Dean

Kremer

Kremer closed out the regular season with his second consecutive quality start, nearly blanking a Texas squad that needed to win their season finale to have any shot at the postseason. The 30-year-old righty pitched extremely well for the Twins after coming over from the Orioles at the trade deadline, posting a sparkling 3.48 ERA across 10 starts. He wraps up the year with a pedestrian 4.68 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 86/29 K/BB ratio across 90 1/3 innings.

It’s the first time in 16 starts this year that Kremer has pitched shutout ball. He’s a fine 3-1 with a 3.80 ERA in nine starts for the Twins after going 1-4 with a 6.50 ERA for the Orioles. He’ll wrap things up with a start against the Rangers next weekend.

Kremer gave up two hits, walked one and struck out five. It was a solid start, but he has a 5.35 ERA and has completed six innings once in eight starts since joining the Twins. Kremer doesn’t offer enough strikeout upside to put up with his poor ratios in mixed leagues. He’s lined up to face the Angels on the road on Sunday.

Kremer gave up five hits, walked one and struck out three. He’s 3-5 with the win. Kremer improved on the five earned runs he allowed in his last start, which was also against the Tigers. He still has a 6.46 ERA in 23 2/3 innings over his last five starts and a 5.65 ERA on the year. Kremer is lined up to face the Yankees at home next week, but he doesn’t need to be rostered in most fantasy leagues at this point.

Not much came easy to Kremer in this start. The Tigers had constant traffic on the bases and he struggled to put hitters away despite missing plenty of bats – 12 total whiffs and multiple with four different pitches. He’s also continued to push up his fastball usage since joining the Twins at the cost of his sinker. It’s had mixed results so far and he’s scheduled to face these same Tigers again next time out.

Kremer’s only blemishes were a homer by Jackson Merrill and a Xander Bogaerts single before the sixth, but he did give up a double and walk before exiting that frame. The right-hander’s velocity was slightly down; averaging 92.1 mph on his fastball compared to his usual 93, but he was able to command that offering and the rest of his arsenal exceptionally well in one of his best starts of 2026. Kremer has now pitched well in two of his last three starts, but it’s hard to trust him to replicate these results next weekend in a scheduled bout against the White Sox.

Kremer struck out six and walked two. It was the first time he struggled in three starts since coming over from the Orioles ahead of this summer’s trade deadline. He had been hit extremely hard in his final outings with Baltimore, so his performance with Minnesota has been encouraging. Consider him a deep-league streamer when he visits the Padres next time out.

Kremer predictably came back to haunt his former team, limiting Baltimore to just a pair of baserunners across seven strong frames. His seven punchouts were his highest single-start total since April 18. He’s allowed two runs over 12 innings since being shipped to Minnesota just ahead of the trade deadline earlier this month. He’ll wrap up a two-start week with a home outing against the Phillies on Sunday.

Kremer was solid in his Twins debut. He drastically pushed up the usage of his four-seam fastball and kept it elevated consistently. That usage especially spiked against left-handed batters where he threw it 54% of the time against them here compared to 27% while he was with the Orioles. That came while he almost completely trashed his curveball and sinker against them. We like that decision for the sinker and also spiked a few curveballs early and floated one in late, so this could have been more about feel than a conscious adjustment. Still, he was effective and is scheduled for a two-start week against the Orioles and Phillies coming up with both starts at home.

Matthews heads back to the minors with veteran Dean Kremer joining Minnesota’s rotation after being acquired from the Orioles in a trade on Friday night. The 26-year-old righty posted a career-high 10 strikeouts and allowed three runs over five innings against the Mariners on Friday night. There’s a chance injuries or ineffectiveness bring him back to the big leagues in a couple weeks, but there simply isn’t a spot for him as the Twins make a legitimate playoff push.