5 Relievers Minnesota Twins Could Sign to Minor-League Contracts

[Cody Schoenmann]

Following Minnesota outrighting veteran relievers Michael Tonkin, Thomas Hatch, Génesis Cabrera, and Anthony Misiewicz off the 40-man roster, declining Justin Topa’s $2 million team option, and losing Cody Laweryson off waivers to the Los Angeles Angels last week, only two relievers can be penciled in as anticipated members of the club’s Opening Day bullpen: Cole Sands and Kody Funderburk.

Topa remains in the organization and could still be a member of Minnesota’s bullpen at a more team-friendly rate, which MLB Trade Rumors projects to settle at $1.7 million. Young arms like Travis Adams, Pierson Ohl, Marco Raya, and Connor Prielipp could quickly become high-leverage relievers early next season. Still, the unit is entering the offseason with little depth or experience.

Minnesota’s front office will need to acquire multiple veterans to fill out the eight-pitcher unit. Yet, given that the front office is expected to operate under significant spending restrictions, they might be unable to sign any sought-after veterans on the free-agent market. That being the case, team decision-makers could scour the minor-league free agent market for relievers this winter. Which arms should they pursue? Let’s take a look.

Justin Yeager
Drafted in the no-longer-existent 33rd round of the 2019 MLB Amateur Draft, Yeager spent his first three seasons in affiliated ball in the Atlanta Braves minor league system before being traded to the Milwaukee Brewers alongside All-Star catcher William Contreras and reliever Joel Payamps in December 2022. The righty excelled with  Milwaukee's Double- and Triple-A team, generating a combined 2.85 ERA, 3.33 FIP, and 108-to-47 strikeout to walk ratio over 110 ⅔ innings pitched. However, the Brewers never rewarded the now-27-year-old with a 40-man roster spot, leading him to elect minor-league free agency this offseason. 

Yeager worked exclusively as a reliever in Milwaukee’s minor league system, sporting two fastball variations (four-seam and cutter) that top out at 94 MPH and a plus sweeper. If Minnesota signed Yeager, he would mix in with the collective of Adams, Ohl, Raya, and Prielipp as young arms competing for bullpen spots. The SIU-Carbondale product excels at suppressing hard contact and missing barrels, a skillset the front office would be wise to seek out when pursuing bullpen acquisitions. Given his success in the highly respected Brewers minor league system, Minnesota would be wise to pursue the 27-year-old right-handed reliever. 

Ryder Ryan
Drafted by the Cleveland Baseball Club in the now-extinct 30th round of the 2016 MLB Amateur Draft, Ryan has been a minor-league journeyman over the course of his nine-season career, jumping between Cleveland, New York (Mets), Texas, Seattle, and Pittsburgh minor league systems. The now 30-year-old has also made major league appearances for the Mariners and Pirates, netting a 5.40 ERA and 4.71 FIP over 21 ⅓ innings pitched. 

Ryan has operated exclusively as a reliever in the minors and majors, primarily using a slider and two fastball variations (four-seam and sinker) over the course of his career. The right-handed arm altered his slider into more of a sweeper last season, resulting in the pitch developing more effective horizontal movement. Given Minnesota’s proclivity for pursuing relievers who possess Ryan’s arsenal, there is reason to believe team decision-makers could sign him to a minor-league deal this winter, with an opportunity for the veteran to make his first Opening Day 26-man roster.

Ryan Borucki
The next pitcher on this list comes in the form of another former Pirate. Borucki, 31, is entering his ninth 1 major league season, having previously pitched for the Blue Jays, Mariners, and the aforementioned Pirates. Despite Jon Heyman incorrectly reporting Borucki had signed a one-year deal with the Twins late last January, the soft-tossing lefty began last season with Pittsburgh, netting a 5.28 ERA and 4.34 FIP over 30 ⅔ innings pitched for the Pirates. 

Pittsburgh released the southpaw in mid-August. However, he quickly signed a minor-league deal with Toronto one week later, generating 0.00 ERA and 3.60 FIP over 4 ⅓ innings pitched for the AL East-winning Blue Jays. The veteran was later released by Toronto, entering free agency for the second consecutive offseason. Primarily throwing a slider and sinker, Borucki’s arsenal is similar to Funderburk’s. Still, Minnesota would be smart to round out its bullpen with veteran arms, with Borucki being one of the more realistic options. 

Collin Snider
Like Borucki, Snider has multiple seasons of major league experience, and also pitched for Seattle. Yet, like Borucki, he is not expected to net a major league deal this winter, after posting a lackluster 5.47 ERA and 3.70 FIP over 26 ⅓ innings for the Mariners in 2025. Leaning heavily on a sweeper/fastball mix (again, a pitch combination Minnesota’s front office adores), the right-handed reliever broke out with Seattle in 2024, generating a 1.94 ERA, 3.94 FIP, and a 47-to-13 strikeout to walk ratio over 41 2/3 innings pitched.

Pitching like one of the most effective relievers in baseball, Snider made the Mariners' 2025 Opening Day 26-man roster. Unfortunately, his production quickly diminished, resulting in him being designated for assignment on July 30 after posting a 5.70 ERA and 3.70 FIP over 26 1/3 innings pitched. Snider remained in the Mariners organization for the rest of the season. However, after struggling mightily in Triple-A (8.06 ERA and 8.21 FIP over 25 2/3 innings pitched) and not being part of the club's magical postseason run, the now 30-year-old has entered minor-league free agency, hoping to return to the majors with a different organization.

A possible explanation for the stark season-over-season contrast in Snider's performance could be that he suffered a right forearm flexor strain in early June, sidelining him for over a month. That said, his 2024 campaign could be an outlier, given that he also struggled in 2022 and 2023 with Kansas City. Still, the former Mariner is an interesting buy-low veteran candidate that Twins decision-makers could take a flier on, with intentions of guiding him back to being the above-average reliever he was with Seattle in 2024.

Parker Mushinski
Mushinski, 29, pitched in part of three seasons for the Houston Astros from 2022 to 2024, generating a 4.05 ERA and 4.31 FIP over 33 innings pitched. The soft-tossing lefty was unable to find a solidified role in Houston's bullpen, resulting in him electing minor-league free agency after the 2024 season and signing with the Cleveland Guardians last offseason.

Unfortunately, the Texas Tech product didn't reach the majors last season. However, he performed exceptionally well in Triple-A Columbus, netting a 3.78 ERA, 3.42 FIP, and a 40-to-19 strikeout to walk ratio over 50 innings pitched. Sporting a four-seam fastball that hovers around 93 MPH, an above-average curve, and an adequate cutter and sweeper, Mushinski possesses the diverse arsenal and plus stuff necessary to succeed in a major league bullpen in 2026.

Again, Minnesota already has its number one left-handed relief option on its 26-man roster in Funderburk. Yet, given that Mushinski prefers to attack hitters vertically (as opposed to Funderburk operating east-to-west with his sinker and cutter), the 29-year-old would function as a viable complementary southpaw to Funderburk, unlike Borucki and his previously redundant skillset. Arsenal aside, Muchinski also possesses the skill necessary to usurp Funderburk on the organizational depth chart, based on results alone.

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[Cory Engelhardt]

I will love it if articles stop listing Prielipp as an early season bullpen option. That will be a great day

[Cody Schoenmann]

16 minutes ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

I will love it if articles stop listing Prielipp as an early season bullpen option. That will be a great day

not beefing with you, Cory, but Falvey has alluded to Prielipp being an early season bullpen option. His inclusion was intentional.

[IndianaTwin]

How about a waiver claim on Alex Lange? 

[IndianaTwin]

And though the Twins declined Justin Topa's option don't they still retain him, since he doesn't have the years of service to become a free agent? 

[LambchoP]

We have Sands and Topa. Possible relief arms could be Festa, Raya, Prelipp and Morris. I wasn't impressed with Ohl or Adams but I'm sure they'll get a shot. I doubt it but it would be nice to try to sign a few of Coloumbe, Theilbar, Taylor and Tyler Rodgers and then a group of minor league signings or reclamation projects. We need to build a pen from scratch which is going to take a lot of skill and a good amount of luck. Lately, the Twins haven't had much of either, but we'll see what happens...

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

I will love it if articles stop listing Prielipp as an early season bullpen option. That will be a great day

Last season Prielipp (mol) identified himself as a potential relief pitcher. He cut through any lineup he faced at both AA and AAA in dominant innings but ran into problems as a starter. He still managed to go further but his dominance faded as the edge came off his pitches. I will say that when I watched his last start and he went 6 innings I was impressed. Prielipp also needs to face MLB batters to judge the effectiveness of his arsenal. There is nothing that prevents a relief pitcher from transitioning to a starting rotation, see Seth Lugo and others. The Twins players and team would benefit from having their best pitchers at the major league level. I was not surprised in the least to see Falvey identify Marco Raya and Connor Prielipp as guys who are ready for MLB in a relief role. Working in relief would allow Prielipp to build strength in his arm as well. I guess we shall see how it plays out.

[Cory Engelhardt]

1 hour ago, Cody Schoenmann said:

not beefing with you, Cory, but Falvey has alluded to Prielipp being an early season bullpen option. His inclusion was intentional.

Not beefing with you either. It’s just my opinion is all :)

[Blyleven2011]

We all know that the front office is going to be very busy adding depth with minor league contracts ...

On your list of minor league deals i would select Justin Yeager at 27 and no experience with a major league club , my experience he would be more coach able and succeed at the major league level than the ones that had a cup of coffee  ...

What do we have to lose on a minor  league contract  ...

Im sure we will find a couple of veterans and sign them that could fetch between 1 and 3 million that won't be much better than the minor league contracts ...

[DJL44]

I would like to see some fringe starters from other teams as Twins reliever options.

[Chembry]

3 hours ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

I will love it if articles stop listing Prielipp as an early season bullpen option. That will be a great day

Falvey specifically stated Prelipp and Raya as bullpen options at the GM Meetings.  

[TJSweens]

The Twins should put a plaque over the clubhouse door reading... "Give me your rag arms, your has beens, your never weres yearning to earn major league minimum."

[DocBauer]

4 hours ago, IndianaTwin said:

How about a waiver claim on Alex Lange? 

I kinda like this idea.

The options in the OP are sound options to consider.

But it would be interesting to .ake a list of arms coming off injury...like Lange...or coming off a poor 2025 that was an initial return season following injury. 

There might be some rebound steals to be had.

[Cory Engelhardt]

2 hours ago, Chembry said:

Falvey specifically stated Prelipp and Raya as bullpen options at the GM Meetings.  

Doesn’t mean I have to like it :)

[Doc Lenz]

7 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Last season Prielipp (mol) identified himself as a potential relief pitcher. He cut through any lineup he faced at both AA and AAA in dominant innings but ran into problems as a starter. He still managed to go further but his dominance faded as the edge came off his pitches. I will say that when I watched his last start and he went 6 innings I was impressed. Prielipp also needs to face MLB batters to judge the effectiveness of his arsenal. There is nothing that prevents a relief pitcher from transitioning to a starting rotation, see Seth Lugo and others. The Twins players and team would benefit from having their best pitchers at the major league level. I was not surprised in the least to see Falvey identify Marco Raya and Connor Prielipp as guys who are ready for MLB in a relief role. Working in relief would allow Prielipp to build strength in his arm as well. I guess we shall see how it plays out.

How do you build arm strength pitching one inning at a time?

[tony&rodney]

1 minute ago, Doc Lenz said:

How do you build arm strength pitching one inning at a time?

Pitching as a starting pitcher is much different than as a relief pitcher. Most relievers max out for up to 35 pitches but work two to three times more games than a starter. They also warm up more often. The usage is different and in my opinion/experience with starting more strenuous overall on the body throwing 100+ pitches (remember they warm up and throw between innings). Throwing in relief seems to build the arm with shorter, max efforts. Every body is different but cumulative innings will cause more stress overall. Even with max effort the shorter duration gives more down time before the next outing. So 150 innings as a starter is pretty much in today's game but relievers throw from 50-80 innings. Starters usually swell more and need several days to recover before throwing between starts. No doubt there is someone who has a much more scientific explanation and maybe studies to explain this more completely and those may totally discount my experiences.

There are fair number of pitchers who work in relief in MLB before transitioning to the rotation. Johan Santana was an example as is Seth Lugo. The Padres are considering using Mason Miller as a starting pitcher next season but they value his comfort level as a closer, so they are still undecided.

[Doctor Wu]

Never heard of any of these pitchers, but at this stage we can't be too picky. Sign the best one or two of the bunch and see what happens. We might set a record for using the most pitchers next season unless we find a really good core group in the bullpen. 

[Fatbat]

16 hours ago, Doc Lenz said:

How do you build arm strength pitching one inning at a time?

All the work that is done between games played. 

[Fatbat]

Sign up all the above and a few more. See what sticks in spring training and build something half way competitive. Conner Preillip just might be in the opening day bullpen 🤷🏼‍♂️

[Jacksson]

Dump Sands & Topa.  They failed to step up after the bullpen purge.  

Sign Yeager & Mushinski

[Doc Lenz]

On 11/16/2025 at 12:24 PM, Fatbat said:

All the work that is done between games played. 

Starters throw between starts as well.

[Permanent Twins Fan]

It's sad to me that this is the second article in the past week talking about potential minor league and under the radar bullpen additions. It is a reality of the state of the franchise right now however. I would not be shocked if the biggest move for the Twins this year is bringing in a middle of the pack reliever on a one year deal. I want to be optimistic about the Twins 2026 season, but unless the ownership is willing to invest in even build a league average bullpen, it is very hard to have any optimisim.