Jhoan Duran came to the Minnesota Twins as a 20-year old prospect from the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of a package for infielder Eduardo Escobar at the 2018 trade deadline.
Seven years later, Duran is again on the move at the trade deadline, as the Twins are selling off again, though this time he is the headliner in the deal.
The Twins are trading their hard-throwing closer in the midst of what is potentially the best season of his career on Wednesday evening to the Philadelphia Phillies, a source confirmed. In return, they are landing catching prospect Eduardo Tait and right-handed pitcher Mick Abel.
When Duran, 27, acknowledged the possibility of a trade just about an hour before news broke, he expressed sadness over the idea of leaving the Twins organization.
“That’d be hard,” Duran said of a potential trade just hours before he was sent to Philadelphia. “I got a couple years here, and I feel like here is my family. So if that happens, that’s maybe breaking my heart a little bit.”
The reliever was considered the best available on the trade market, particularly after Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave earlier this week as Major League Baseball investigates whether he violated its gambling policy.
Duran, who has a 2.01 earned-run average and 53 strikeouts across 49 1/3 innings this season, debuted in 2022 and has been among the best relievers in the game since. He has become a fan favorite at Target Field over the past four seasons for good reason.
The Twins’ asking price for Duran, who still has two years of team control remaining after 2025, was said to be two top-100 prospects. They appear to have gotten that with both Tait (No. 56) and Abel (No. 92) included on MLB Pipeline’s list.
Tait, an 18-year-old catcher, is currently hitting .255 with a .753 OPS and 11 home runs across Class-A and Class-A Advanced this season. Abel, 23, was the Phillies’ first-round selection in the 2020 draft and debuted this season. He has started six games as a major leaguer this year and has a 5.04 earned-run average. He has performed well at Triple-A, with a 2.31 ERA and 81 strikeouts across 74 innings.
The move is the second in what is expected for the Twins to be a busy deadline — all trades must be completed by 5 p.m. CDT on Thursday. The Twins, who are 51-57 and have lost all four series they’ve played since the all-star break, traded starting pitcher Chris Paddack to Detroit on Monday.
Paddack, along with five others — Willi Castro, Harrison Bader, Danny Coulombe, Ty France and Christian Vázquez — are free agents at season’s end, making them the most likely to be moved.
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