The Orioles are cleaning house before the deadline, and Dean Kremer is the latest name out the door. Multiple insiders had the deal locked in within minutes of each other Friday night, which tells you how fast this front office is moving.
Twins acquiring RHP Dean Kremer from the Orioles, source tells The Athletic.
Kremer had been a steady rotation piece in Baltimore since 2022, racking up 106 starts with a 3.95 ERA over four seasons. This year hasn't been kind to him, though — a 6.50 ERA and 12 homers allowed in just 36 innings across seven starts, including a brutal stretch of 20 runs over his last four outings after coming back from a quad injury. Still under club control through 2027, he's exactly the kind of buy-low reclamation arm a team like Minnesota, dealing with rotation injuries to Pablo López, Mick Abel and David Festa, would gamble on.
Jon Heyman and Mark Feinsand both confirmed the framework almost simultaneously, and it wasn't long before the full return came into focus.
The Orioles get OF Jhomnardo Reyes from the Twins for Kremer, per source. Reyes is the Twins’ No. 24 prospect according to @MLBPipeline.
Jhomnardo Reyes is the return — an 18-year-old outfielder who was Minnesota's No. 24 prospect per MLB Pipeline, hitting.275 with 7 homers, 46 RBIs and 17 steals split between rookie ball and Single-A this year. That's the kind of low-minors lottery ticket teams stockpile when they're not trying to win right now, and Baltimore has been doing plenty of that. Ken Rosenthal also flagged the money angle, noting the Twins are absorbing the roughly $1.7 million left on Kremer's deal — on top of taking on Minter's remaining $3.37 million from a separate trade — with new control person Tom Pohlad reportedly giving Minnesota some extra payroll room to work with.
Kremer is owed ~$1.7M the rest of this season. Twins took on balance of Minter’s salary as well - ~$3.37M. New control person Tom Pohlad providing payroll flexibility.
For the Twins, this is less about a splashy upgrade and more about staying alive. Minnesota entered the weekend 3.5 games back of a surging White Sox club in the AL Central, and manager Derek Shelton has been talking up Kremer's raw stuff even through the ugly numbers. It's a modest, buy-mode move from a team that was selling assets a year ago — a reminder of how quickly contention windows can flip in this division.
For Baltimore, it's just another log on the fire. The Orioles have been stripping the roster down piece by piece, and dealing a fifth starter for a teenage power prospect fits the pattern — stockpile upside, worry about the big-league roster later.