Rays Trade Struggling Pitcher to Twins In Exchange for Cash

The Tampa Bay Rays have traded one of their pitchers to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for cash.

Sep 26, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; The hat and glove of Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero (13) in the dugout during the game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. | John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

The Tampa Bay Rays have recently pulled off a trade with the Minnesota Twins to send a recently designated-for-assignment pitcher to them in exchange for cash. 

With the fantastic start to the season, there have been plenty of positives for the Rays so far, as expected, with one of the best records in baseball. The team has seen some excellent performances from the top of their lineup with their talented trio of Jonathan Aranda, Yandy Diaz, and Junior Caminero all performing well. Furthermore, the team has also seen the emergence of Chandler Simpson, who has been breaking out to start the year. 

The clear strength of the team has been the starting rotation, with multiple pitchers having excellent starts to the campaign. However, while the rotation has been good, there have been some issues with the bullpen. 

One player for whom the team had some high hopes that didn’t pan out was right-hander Yoendrys Gómez. After bouncing around a bit the last couple of years, Tampa Bay gave him a chance to perform out of the bullpen, but the results weren’t good. Now, after designating him for assignment, the team has traded him to the Twins for cash. 

Gomez Didn’t Work Out for Tampa Bay

The Tampa Bay Rays have traded RHP Yoendrys Gómez to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for cash considerations.

— Rays Communications (@RaysPR) May 6, 2026

Even though Tampa Bay is notorious for helping pitchers get the most out of their talent, that unfortunately wasn’t the case for Gomez. In the majors this year, he totaled a 6.23 ERA in nine games and 17.1 innings pitched. 

The numbers certainly weren’t good for the right-hander, and the decision to move on is an understandable one. With some exciting prospects in the minors, it felt like the right move for the team to trade him and create some opportunities for others. 

However, with Steven Matz recently going to the injured list, the depth of the pitching staff is starting to be tested. Tampa Bay has been using Griffin Jax as an opener of late, and it will be interesting to see how far they try to stretch him out. 

For Gomez, he will head to a Minnesota team that isn’t very good, but one that could provide him with an opportunity. He has started in recent years, and that might be the direction that the Twins try to utilize him in after the struggles in the bullpen with the Rays. Overall, it doesn’t come as too much of a surprise to see the Rays move on from him after he couldn’t make the most out of some opportunities.