The Blue Jays are acquiring reliever Louis Varland and first baseman Ty France from the Twins, according to Mitch Bannon of The Athletic. Lefty Kendry Rojas and outfielder Alan Roden will head to the Twins in the deal, adds Bannon. The Twins went well beyond expectations as sellers at the 2025 deadline, having also dealt Carlos Correa, Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Willi Castro, Danny Coulombe, Brock Stewart, Harrison Bader, and Chris Paddack.
Varland qualifies as an unexpected trade, given that he’s under team control through 2030. The Twins dealt all five of their high-leverage relievers this month, Varland included. The 27-year-old righty is in the midst of a breakout season, spending the entire year in the Twins’ bullpen and posting a 2.02 ERA in 49 innings. That’s come with a 23.9 K%, 6.6 BB%, and greatly improved 54.5% groundball rate. Working entirely as a reliever, Varland’s velocity has soared to an average of 98.1 miles per hour.
The Blue Jays landed five-plus years of what looks like a very good setup man in Varland, though they could consider moving him back to the rotation in the future. Varland comes from strong bloodlines, as his older brother Gus has pitched in the Majors for the Brewers, Dodgers, and White Sox. Louis was drafted by the Twins in the 15th round in 2019 out of Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Varland made his MLB debut in 2022, and began last season as a member of the Twins’ rotation. That lasted only five turns, plus some spot starts. By September of last year, Varland had moved into more of a traditional relief role, and has since found his first sustained MLB success.
Given that he won’t even be arbitration eligible until 2027, the Blue Jays have plenty of time to decide his long-term role. They will have some rotation openings next year given the impending free agencies of Max Scherzer, Chris Bassitt, and Eric Lauer. For now, Varland can slot in alongside new bullpen addition Seranthony Dominguez behind closer Jeff Hoffman.
France, 31, joined the Twins in February on a $1MM free agent deal. He’s logged the vast majority of the Twins’ innings at first base this year, posting a subpar 92 wRC+ in 387 plate appearances. A righty batter, France has not done particularly well against lefties or righties over the last two seasons. With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. locked in at first base and George Springer (and perhaps eventually Anthony Santander) typically handling DH duties, France seems set for a modest bench role in Toronto.
More to come…