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The 2026 Major League Baseball trade deadline has come and gone. Tom Pohlad talked about a desire to be aggressive for months,then empowered GM Jeremy Zoll to be semi-aggressive in the days and weeks leading up to August 3.
Since mid-July, Minnesota has added a trio of relievers to a bullpen in desperate need of help. They also got a depth starter to help bolster a rotation that cannot stay healthy.
What the Minnesota Twins didn’t do, is trade away any of their big leaguers. While they tried to trade Trevor Larnach, until Astros owner Jim Crane vetoed the deal last minute, Zoll never really got close to dealing starting catcher, Ryan Jeffers, who is due to hit free agency this offseason.
So… what’s next for Ryan Jeffers and the Minnesota Twins? Well, they have a few different options. They could sign him to a new deal this offseason, one of which would probably cost $20 million per year.
Minnesota Twins plan to extend Ryan Jeffers a qualifying offer
Unless Major League Baseball installs a salary cap floor that the Twins must reach, extending Jeffers probably isn’t going to happen. The other options are to either, let him walk to free agency OR, under the current CBA, Minnesota can extend a qualifying offer.
A qualifying offer this offseason would pay him roughly $24 million in 2027, on a one-year deal, should he accept. If he rejects the qualifying offer, the Minnesota Twins would get draft pick compensation (top 50 pick) when he hits free agency.
And according to Dan Hayes (The Athletic), that’s exactly what is expected to happen. The Twins will extend Jeffers a qualifying offer at the end of the season, a QO that their starting catcher will reject.
However, by making him a qualifying offer, one team source close to Jeffers said the catcher would reject, the Twins would at least receive a compensatory draft pick when he departs via free agency. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because no offer has been made yet.
Related: Tom Pohlad Promises Higher MN Twins Payroll Going Forward
A former second round pick, Jeffers is playing the final year of his rookie contract, making $6.7 million. Despite suffering a hamate bone injury that cost him two months worth of games, Jeffers is enjoying a career year. Through 53 games the 29-year-old backstop is batting .283 with an .887 OPS and 10 home runs.
This offseason, Ryan Jeffers will be looking for his first long-term deal and first massive payday. There’s one reason why none of this is set in stone, however, and that is the impending MLB lockout.
Owners want a salary cap and players adamant against it, priming the baseball world for what’s expected to be a work-stoppage. When games eventually resume, who knows what the CBA will look like or if qualifying offers will still exist.
Could MN Twins extend Ryan Jeffers?
With that being said, the Minnesota Twins will have to extend Jeffers his qualifying offer this winter, before the CBA ends on November 1. More than likely, any transactions that happen before then (including a Jeffers QO) is expected to be grandfathered into the new CBA, no matter what the rules end up being.
Going into the trade deadline, there may have been an opportunity for the Minnesota Twins to extend Ryan Jeffers. That’s only if they had dealt Victor Caratini, who is signed to a two-year, $20 million contract. Had he been dealt, then a three or four year extension for Jeffers may have made sense.
The first XBH in the career of Vahn Lackey! ⚾️ 💪 #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/uyIEjbR5HC
— Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (@MightyMussels) August 4, 2026
With Caratini in tow, however, it seems almost impossible the Minnesota Twins would commit $20 million or more to another catcher. Plus, they just drafted catcher Vahn Lackey with the third overall pick in the 2026 MLB Draft. He is expected to be the future at catcher, and shouldn’t take more than a couple of seasons to reach the big leagues.
Mentioned in this article: MLB Free Agency Ryan Jeffers
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