The Twins and Blue Jays are in agreement on a deal sending righty Jeff Hoffman from Toronto to Minnesota, per Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. Minnesota sends three minor leaguers back the other way, Mitch Bannon of The Athletic reports: lefty Dasan Hill, righty John Klein and infielder Dameury Pena. Minnesota is paying the rest of this year’s $11MM salary, but the Jays are kicking in some money to cover part of next year’s identical $11MM salary, per Dan Hayes of The Athletic.
Hoffman, 33, is the third reliever the Twins have added via the trade market this month, joining Tommy Nance (earlier in the month) and A.J. Minter (late last week). Hoffman is the most impactful of the bunch — a late-game fixture for the Phillies and Blue Jays over the past several seasons. He’ll presumably step into the ninth inning for the Twins and serve as Minnesota’s primary closer moving forward, nudging waiver gem Yoendrys Gómez into a setup role.
Hoffman was actually with the Twins in spring training of the 2023 season. He had an impressive camp but was cut loose from what was then a deeper, much stronger bullpen mix. He latched on with the Phillies, who selected him to the roster a big more than a month into the season, and went on to enjoy a full-fledged breakout. In 2023-24, Hoffman gave the Phils 118 2/3 innings of 2.28 ERA ball with plus strikeout and ground-ball rates. He used that big showing to parlay a minor league deal into a three-year, $33MM pact in free agency.
It’s been an odd run with the Jays for Hoffman. He posted a 4.37 ERA in 68 innings last year as his home run rate exploded to a career worst level (1.99 HR/9). After seeing a ridiculous 20% of his fly-balls last season turn into home runs, Hoffman’s homer-to-flyball rate has regressed to 11.1% — right in line with the league average 11.7%.
However, Hoffman’s average on balls in play has skyrocketed from .248 last year to .389 this season. As such, he’s still sitting on a pedestrian-looking 3.94 ERA despite a huge 34.9% strikeout rate, a sharp 8.4% walk rate and a strong 46.1% grounder rate. Hoffman’s 16.8% swinging-strike rate is the sixth-highest mark among the 300 big league pitchers who’ve pitched at least 40 innings, trailing only Mason Miller, Dylan Lee, Jacob Misiorowski, Tanner Scott and Andrés Muñoz.
The Twins are surely banking on Hoffman’s immense swing-and-miss repertoire bolstering the back of the ‘pen while his home-run rates and BABIP struggles even out. They’ll take on $3.37MM in 2026 salary to make that bet, plus a yet-unspecified amount in 2027. They’ll also part with one of their top pitching prospects (Hill), a big-league ready depth arm (Klein), and a lower-level infield roll of the dice (Pena).
Hill, 20, drew some love as a back-end top-100 prospect earlier this season. The big 6’5″ lefty was Minnesota’s Competitive Balance (Round B) pick in 2024, going 69th overall. Hill posted a 3.19 ERA with huge strikeout and walk rates last year. Both of those rates have increased in 2026, with Hill fanning just over 35% of opponents but also issuing walks at an unacceptable 17.2% clip.
Baseball America still ranked Hill eighth in a good Twins system on last month’s midseason update. He has a changeup, sweeper and curveball that can all miss bats, giving him the potential for four average or better offerings when also considering his mid/upper-90s heater. However, Hill’s command has been a persistent problem. Beyond this year’s 17.2% walk rate, he’s plunked four batters and thrown six wild pitches in 45 frames.
If the Jays can improve Hill’s command by a half or even full grade, he’d be one of the better left-handed pitching prospects in the sport. Given the ceiling, they might already think he’s worthy of that designation. Hill’s ultimate upside could be that of a high-end starter, but it’s common to see pitchers this long and lanky struggle to repeat their mechanics (and thus have sustained command problems). On the flip side, even if he’s bullpen-bound when all is said and done, Hill has a chance to be a quality late-inning lefty.
Klein, 24, ranks at the back end of the Twins’ top 30. He’s pitched 4 1/3 big league frames but spent the bulk of the season in Triple-A, where has has a 5.91 ERA in 64 frames. He’s split time between the rotation and bullpen, working multiple innings even in relief. Klein sits 94.5 mph with his four-seamer and mixes in a cutter, changeup and curveball that all fall between 80 mph and 86 mph, velocity-wise. He can run that heater up to 97 mph and has typically shown decent command, but he doesn’t miss enough bats with his secondary offerings. He’s a potential middle reliever or depth starter, depending on what the Jays can coax out of breaking pitches.
Pena, 21 next month, has split the season between two Class-A levels and posted a gaudy average and OBP without any power of which to speak. He’s hitting .300/.373/.362 with more walks (9.1%) than strikeouts (7%). He’s playing second base right now but draws concerns about a lack of a true plus position on the field. That profile, coupled with his original organization, might prompt some comparisons to Luis Arraez, but despite the low strikeout rate, Pena’s hit tool isn’t nearly as well regarded. He’s swiped 20 bags this season, showing decent speed, but has also been caught 11 times.