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NEW YORK — The New York Mets' trade-deadline sell-off started late Thursday night when they dealt lefty reliever A.J. Minter to the Minnesota Twins for two prospects, according to people close to the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss a deal that had not yet been announced.
New York is landing prospects Bruin Agbayani and Billy Amick in the deal, which came ahead of MLB's trade deadline, set for Monday at 6 p.m. ET.
ESPN first reported the news.
A 19-year-old shortstop who bats left-handed, Agbayani is a name that will be familiar to Mets fans of a certain age. His father, Benny, played four of his five big-league seasons with the Mets, from 1998 to 2001. The elder Agbayani was a key part of the 2000 team that lost to the New York Yankees in the famed Subway Series.
Bruin Agbayani was drafted in the sixth round in 2025, with the 179th pick.
Minter, 32, has been one of the best late-game left-handed relievers for nearly a decade, wielding a hard fastball and one of baseball's best cutters. Most of that work was done with the Atlanta Braves, posting a 3.28 ERA over eight seasons while serving as a primary set-up man and occasional closer. He excelled in the postseason, especially during the club's run to the 2021 championship. He's posted a 2.88 ERA in the playoffs.
While Minter's effectiveness hasn't waned, a pair of serious injuries and some questionable peripherals follow him. He missed the end of the 2024 season because of surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip, then was out for 13 months because of surgery on his left lat in May 2025. Since returning from the lat procedure, his fastball velocity has dipped 2 mph and his strikeout rate has fallen back to league average. His walk rate has also plummeted, but he's unlikely to keep it quite as low as it is right now.
Minter is owed $3.3 million after Monday before becoming a free agent this offseason. The Mets are not paying down any of the remaining salary, said a person with knowledge of the situation.
Amick, the other prospect involved in the deal, was the Twins' second-round pick in 2024, out of the University of Tennessee. The 23-year-old third baseman has 23 home runs in 86 games at Double-A Wichita this year, with a .217 average and .338 on-base percentage.
Amick's calling card is his power. Evaluators like Agbayani generally as a hitter with some pop. Both players are expected to stay in the infield.
The trade deadline is supposed to contribute to a course correction for the last-place Mets and their fans, who both had such high hopes to begin the year. At 47-63, the Mets' .427 winning percentage is better than only two other teams in the National League — a great disappointment for a club that entered Thursday carrying the second-highest payroll in the majors, at about $374 million, per Cot's Contracts.
The Mets let stars such as Pete Alonso and Edwin DÃaz leave via free agency last offseason, and president of baseball operations David Stearns' plan to retool has missed the mark — at least in the short term. Now, at this year's deadline, he has a chance to further shape the team as he wants. But the next few days will be trying for Mets fans, as Stearns will likely send more talent away via trade.
Adding Minter should help the Twins negate the loss of lefty Anthony Banda, who suffered a season-ending lat injury in late June.
Banda, a key discovery late in spring training who was acquired after the Los Angeles Dodgers designated him for assignment, immediately developed into a leader in a Twins bullpen assembled on the fly after the club traded five relievers in July 2025. Though he struggled with velocity early, Banda began to flourish in early May and became a viable member of the back end of the Twins bullpen along with closer Yoendrys Gómez and rookie set-up man Andrew Morris.
Minter has a 3.18 career ERA while striking out 10.7 batters per nine over 382 2/3 innings. Though he missed time with the lat injury, Minter was very effective for the Mets, posting a 2.12 ERA in 34 innings over two seasons. He gives Twins manager Derek Shelton an additional left-hander who can handle both right-handed hitters and lefties.
Minter is the second reliever the Twins acquired this month following the July 10 trade for Tommy Nance from the Toronto Blue Jays. Since joining the Twins, Nance has a 2.84 ERA with three holds and six strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.
The Twins bullpen has a 4.92 ERA on the season, which ranks 23rd among teams in the league. But with Gómez and Morris on a roll, Twins relievers have settled in over the last month. Including three scoreless innings in Thursday's walk-off comeback victory, Twins relievers feature a 3.00 ERA in July with 77 strikeouts in 84 innings.
Though they've already made a pair of moves, a Twins source speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the team's thinking suggested more moves could come before Monday. Not only could the Twins use additional bullpen depth, but the team is also potentially seeking rotation help as rookie Connor Prielipp has never pitched more innings in his injury-plagued career.
Earlier this week, Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll identified his club as a buyer at a time when other teams aren't ready to declare their intentions. Doing so follows what Twins chairman Tom Pohlad said earlier this month: The team needed to be aggressive if it was in position to compete to win back fans and earn trust with players in the clubhouse after last year's fire sale.
