Recently-acquired Twins relievers settling in to new environment

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Justin Topa thought he got traded late in the offseason. Then he met the man that lockers next to him in the Twins’ spring training clubhouse.

Steven Okert, his wife and the couple’s dogs were driving through Alabama on their way to Jupiter, Fla., where the Miami Marlins train, when Okert got word that he had been traded. At least, after driving all the way out from Arizona, he got traded to a team that trains in Florida.

“We were like, ‘Shoot, if we would’ve got traded back, now we would’ve had a long drive back,’” Okert said. “We were already almost here.”

Topa was traded over to Minnesota as part of a five-player trade that sent longtime Twin Jorge Polanco to Seattle. Okert was traded last Sunday, in a swap for utilityman Nick Gordon. Both are seemingly adapting well to their new organization, despite a relatively last-minute change of plans for Topa and a very last-minute switch for Okert.

Topa said he got his housing situation settled with relative ease but with an almost-1-year-old baby, it has been a hectic time.

“I got traded to the Mariners first or second week in January the previous spring, so thought we were in the clear. But it happens,” Topa said. “Coming over here has been awesome. Everybody has been great from the get-go.”

For Topa, the trade comes after the best season of his career, one in which he established himself as a major leaguer. After 17 major league appearances combined in the three seasons preceding 2023, Topa pitched in 75 games last year, posting a 2.61 earned-run average for the Mariners.

In previous seasons, he had been battling injuries and shuffling back and forth between the majors and minors. Last year, he got called up shortly into the season and then stuck around, frequently pitching in the seventh and eighth innings.

“Just getting the opportunity, one to be healthy and kind of roll with the punches throughout a big league season and not really get sent down … to get that opportunity was huge,” Topa said.

For Okert, the trade came after three years in Miami during which he put up a 3.51 earned-run average. Last season, he struck out 11.2 batters per nine innings, one of the best marks in the majors.

The left-hander is out of options, which gives him a leg up on a bullpen spot if the Twins choose to carry two lefties. Okert said the trade was unexpected at the time — if it happened, he said, he thought it might be once camp had already started.

This being his first time being traded, he said he didn’t really know what to expect. But he already had some connections within the clubhouse, training with reliever Griffin Jax in Tempe, Ariz., in the offseason and having been starter Pablo López’s former teammate.

The slider-heavy reliever threw his first bullpen a couple of days earlier alongside López and seeing what the Twins’ pitching mavens have done with the starter — helping him introduce a sweeper last year — has him intrigued to see what ideas they may have for him.

“To really see them work with him, create what he has, it’s exciting,” Okert said. “There is always room to improve. If they can find something, help you get a little better, I’m excited for it.”