Orioles reportedly trading Dean Kremer to Twins for minor league OF Jhomnardo Reyes

What happened

The Minnesota Twins are reportedly set to receive starting pitcher Dean Kremer from the Baltimore Orioles, with minor league outfielder Jhomnardo Reyes heading back to Baltimore in exchange, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Dan Hayes of The Athletic subsequently reported Reyes as the player returning to the Orioles. Neither club had issued a formal announcement as of those reports.

The deal, as reported, adds a back-end starter to a Minnesota rotation that has been significantly thinned by injury and inexperience. Per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Kremer is expected to provide stability at the back of a staff that has needed exactly that.

Why it matters

The Twins' rotation situation heading into August is, to put it charitably, a project in progress. Season-ending injuries have struck Pablo López, Mick Abel, David Festa, and likely Paredes, per The Athletic's reporting — a list that would test the organizational depth of any club. What Minnesota has at the top of the staff is reasonably encouraging: Joe Ryan and Taj Bradley anchor the front end, and Bailey Ober can be expected to produce roughly league-average results, per the report. Below that, the picture gets considerably murkier.

Zebby Matthews has dealt with home run issues throughout his career, per The Athletic. He carries a 5.29 ERA on the season and entered his most recent start with a 5.64 mark across 38 big league appearances. Connor Prielipp, a rookie left-hander, has posted a 4.73 ERA over his first 14 career starts. Those are the innings Minnesota has been working with at the back of the rotation — and Kremer, per the report, is meant to address exactly that gap.

The move also arrives a day after Minnesota reportedly added left-handed reliever A.J. Minter from the New York Mets, per The Athletic, making this the second consecutive day the Twins have reportedly added to their pitching staff. The front office has been active in reshaping a rotation that, through no small amount of misfortune, looks very different than it did at the start of the year.

The numbers

The rotation figures reported by The Athletic tell their own story about why Minnesota moved. Matthews's 5.64 ERA across 38 big league appearances and Prielipp's 4.73 ERA over 14 career starts represent the current back-end reality. Kremer, described in the report as a back-end starter who provides stability, steps into that context.

Minnesota's overall record sits at 77-85 (.475), and the standings offer a useful frame for understanding what this move is and is not. The Twins are third in the AL Central, 8 games back in the division, and eliminated from both the division race and the Wild Card race — currently ranking 7th in the Wild Card standings, 7.0 games relative to the cut line. They enter the weekend on a one-game winning streak.

That context matters for how to read the Kremer addition. This is not a win-now deadline move aimed at a postseason push. It is a rotation stabilization effort for a club that still has a significant number of games to play and, at the moment, a back end of the staff posting marks in the mid-to-upper fours and fives.

Where the club stands

The Twins are 77-85 (.475), sitting third in the AL Central and eliminated from postseason contention. The schedule ahead offers no soft landings: Minnesota travels to Seattle to face the Mariners on Saturday, with Prielipp drawing the start against Logan Gilbert. Bradley follows on Sunday against George Kirby. The club then heads to Kansas City on Tuesday, where Ryan is the probable against Randy Dobnak.

That stretch — Prielipp against Gilbert, Bradley against Kirby, Ryan against Dobnak — is a reasonable snapshot of where the rotation stands right now. The top of the order gets its turns; the back end is precisely where the Kremer addition, per The Athletic's reporting, is meant to provide some steadiness for the remainder of the season.

General roster mechanics are worth noting here: under league rules, a pitcher moving in a trade must be placed on the 40-man roster to be available at the major league level, and any corresponding roster move would need to be made to accommodate him on the active roster. The specifics of how Minnesota handles that on their end have not been detailed in the reports.

What we don't know yet

The trade is reported, not formally announced by either club, so roster and 40-man implications remain unconfirmed. It is not yet clear when Kremer would be available to slot into the rotation, where exactly he fits in the current order of starts, or what the full transaction mechanics look like on either side.

The report describes Kremer as a back-end starter who provides stability, but specific terms beyond the player exchange — any cash considerations, assignment clauses, or other conditions — have not been reported by The Athletic or elsewhere. Reyes's minor league level and organizational standing in Baltimore have also not been detailed in the available reporting.

Whether his arrival means Matthews or Prielipp shifts to a different role is another thread that remains open.

What to watch

The most immediate question is where Kremer slots into the rotation and when he makes his first start for Minnesota. With Prielipp scheduled for Saturday and Bradley on Sunday, the next open turn in the order — and whether Kremer steps into it — is the operational detail to track over the next several days.

The Twins have now reportedly added two pitchers in two days. How the back-end innings are distributed among Kremer, Matthews, and Prielipp going forward will define what this stretch of the season looks like for a club that is playing out the string but clearly still making moves with purpose.

On the Baltimore side, Jhomnardo Reyes returns to the organization as a minor league outfielder. What role he plays in the Orioles' system, and at what level, is a thread worth following for those tracking the farm. Minor league returns in trades of this type often carry more organizational significance than the transaction line suggests — though the specifics of Reyes's standing in Baltimore's system have not been reported.