Traded MN Twins Pitcher Demoted to Bullpen

The Minnesota Twins sent a bunch of players packing at the trade deadline because the 2025 team flopped. They were 51-57 and there was no end in sight.

The first move they made, a few days prior to the trade deadline itself, was to move veteran starter Chris Paddack. He is an impending free agent, but they didn’t guard him from the division itself either.

Detroit came knocking and Minnesota was fine with sending The Sherriff to the Motor City. He’s already pitched against Minnesota twice, and things didn’t go well.

Chris Paddack headed to Detroit bullpen

For the Detroit Tigers, Chris Paddack has made six starts. Two of them came against the Minnesota Twins and his former team broke out the belt to the tune of 12 runs and five homers in just 9 2/3 innings. After a lackluster outing against the Kansas City Royals, manager A.J. Hinch decided he had seen enough.

The Tigers are moving Chris Paddack to the bullpen starting tonight

— Cody Stavenhagen (@CodyStavenhagen) September 2, 2025

The timing is a bit interesting. While Paddack has thrown batting practice to the Twins, he was largely fine in the other four starts. His debut was a six inning outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks and he gave up just a single run.

He got lit up at home by Minnesota, but then shut down the White Sox over 5 2/3 innings. After getting bludgeoned at Target Field, he responded with a five inning outing against Kansas City. That was just a one-run start. On August 29th Paddack made his most recent start and went just 3 2/3 innings allowing three runs on five hits. He threw just 58 pitches before getting the heave ho.

Brooks Lee GRAND SLAM against Chris Paddack! The Twins have hit Paddack well both times they've faced him since trading him pic.twitter.com/6wneJD6tnW

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 17, 2025

Paddack is a competitor, and he holds himself to a high standard. The results just haven’t been there this season, and it was surprising he was a prioritized trade acquisition in the first place.

A.J. Hinch pulls the plug on former MN Twins starter

While the overall numbers are inflated by two bad starts against the Twins, he still owns a 5.40 ERA (6.16 FIP) across 30 innings. Hinch knows enough about winning big games, and where he wants the Tigers to go, that he had seen enough.

Now Paddack goes to the bullpen. It’s a place he didn’t want to be in Minnesota, and not somewhere that bodes well for his future starting contract considerations. With Detroit though, it’s the place he needs to be if he wants to compete in the postseason at all.

Related: Twins Ace Nearing Return; Veteran Catcher Trying

The Tigers are among baseball’s best teams. Tarik Skubal is going to win a second straight AL Cy Young Award, and will start the biggest games in the postseason. Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize can also be assumed for starting roles. Paddack and Charlie Morton aren’t of that caliber, and it may have been deemed time to make the change.

No matter what, it’s been a mediocre year at best, and a bad one at worst for Paddack. He’ll hit free agency this offseason, but the line of suitors shouldn’t expected to be long, or lucrative.