TwinsAce’s 2024 Payroll Blueprint

[TwinsAce]

If our new budget is $125 million - $140 million, I think this shows we "could" keep both Polanco and Kepler next year and still sign a CF/OF for $10-$12 million, have money for various bullpen and bench guys with $1-3 million each, and trade (or sign) a SP for $10 million.  I haven't looked enough at trade options for pitchers, but the salaries could run from $3 million to $15 million (or $25 million for Glasnow, which seems like a stretch now.)
The main subtraction here is Farmer, but if you went for a different CF option (Taylor?) at closer to $6-$9 million, you could keep Farmer instead of the Solano slot.  I think this would come down to how much the Twins want to push Lee to MLB level (or have Lewis backup SS with other 3B options like Miranda.)  CF comes down to how ready they are for Martin.

The biggest takeaway for me is that the Twins still have pretty good flexibility and could surprise with a major signing.  However, the larger the signing, the more they might end up trading Farmer, Polanco, and/or Kepler.  (Kepler seems the least likely to be traded IMO.)  And matching what they have said so far, it seems likely they trade for pitching to help fill out some of the depth.  And of course, expect minor league deals to surprise and push like Stewart or Castro.  (Or late deals like Solano.)

• C: Ryan Jeffers ($2.30M)
• 1B: Alex Kirilloff ($1.70M)
• 2B: Jorge Polanco ($10.50M)
• 3B: Royce Lewis ($0.77M)
• SS: Carlos Correa ($33.33M)
• LF: Matt Wallner ($0.77M)
• CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M)
• RF: Max Kepler ($10.00M)
• DH: Edouard Julien ($0.77M)
• 4th OF: Willi Castro ($3.20M)
• Utility: Solano type guy ($3.00M)
• Utility: Kevin Kiermaier ($12.00M)
• Backup C: Christian Vazquez ($10.00M)
• SP1: Pablo Lopez ($8.25M)
• SP2: Joe Ryan ($0.77M)
• SP3: Bailey Ober ($0.77M)
• SP4: Chris Paddack ($2.53M)
• SP5: Trade - Edward Cabrera?? Mitch Keller?? Freddy Peralta?? Maeda signing? ($10.00M)
• RP: Jhoan Duran ($0.77M)
• RP: Brock Stewart ($0.77M)
• RP: Griffin Jax ($0.77M)
• RP: Jorge Alcala / Minor League Deal ($1.00M)
• RP: Caleb Thielbar ($3.00M)
• RP: Minor League Deal (Cole Sands?) ($1.00M)
• RP: XYZ Pitcher - Pagan? ($3.00M)
• RP: Kody Funderburk / Moran ($0.77M)

Payroll is 8.84% under budget