Twins Bring Back Veteran Reliever Matt Bowman on Minor League Contract

[Seth Stohs]

Two years ago, the Twins signed a 32-year-old Matt Bowman to a minor-league contract. He began the season with the Saints, but after a handful of games, he was called up to the Twins. He pitched in five games for the Twins and gave up two runs over 7 2/3 innings. In a numbers game, he was DFAd by the Twins before the end of April and claimed by the Arizona Diamondbacks. He worked in five games for them before again being DFAd. The Mariners claimed him, and he pitched in one game for Seattle. He was released. Early in July, the Twins re-signed him and he spent the next five weeks with the Saints. In mid-August, he was released and signed with the Baltimore Orioles. He pitched well in 15 games down the stretch for the O's. Four teams in one season. A wanted man!

He struggled in 20 games with Baltimore in 2025 and ended the season in the Astros minor leagues. 

 

Now 34, Bowman signed a minor-league contract this week to pitch in the Twins organization in 2026. He will report to Fort Myers next week as a non-roster invitee to spring training. He will certainly have an opportunity to compete for a spot in the Twins bullpen on Opening Day. 

A graduate of Princeton, he was drafted by the Mets in the 13th round of the 2012 MLB Draft. He made the Opening Day roster of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2016. Over the next three seasons, he pitched in 156 games out of the Cards bullpen. He spent most of 2019 with the Reds and then didn't pitch at all in 2020. However, in September of 2020, he had Tommy John surgery and didn't pitch again until 2023 when he worked in three games for the Yankees.

The Twins have been quieter than usual in terms of minor-league free agent signings. However, I could make a case that three minor-league free agents could make the Twins roster.     

 

Veteran infielder Orlando Arcia signed with the Twins last month. It would be surprising if he isn't on the Opening Day roster. The 31-year-old infielder debuted in 2016. He had some decent years in Milwaukee, and a couple of solid seasons in Atlanta where he played in his lone All-Star game. 

Dan Altavilla is a 33-year-old right-handed pitcher who, you might be surprised to learn, made his big-league debut in 2016. He's mixed in some good years with some bad years. He's had some injuries. Last year with the White Sox, he had a 2.48 ERA over 25 games and 29 innings. The peripherals weren't great (or even particularly good), but if the Twins wanted another veteran in the bullpen, he could see time there.     

 

29-year-old Andrew Bash signed with the Twins earlier this month. He was the Angels 30th round pick in 2019 out of California Baptist. The Angels released him in 2020, and he signed with the Blue Jays. He spent the past six seasons working his way up the Jays' ladder. Last year in Triple-A Buffalo, he went 6-2 with a 2.57 ERA. He made five starts but came out of the bullpen 35 times. He has jumped back-and-forth between Double-A and Triple-A and hasn't had an ERA over 3.00 at either level since the 2022 season. 

The Twins signed right-hander Luis Quinones to a minor-league deal in December. Originally drafted in the 34th round by the Blue Jays in 2019, he's slowly worked his way up the ladder showing glimpses of really good stuff. He has also missed a lot time with injuries. In fact, in 2025, he pitched in just three rehab games, rehabbing in the FCL. However, he played winter ball in Puerto Rico and went 4-0 with a 0.00 ERA, a 0.69 WHIP, and two Saves. In 26 innings, he gave up nine hits, walked nine and had 36 strikeouts.

After five years at Miami (Ohio), Grant Hartwig signed as an undrafted free agent with the New York Mets in 2021. Two years later, he debuted and pitched in 28 games for the Mets. In 2024, he made just four appearances. He joined Hanshin in Japan during the 2025 season. His season ended a little early with an oblique injury. The 28-year-old returned to the States and signed with the Twins just a couple weeks later. 

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[nicksaviking]

I'd rather see one or two internal guys from the current group of starters-should-be-relievers get a spot over Bowman, BUT this is better than signing a sketchy free agent reliever to a MLB deal. This works.

[SteveLV]

GM replaced, still dumpster diving I see......

[IndyTwinsFan]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

I'd rather see one or two internal guys from the current group of starters-should-be-relievers get a spot over Bowman, BUT this is better than signing a sketchy free agent reliever to a MLB deal. This works.

At least he's not basically guaranteed a roster spot.

[Vanimal46]

[Parfigliano]

3 hours ago, SteveLV said:

GM replaced, still dumpster diving I see......

At this point in the off-season internal options or dumpster diving is what's left.

[Blyleven2011]

I'm leaning towards our young starters that don't make the starting lineup to fill in as relievers and then there are some players that have injury concerns that should be regulated to the bullpen so they can maintain and develop innings ...

Pitching is a strength  , let's find someone for the ¹lineup who can hit to all fields , arraez just signed with giants , arraez was fun to watch when with the twins  , he could have probably brought some fans back to the stadium even if he doesn't hit for power and his defense is suspect  , our hitting has gone south since losing arraez and Polanco  ...

[Seth Stohs]

7 hours ago, IndyTwinsFan said:

At least he's not basically guaranteed a roster spot.

I know I wrote that "I could make an argument for three of them making the opening day roster." I think that the only one that is truly "likely" to make the OD roster is probably Arcia, at least if he can hit at all. It just depends, I think, on how many of the young starters they are willing to move to the bullpen right away. 

[Whitey333]

Nice article Seth.  Nothing new here only the same dumpster diving philosophy the Twins have pushed especially during the Falvey regime.  The only thing different is the names have changed.  I am going to be very curious the shape of the team and franchise takes after Falveys departure.  I can make a good guess that the Twins and their payroll take a further dive.  Perhaps this is a big reason why Falvey is gone.  I certainly don't expect them to greatly increase payroll after the sold 20% ownership in said team to help get out of debt.  So i wouldn't be surprised now that Falvey is gone that one or all of Ryan, Lopez, Jeffers and Buxton are dealt.  Maybe even before the regular season starts.  I was never a Falvey fan.  I thought he should have been fired when Baldelli left.  But Falveys departure with spring training just around the corner further questions their direction and adds to the chaos.  Im so curious what if anything of any substance will be changing.

[Otaknam]

Dumpster diving for the bullpen to see if an arm or two can help is better than moving young starters into a bullpen role, which is usually permanent. Given that developing effective starters is the biggest challenge in baseball, give the  young guys every chance to succeed as a starter, and if they aren’t successful THEN move them to the bullpen. Varland is the best recent examples.

[Fatbat]

17 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

At this point in the off-season internal options or dumpster diving is what's left.

When young guys are added to the 26man, The Saints need depth so you either sign guys like this or you promote other youngsters from AA to back fill. I’ve always been a fan of milb FA signings because its nice to have cheap veteran arms available in case of emergency. 

[Rosterman]

The Twins have been really quiet on the minor league free agent front. Usually you see upwards of 20-25 guys signed to play varying roles at AAA/AA ball. Looks like barely a half-dozen right now.Maybe time to advance and play team prospects at St. Paul rather than a roster full of AAAA guys!

 

[mikelink45]

Nice start Zoll!  I am so excited.  Why not activate Hawkins?

[Doctor Wu]

Every working arm is welcome to audition for our bullpen. Welcome back, Matt. But man, we still need some better arms for this bullpen, or it may implode the first month of season. 

[CRF]

Been there...done that.