Tigers trade formerly hyped KBO pitcher to Twins despite recent surge in Triple-A

The Tigers signed Padres and Marlins castoff Woo-Suk Go to a minor league deal in late June 2025, and fans didn't expect much (if anything) to come from it. San Diego signed him to a two-year, $4.5 million deal ahead of the 2024 season after seven years in the KBO but barely lasted four months in the organization before he was thrown into the package the Padres sent to Miami in exchange for Luis Arraez.

Go never made his major league debut with either team. After signing him, the Padres sent him to Double-A, and he spent some time at every level of the Marlins' minor league system (he was even DFA'ed once) before being released two weeks before the Tigers signed him.

Since then, Go has remained an afterthought in the Tigers organization. With a track record like that, fans didn't expect to see him at the major league level anytime soon, and then enough time went by that he was forgotten.

You'd be forgiven if you hadn't thought about him at all until right now. On Sunday, Evan Woodbery of MLive reported that the Tigers had traded Go to the division rival Twins for cash considerations — just when he started looking good in Triple-A.

Tigers trade former Padres, Marlins castoff Woo-Suk Go to Twins

Go exercised his upward mobility clause, and the Tigers' roster is full. Now that he's been traded, the Twins will have to add him to their 26-man. The Athletic's Dan Hayes reported that he'll join the team on Tuesday.

The Tigers briefly demoted Go to Double-A this season after just 1 1/3 innings pitched in Triple-A, but he only gave up a single earned run in 13 2/3 innings in Erie, so he was back in Toledo a month later. While he still suffered the odd rocky outing in Triple-A, he had a great 2.60 ERA in 27 2/3 innings by the time he was traded.

That might be the kind of guy the Tigers could use in their bullpen, which has blown 26 leads this season, but Detroit clearly wasn't moved to bring up a player who still doesn't have a single inning of major league experience at the expense of any of the pitchers currently on the active roster.

We won't have to wait long to see if the Twins will directly benefit from Go's progress with the Tigers. Although he deserves a shot at the major leagues after the rollercoaster he's endured so far, we hope it doesn't end up costing the Tigers directly.

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