Offseason Status Update: New Year, Same Team

[Nick Nelson]

It's alllll quiet on the midwestern front.

Image courtesy of David Butler II, Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

These status updates are intended to sporadically catch you up on the happenings of the Twins offseason, recapping and contextualizing any news you might have missed. This winter, there hasn't been much in the way of news to miss. But there have been some minor moves, some intriguing rumors, and some indicators of things to come. With a new year underway, let's get up to speed on the state of the offseason and what's still ahead.

The Twins Offseason So Far
Here's a full rundown of everything the Twins front office has done so far this offseason. Needless to say, it has not been particularly active two months.

• Lost LHP Caleb Thielbar, IF Kyle Farmer, OF Manuel Margot, OF Max Kepler, 1B Carlos Santana, RHP Caleb Boushley to free agency.
• 1B Alex Kirilloff retired from pro baseball.
• Extended arbitration tenders or agreed to terms with all 11 eligible players: RHP Jhoan Durán, RHP Griffin Jax, RHP Bailey Ober, RHP Joe Ryan, C Ryan Jeffers, 3B Royce Lewis, OF Trevor Larnach, UTIL Willi Castro, RHP Michael Tonkin, RHP Justin Topa and RHP Brock Stewart.
• Re-signed RHP Daniel Duarte, 1B Yunior Severino and RHP Scott Blewett after removing them from the 40-man roster.
• Added RHP Marco Raya and RHP Travis Adams to 40-man roster.
• Selected RHP Eiberson Castellano in Rule 5 Draft.
• Traded LHP Jovani Morán to Boston for 1B Mickey Gasper.
• Signed Alex Speas, Huascar Ynoa, Mike Ford and others to minor-league contracts.

The Twins have not signed a single free agent to major-league deal, and in fact they haven't acquired a single a player whose odds of making the Opening Day roster seem better than 50/50. However, the two journeymen they've added most recently seem to have a reasonable shot, all things considered.

Gasper, Ford Enter First Base Mix
The first base market in free agency has been whittled down, with nearly all of the upper-tier options having found landing spots. That includes Carlos Santana, who signed a one-year deal worth $12 million with the rival Guardians. To fill his vacancy, it sure looks like the Twins will see what they can do with a group of internal options and some low-stakes additions to compete with them.

Since we last checked in, the front office brought in a pair of minor-league punishers to compete with José Miranda and Edouard Julien at the position. First they traded left-hander Jovani Morán to the Red Sox for Mickey Gasper, who has played some catcher and second but is primarily viewed as a first baseman. Then the Twins signed Mike Ford to a minor-league contract with an invite to big-league camp.

Neither player boasts a great track record. Gasper, a switch-hitter, is 29 and has just 23 hitless plate appearances in the majors. The lefty-swinging Ford has amassed 781 MLB plate appearances at age 32, but with a 93 OPS+, and in 2024 he slashed .150/.177/.233 with two walks in 62 PAs for Cincinnati, spending the latter part of his season in Japan. 

But when in Triple-A last year, Ford posted a .920 OPS, and he has an .860 lifetime OPS at the level. Meanwhile, Gasper posted a .970 OPS to lead all of Triple-A, earning him a late-season shot in the majors and a 40-man roster spot that he now retains (albeit with a different organization).

Given the front office's lack of resources, this approach makes some sense. Bring all these guys into camp and see who looks most ready for the assignment. It's far from ideal but there's definitely hitting talent within this group; hopefully someone is ready to step up as at least a temporary stopgap at first base.

Read more:

• Is Mickey Gasper In Line for an Opening Day Roster Spot?
• What to Know About New Twins First Base Contender Mike Ford

Twins Among Teams Showing Interest in LHP Hart
The Twins already have a conspicuous scarcity of left-handed pitchers that could credibly be viewed as MLB options, and this was true before parting ways with Morán in the Gasper trade. They currently have two southpaws on the 40-man roster, Kody Funderburk and Brent Headrick. Those two have a combined 75 innings (and 5.38 ERA) in the majors.

With minimal flexibility to pursue the free agent market, the front office could get creative in casting a net for lefty arms. One name they've shown interest in, according to Will Sammon and Katie Woo at The Athletic, is 32-year-old Kyle Hart. Minnesota is mentioned alongside the Yankees, Brewers, Astros and Orioles as targeting Hart. 

 

While he doesn't bring much in the way of MLB experience (four appearances back in 2020) nor an extended track record of success, Hart has created a market for himself via his strong showing last year with the NC Dinos in the KBO. He posted a 2.69 ERA with a league-leading 182 strikeouts in 157 innings. "In South Korea, Hart pitched more off his fastball, which allowed his slider to act more like a chase pitch," per Sammon and Woo. That's the kind of recipe the Twins are known to favor.

At the start of the offseason, FanGraphs ranked Hart near the back of their top 50 free agents list, at 48.  

Read more:

• This Star KBO Pitcher Could Be a Hidden Gem for the Salary-Restricted Twins

The AL Central Has Been Quiet in General
While none can quite match Minnesota's level of inactivity this offseason, the rest of the AL Central hasn't outpaced them by much. It's a bit inexplicable after three seemingly rising contenders in the division reached the postseason last year, but for the Twins, this lack of action is theoretically beneficial. While they might not be getting better, their rivals aren't stacking up and creating distance.  

2025 Roster & Payroll Projection
Below is my best guess at how the Opening Day roster would shape up if all remained the same up until then. It's pretty tough to map out the infield but I'm guessing there would not be a lot of consistently set positions day to day; rather guys like Lewis, Miranda, Julien, Gasper (or Ford) and Brooks Lee rotating through first, second, third and DH in some fashion, with Willi Castro also factoring into the infield mix (if still around).

Clearly, things are still going to happen. At minimum the front office likely needs to shave off around $5-10 million in salaries just to get within ownership's payroll mandate. Can they find ways to shake things up beyond trading away a Christian Vázquez or Chris Paddack? Do they want to?

With less than six weeks remaining until pitchers and catchers report, we're going to find out soon enough.

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[Parfigliano]

Thanks for the synopsis.  I wouldn't call Margot lost.  More like unwanted in TC Country.

[RpR]

It is Not the same team, not even close.

[Blyleven2011]

The 3 teams that made the playoffs from the central  division  may have not done much  , but at least they tweaked their roster on areas of concern  , the off season isn't over and I'm sure they will address other needs ...

I just have no confidence in the FO to get anything done because up till now they haven't done anything ...

with a mandated payroll they still haven't traded the players that could bring the payroll to the owners liking ...

If you wanted to trade players for salary relief and possibly have alittle leftover to add back a mid tier player at a mlb contract , wouldn't you try to get them traded so your not handcuffed  in doing nothing this late in the off season ...

From what some TD readers say , we aren't going to get much back for them anyways  , so why is it so hard to make a trade ...

Fo office keeps the fans in the dark with no communication and no optimism going into twins fest ...

Is that when they will answer our questions is  at twins fest  , is the payroll going to be 130 or 140 and we arent trading anyone away ??? 

[Blyleven2011]

4 minutes ago, RpR said:

It is Not the same team, not even close.

Not even close , another 4th place finish , detroit and Kansas city  have some very good young player and are going to be the team's to beat  , Cleveland might faulter  some and we finish third , that's my best analysis  ...

[old nurse]

March has been pretty much when this FO made trades. There is no reason why this year should be any different 

[PatPfund]

If they can move Vazquez's salary they will (might be easier than Paddack's given the injury history), but more likely might be a Castro trade (Martin could take that spot; a good left arm the target). They also should work Larnach out at 1B; his bat would put Gasper's and Ford's to shame, his athleticism and size gives him more defensive upside, and with Rodriguez on the cusp of MLB they will need to keep their best bats in the lineup when E arrives. Though fine for organizational depth, if the Twins play many games with Gasper or Ford on the big league roster, it will be a bad, bad omen on the team success front. 

[stringer bell]

2 hours ago, PatPfund said:

If they can move Vazquez's salary they will (might be easier than Paddack's given the injury history), but more likely might be a Castro trade (Martin could take that spot; a good left arm the target). They also should work Larnach out at 1B; his bat would put Gasper's and Ford's to shame, his athleticism and size gives him more defensive upside, and with Rodriguez on the cusp of MLB they will need to keep their best bats in the lineup when E arrives. Though fine for organizational depth, if the Twins play many games with Gasper or Ford on the big league roster, it will be a bad, bad omen on the team success front. 

I don’t get the Larnach to 1B stuff. He’s never played there and they have brought in two first basemen. Someone will have to DH and I think it will quite often be Larnach. Castro figures to be in left quite a bit if either Julien or Lee claim a regular role (I’m betting on Lee). I’m guessing one of Ford or Gasper makes the team, more likely Gasper because he’s versatile and a switch hitter. 

[tony&rodney]

Winter is dark. The Twins are dark too. The light comes along later. The Twins? They seem to have the team they want. Perhaps they find a team who wants something while having a player we want.

I have yet to see a single quote from the front office or owners related to the payroll being set at $130M. It is confusing to see a note in every article related to that when it hasn't happened. This is a severe hangover from Joe Pohlad's past comments on "right sizing", which were made quite a while ago. The writers need to pop a few Advils to work past that thing in their head until we actually get a quote or another "right sizing" comment.

[Doctor Gast]

This team could easily become better than last season. The subtraction of Margot is our greatest addition. Because Margot was a Falvey's addition he was given a valuable roster spot, every opportunity to succeed & superior Martin & Keirsey was shafted much to the detriment of the Twins. I see here again that inferior, Gasper. Fangraph projected him not playing a single game for BOS in '25. Gasper is a break glass-only player, which I question that he should even have a roster spot much less a spot on the active roster. Martin is a far superior player, Martin is a natural 2Bman, Twins have to do their job & work with him a lot in the OF this offseason & spring training & ease him into there. Like Margot, I'm not surprised if the Twins make this move but I am enraged. Passing up a superior in-house player for an inferior Falvey's out-house one is not an intelligent move.

[Doctor Wu]

Wake me up when spring training starts. Maybe there will be a pleasant surprise or two at that point. 

[miracleb]

Interest in Kyle Hart?  Maybe signing him to a make good/minor league contract if he wants to get back to the "States."

[CRF]

There's still time for them to surprise us all and actually DO something this off season. 

[LambchoP]

We need a first baseman, RH hitting OF who can cover CF, and we need a good lefty for the pen. If anything, we might get the relief arm if we can dump Paddack. The other roster holes are going to need to be filled with our own guys. I anticipate a lot of debuts this year. Hopefully some of them actually pan out and do well. Otherwise, we could find ourselves in fourth place only above the minor league like White Sox :(

[RpR]

11 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

This team could easily become better than last season. The subtraction of Margot is our greatest addition. Because Margot was a Falvey's addition he was given a valuable roster spot, every opportunity to succeed & superior Martin & Keirsey was shafted much to the detriment of the Twins. I see here again that inferior, Gasper. Fangraph projected him not playing a single game for BOS in '25. Gasper is a break glass-only player, which I question that he should even have a roster spot much less a spot on the active roster. Martin is a far superior player, Martin is a natural 2Bman, Twins have to do their job & work with him a lot in the OF this offseason & spring training & ease him into there. Like Margot, I'm not surprised if the Twins make this move but I am enraged. Passing up a superior in-house player for an inferior Falvey's out-house one is not an intelligent move.

LOL, Margot's lack of fielding skills till the last weeks of  the season , were no more harmful than Lewis collapse with the bat and glove. LOL.

[mikelink45]

Typically, the team moves late when the other teams are doing their housekeeping and are ready to make a little move to clean up their roster, so we wait and see what excitement lies ahead.  I wanted to like the essay, but I really didn't like it - not because of the writer, but because it points out all the sad facts. 

[NYCTK]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

Typically, the team moves late when the other teams are doing their housekeeping and are ready to make a little move to clean up their roster, so we wait and see what excitement lies ahead.  I wanted to like the essay, but I really didn't like it - not because of the writer, but because it points out all the sad facts. 

Read this as excrement and it made perfect sense. 

[PatPfund]

On 1/5/2025 at 11:51 PM, stringer bell said:

I don’t get the Larnach to 1B stuff. He’s never played there and they have brought in two first basemen. Someone will have to DH and I think it will quite often be Larnach. Castro figures to be in left quite a bit if either Julien or Lee claim a regular role (I’m betting on Lee). I’m guessing one of Ford or Gasper makes the team, more likely Gasper because he’s versatile and a switch hitter. 

The more Ford and Gasper are on the active MLB roster, the worse this team is. Both are scrap heap material nearing expiration dates (they are 29 and 32 and both have career WARs under zero; aka they stink). Larnach is younger, vastly better, tall, a lefty bat, plays an OK OF, and can certainly learn the easiest defensive position on the field during Spring Training. And if Emmanuel Rodriguez pushes his way to the big leagues, and Julien struggles early, you have a space for Emma, a platoon match for Miranda, and you give the team flexibility to rotate their big bats through DH. And probably your most tradable asset, Castro, can be traded; maybe for the pitching help they need (like a steady eddie starter, or a good LH RP), or maybe to free up salary to add the help. That's the Larnach 1B stuff.