The New York Mets began their sell-off on Thursday night.
The Mets traded left-handed relief pitcher A.J. Minter to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for minor league prospects Billy Amick and Bruin Agbayani.
ESPN's Jeff Passan was the first to report the deal and The Athletic's Will Sammon had the return.
One rival scout that I spoke with gave a rave review of the Mets' prospect return from the Twins.
"Mets crushed that deal," the scout said. "Both those guys are good."
"Agbayani is a real player. Hurt right now, but great hands and a pro hitter. (The deal was a) steal for the Mets," the scout added.
Agbayani, the son of Mets' folk hero Benny Agbayani, is a middle infielder and was the Twins' No. 29 ranked prospect. The Twins drafted him in the sixth-round of the 2025 MLB draft.
Agbayani has 15 career games played in A-ball and a .263/.432/.316 slash line and .748 OPS.
As for Amick, the Twins' second-round pick in 2024, he's having a big year in Double-A with 23 home runs, 72 RBI and an .820 OPS. Amick was the Twins' No. 21 overall ranked prospect in their farm system.
Regarding the Twins, they said that they were going to be buyers ahead of the August 3 MLB trade deadline and acquiring Minter signals just that.
Minter, 32, had a 2.35 ERA and 20 strikeouts across 23 innings pitched for the Mets this season. The left-hander will undoubtedly upgrade a struggling Twins' bullpen.
Minter was in his second season as Met after signing a two-year, $22 million deal in the 2024-2025 offseason. His first season with the Mets was cut short due to a torn left lat muscle that required surgery.
The lefty spent the first eight years of his career with the Atlanta Braves, where he compiled a 3.28 ERA.
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The Twins are 55-55 on the season and just one game out of the third and final wild-card spot in the American League. Minnesota's bullpen has a 4.92 ERA as a unit, which is 27th in MLB. The addition of Minter should help this group.
The Mets, who just traded Minter, should be selling off more players in the coming days, including Freddy Peralta, Clay Holmes, Brooks Raley, Luis Robert Jr., Tyrone Taylor and possibly Luke Weaver and Huascar Brazoban.
