paddack will pitch the rest of the season in a Minnesota Twins uniform. But no matter who he is pitching for, he is throwing for his MLB life this summer. His season didn’t start off on the right foot. Paddack was blown up by the lowly Chicago White Sox on Monday, to the tune of 9 earned runs allowed on 8 hits in just 3.1 innings pitched. It was the Twins’ only loss of that three-game series.

Not only was that first start a bad sign for Chris, it makes the Twins front office look bad too. If he can’t rebound, the MN Twins would have to replace Paddack in the rotation, which would mean designating him for assignment and ultimately eating $7.5 million in salary that — had they dealt him in the offseason — could have been invested elsewhere.

Related: Randy Dobnak Lands Back in MN Twins Organization

With David Festa and Zebby Matthews waiting impatiently in St. Paul, along with all of the other high-end starting prospects the Saints have on roster, Paddack needs to turn things around this weekend vs the Astros. He’s going to have some leash early, but one has to imagine he burnt up about three games worth of that leash in his first disastrous start.