A.J. Minter, the veteran lefty brought in to be a key piece of the bullpen who spent most of his Mets tenure on the injured list, will try to fulfill that role with the Minnesota Twins. The lefty was acquired by Minnesota after the Mets’ 4-2 win over the Marlins, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.
The Twins will reportedly pick up the rest of Minter’s salary for the 2026 season, about $3.5 million, which saves the Mets about $8 million given the tax implications.
In return, the Mets received shortstop Bruin Agbayani and Billy Amick from the Twins, according to Will Sammon of the Athletic. Agbayani is the son of former Met Benny Agbayani, and was a sixth-round pick in the 2025 draft. The 19-year-old is currently slashing .263/.432/.316 in Single-A, though he has been out with an injury since May. He’s played only 25 pro games since the Twins drafted him in the sixth round last year.
At the time of the trade, MLB Pipeline had Amick ranked No. 21 in the Twins system and Agbayani at No. 29. Sam Dykstra of MLB Pipeline says Agbayani will slot in at No. 22 in the Mets system and Amick won’t be ranked.
Amick is the more advanced prospect of the two. The Tennessee product was the Twins’ second-round pick in 2024, and has slugged 23 homers in Double-A this season. That is seven more home runs than any player in the Mets farm system.
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The Mets signed Minter, 32, to a two-year, $22 million contract in January 2025, luring him away from the Braves, where he spent eight years striking out 10.9 batters per nine innings while posting a 3.14 ERA and saving 36 games.
The only red flag with Minter was that he had missed the end of his final season in Atlanta after having surgery to fix a torn labrum in his left hip. But sure enough, after 13 appearances covering 11 innings where he allowed two runs, Minter threw his last pitch of 2025 on April 26 against the Nationals. He underwent season-ending surgery on his left lat muscle.
The rehab delayed his debut this year until May 26, but once he was back on the mound he was a steady presence out of the bullpen again even as the team has gone through a disappointing season.
“The sad part is it feels like I didn’t do my job,” Minter told Max Goodman of NJ.com on July 20. “My job was to come here, be healthy and help this team win. I didn’t do both. It’s a sense of wishing it could be different.”
“If I do get traded,” he told Goodman, “my job is to help bring back as much talent as I can back here. That’s the least I can do. I want to go out there, keep shoving and hopefully I can give them a nice little prospect back.”
