5 Big Moves the Twins Could Still Make Before Opening Day

[Nick Nelson]

Image courtesy of Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Under Derek Falvey, the Twins front office developed a penchant for making moves — including some of their biggest moves — in the very late stages of the offseason. This was best exemplified by the Taylor Rogers trade, which took place on the eve of Opening Day in 2022, but there were plenty of others.

It's possible that Falvey's successor, Jeremy Zoll, will eventually differentiate himself from this tendency. But by virtue of stepping into the lead role so late in the offseason, for a team with an unfinished and imbalanced roster, he almost has no choice but to pick up the mantle with some February or March moves. Given the team's circumstances, I wouldn't rule out one or more transactions of some significance.

Here are five signings, trades and extensions I could pretty easily envision taking place before Opening Day. Not all would make the team better, but they'd at least provide a further sense of direction and long-term vision.

Trading Joe Ryan or Pablo Lopez
Yeah, the Twins have said they don't plan to trade either of their frontline starters. But the time for rallying season-ticket sales has mostly passed, and by now reality has to be setting in that this team is not equipped to contend in the AL Central, especially after Detroit's bold move to add Framber Valdez alongside Tarik Skubal top their rotation. 

Tom Pohlad might not like the business optics, but the baseball wisdom of trading one of these two premier starters is undeniable. It means opening up more innings for the young arms Minnesota needs to audition, while bringing back a haul to bolster the team's post-2026 outlook. 

The Twins acquired Ryan while he was competing in the Olympics. Could they trade him away while he competes in the World Baseball Classic?

Trading Ryan Jeffers
After acquiring Victor Caratini and Alex Jackson this offseason, the Twins now have three catchers. None have minor-league options. Conventional wisdom says they'll go with the two best ones, Jeffers and Caratini, while seeking a low-scale trade for Jackson or trying to sneak him through waivers at the end of camp. That puts them at risk of losing Jackson for nothing, and while the team didn't invest a ton to acquire him (Payton Eeles), it was something. Clearly they like him to some extent.

The bigger risk for the Twins in this scenario is that they lose Jeffers for nothing after this season, when he's due for free agency. An opportunistic gambit would be to trade him now and roll with a catching duo of Caratini and Jackson. That'd be a clubhouse leader and quality player out the door, but again, if the Twins aren't contending, it doesn't matter. Jackson is under control for two more seasons so he'd provide some continuity at least alongside Caratini, who signed a two-year deal.

Trading Trevor Larnach
It would almost be more surprising if this doesn't happen. The Twins have to move Larnach or someone else in the lefty-swinging 1B/DH/COF mix, because currently the pieces simply don't fit together. He continues to be the most likely candidate, though he hardly offers clear surplus value at $4.5 million. 

You'd like to think the Twins can flip him for at least a decent middle reliever, which they could sorely use. But if such a deal were available, wouldn't they have already made it? Maybe spring developments will create new opportunities but it seems the front office is struggling to find takers for its superfluous lefty corner bat — not exactly a first for them.

Signing Michael Kopech
Finally, an additive move! The Twins made a play for Framber Valdez, so clearly they've been given the green-light to pursue a somewhat sizable investment as Pohlad pushes for an energy boost. There aren't many places left to spend, as the free-agent market has been picked over, but there's one clear standout atop the relief market.

Kopech is hardly a big splash, but he's the last remaining reliever from The Athletic's top-50 big board (he was #50) and really the last chance for Minnesota to make a remotely emphatic addition to its needy bullpen. He's been oft-injured and rarely good, but the 29-year-old righty offers undeniable upside with his bigtime fastball. This is the team's last chance to truly bolster the relief pitching outlook via free agency.

Long-term contract for Luke Keaschall or Walker Jenkins
This wouldn't really impact the 2026 season, but it would generate some much-needed positive headlines for a Twins team that needs them. Extending young players and even yet-to-debut players on long-term deals has become in-vogue for MLB teams, and tends to be a win/win for both sides. The player secures generational wealth, guaranteed. The club gets price breaks down the line if things to plan, with modest risk on their side.

The Twins say they're serious about building from within and getting behind the talent they draft and develop. A move like this would be a statement to back that up. And while it might not make much difference this year, gaining cost control over Keaschall or Jenkins — whom I recently ranked as the two most valuable player assets in the organization — could make greatly improve the front office's ability to add around them in their primes.

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[mikelink45]

The biggest question - who wants Larnach?

We made a number of trades for minor league pitchers - Abel, Bradley...and still have our prospects so  a trade of Ryan would require a much higher return.  If they feel they have surplus I would look at an Ober and SWR trade.

The extensions are a good plan - two years ago we could have extended Jeffers and had a catching future.

Kopech does nothing for me..

[Brett]

Wouldn’t a long term contract for Keaschall or Jenkins indicate that we actually have faith in someone we drafted and developed? Do we do that sort of thing around here?

[Cory Engelhardt]

Is Larnach truly a big move?

I still think they add a right handed reliever somehow, but trade makes sense.

If they do end up signing another starter (Gallen?) then trading Ryan makes even more sense 

[thelanges5]

Baltimore is still looking for some starting pitching. How about a package starting with Ober or SWR for Mayo?

Maybe Larnach isn’t a big move, but something needs to give among those left-handed corner outfield DH types. 

[Whitey333]

Look it's obvious the Twins are not going to be competitive in 2026.  They SHOULD trade Ryan, Lopez, Jeffers and yes even Buxton.  These players could bring a decent return.  Ryan is good, not great.  Lopez is a 21.5 million luxury that is not affordable on a small budget team.  Buxton should be traded to a team that has a decent chance of going deep in the playoffs.  At this stage of his career and the time spent with the Twins he deserves it.  And let's be realistic.  He had a great 2025.  He played a somewhat full season.  But hes only played 2 full seasons in 10 years.  We all hold our collective breaths as he makes another great catch or gets hit by a pitch.  It's time to move on from Buxton .  Ryan Jeffers is going to be a free agent.  It's unlikely Twins will resign him unless it's on the cheap.  The Twins propaganda machine just keeps spewing out the same worn out sales pitch:  Hope and hype

[CRF]

Let's face it, the only big move they're making...is from the cities, down to Ft Meyers. 

[MinnInPa]

why no mention of trading Wallner? IMO Larnach is better hitter.. unless he has a major turnaround he's not helping at all ..Major liability in OF...not worthy of full time DH role. just blocking Gonzales, Rodriquez. nothing is lost of he's gone

[arby58]

10 minutes ago, MinnInPa said:

why no mention of trading Wallner? IMO Larnach is better hitter.. unless he has a major turnaround he's not helping at all ..Major liability in OF...not worthy of full time DH role. just blocking Gonzales, Rodriquez. nothing is lost of he's gone

In what universe is Larnach a better hitter than Wallner? Larnach career: .726 OPS, 101 OPS+, 1.2 average WAR/year. Wallner career: .829 OPS, 127 OPS+, 2.7 average WAR/year.

It's not even close.

[arby58]

There was a pretty damning piece on Keaschall in Baseball Prospectus a couple weeks ago. The gist was that he has unacceptale power for a player who is not an elite fielder at his position:"

It brings me no joy to throw a wet blanket over the Keaschall hype, but his power is below the minimum acceptable standard for an MLB starter. His 100.8 mph EV90 is practically tied with two other second basemen—Andrés Giménez and Nico Hoerner.

Player	EV90 (mph)	Z-Con%	BB%	DRC+	DRP	PA	WARP
Andrés Giménez	100.8	84.1%	6.8%	81	2.4	369	0.8
Nico Hoerner	100.7	95.7%	6.0%	105	6.1	649	3.6
Luke Keaschall	100.8	89.9%	9.2%	108	-0.4	207	0.9

Keaschall has a good zone-contact rate, but it’s not elite. He supplements his value by drawing more walks, which might dry up if pitchers challenge him more in the strike zone, since he’s just a singles hitter.

The biggest difference separating Giménez and Hoerner from Keaschall is that they have five Gold Gloves between them, and Keaschall is a below-average defender. Almost all of the players with his lack of pop are either great fielders, bench players, or both. He doesn’t make enough contact or play his position well enough to get to Hoerner’s level, and there aren’t many other paths for players without power.

[C-Gangster]

I don't think we're gonna be contenders. But I do think we're gonna do a little better then people expect.

[sweetmusicviola16]

15 minutes ago, arby58 said:

In what universe is Larnach a better hitter than Wallner? Larnach career: .726 OPS, 101 OPS+, 1.2 average WAR/year. Wallner career: .829 OPS, 127 OPS+, 2.7 average WAR/year.

It's not even close.

A lot of people have suggested trading Wallner this off season. I personally wouldn't. I think he is the teams best candidate for a bounce back season. Granted he's likely never going to be an all-star. He doesn't come to the plate enough because he is platooned. A good fielder he is not, I've wanted him as DH. But if he can get those 350-400 AB's he'll be a 3 WAR player if he can get to career average levels.  Larnach has shown that he won't. Now Larnach is not a black hole and not this teams biggest problem, but he's average. I believe this team has been trying to trade Larnach since Nov 2024. But there are no takers and I question in him making 4.5 that there will be. I don't know what they will do with him. Backed into a corner imo. 

[USAFChief]

If you're trading Ryan and/or Jeffers, why are you signing Kopech?

 

[DJL44]

6) Find a utility infielder who can play SS off waivers

7) Find a RHRP off waivers.

That's all I expect. The Twins only make acquisitions off the waiver wire. They're currently paralyzed when it comes to trading.

[Mahoning]

Ryan for Adley Rutschman. Then you can let Jeffers go. I would think he (like Ryan) wants the chance to win someplace, so is unlikely to stay.

[Brandon]

Has anyone seen the Royals OF?  We could trade them Larnarch for Schreiber or one of their other relievers and throw in a little cash to balance the trade budget or add a lottery prospect.  A trade like that could be win win The Royals for their part have several solid middle relievers.  The best part about this for the Pohlads is the budget doesn't change or it goes down a little

 

If the Twins were able to save 2 million in payroll, maybe they could find enough change in the couch cushions to spring for Kopech!.  

[laloesch]

1 hour ago, Whitey333 said:

Look it's obvious the Twins are not going to be competitive in 2026.  They SHOULD trade Ryan, Lopez, Jeffers and yes even Buxton.  These players could bring a decent return.  Ryan is good, not great.  Lopez is a 21.5 million luxury that is not affordable on a small budget team.  Buxton should be traded to a team that has a decent chance of going deep in the playoffs.  At this stage of his career and the time spent with the Twins he deserves it.  And let's be realistic.  He had a great 2025.  He played a somewhat full season.  But hes only played 2 full seasons in 10 years.  We all hold our collective breaths as he makes another great catch or gets hit by a pitch.  It's time to move on from Buxton .  Ryan Jeffers is going to be a free agent.  It's unlikely Twins will resign him unless it's on the cheap.  The Twins propaganda machine just keeps spewing out the same worn out sales pitch:  Hope and hype

This makes the most logical sense. Detroit is going to dominate the division for the next 4-5 years and let’s face it Lopez and Ryan are not gonna be extended due to the Twins shrinking payroll.  In the future I expect the Pohlad and their partners to run the team like the Pirates. 

[MinnInPa]

1 hour ago, arby58 said:

In what universe is Larnach a better hitter than Wallner? Larnach career: .726 OPS, 101 OPS+, 1.2 average WAR/year. Wallner career: .829 OPS, 127 OPS+, 2.7 average WAR/year.

It's not even close.

the problem is Wallners 38% K rate dude..Avg .Larnach better..OBP similar..sorry, i'll take Larnach .. team is already full of K kings..dont need one occupying RF full time

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

I might just be so jaded, but I can't put much stock into the whole 'pursuit' of Valdez. IIRC, a few years back, there were 2-3 consecutive off-seasons where the Twins were subsequently named as a 'mystery' team that was supposedly in on big name free agents. Yu Darvish instantly comes to mind.

Too coincidental. Tom P. talks about contending. And suddenly, the Twins were going after Valdez and oh, they made an offer for Peralta. Not buying it.

[Cris E]

It would be worth sending some money with Larnach to get a better return for him.  A team with arms but no money who could use a better OF corner bat might bite if $2.5m brought down his cost. Send him to AZ while Gurriel is out, and maybe throw in an arm and get back Lawle, or add a big arm and get Lawler and a reliever. 

[rdehring]

Very interesting, Nick.  Thanks.

As I see it, yes the Twins can compete.  But to do so they need to have better health than the past several seasons.  Much better with all of the key players playing most of the year.  They also need the new manager/coaching staff to light a fire under some of these guys and get some fight out of them.  That together with getting a few of these guys to play closer to what they are projected to be and they just might surprise.  Yes, I am thinking of you Mr. Lewis, Wallner and Lee.  Add one or two of the position prospects and pitchers living up to their hype and the Twins may be more than a surprise.  But yes, lots need to go right.

So I don't see them making a move on Ryan or Lopez.  The more I read about trading Jeffers, must agree it makes a ton of sense now that Caratini is here for two years.  With all the corner outfielders here and on the way, a Larnach trade is an absolute must.  Maybe they need to add a decent prospect to get a good, young reliever, just do it.  Finally, love the idea of extending both Keaschall and Jenkins now. 

Totally disagree with those comments about Keaschall from Baseball Prospectus.  No one seems to want to remember the kid was hurried to the big leagues and dealing with an arm that wasn't 100% from his surgery and then missed another couple months with a broken arm.  Heck, wasn't he limited to DH most/all of his last year in the minors?  Lets give the kid at least one healthy year to work on his defense before we throw him on the scrap heap.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, MinnInPa said:

why no mention of trading Wallner? IMO Larnach is better hitter.. unless he has a major turnaround he's not helping at all ..Major liability in OF...not worthy of full time DH role. just blocking Gonzales, Rodriquez. nothing is lost of he's gone

I mean... everybody can have an opinion, but Larnach is a league average bat. Wallner has always been far superior to Larnach in terms of production at the plate. 

 

vs. 

[bean5302]

Could the Twins package up Ryan or Lopez? Sure, but I think Lopez only gets moved if the Twins are willing to sign a guy like Gallen to replace Lopez and just grab some cost controlled 2.0 WAR talent ceiling back to firm up one spot on the roster. I don't see a lot of good trade partners for Ryan at this point in the season if the Twins are looking to be competitive.

What the Twins need back has to be MLB caliber talent so finding a trade partner who is both looking to add MLB talent (Ryan) and give up MLB talent when rosters are largely jelled already seems unlikely.

I also don't think adding any substantial salary is possible without offloading some salary at the same time. I wrote up a blueprint the other day using this site's GM tool reflecting what the Twins "could" do to field a competitive team this year.

 

[Exiled in Illinois]

In terms of fan morale, Keaschall and Jenkins would be the best move suggested.  Plus, it actually makes good sense.  Mid market, low payroll teams need to take chances like this in hopes of hitting jackpots.

[LambchoP]

For this bullpen to even be passable, we need to sign a veteran MLB arm and then trade for another veteran MLB arm. We need someone to cover the late innings and close out games. I like the Rogers pick up, but he's no closer anymore. Festa, Prelipp or any of our other starters who will be turning to relief guys could work out, but I think it'll take some time to settle into that role.

[LA Vikes Fan]

24 minutes ago, rdehring said:

Very interesting, Nick.  Thanks.

I expect the Twins are being realistic about their chances of competing, just not telling the public.  As I see it, yes the Twins can compete.  But to do so they need to have better health than the past several seasons.  Much better with all of the key players playing most of the year.  They also need the new manager/coaching staff to light a fire under some of these guys and get some fight out of them.  That together with getting a few of these guys to play closer to what they are projected to be and they just might surprise.  Yes, I am thinking of you Mr. Lewis, Wallner and Lee.  Add one or two of the position prospects and pitchers living up to their hype and the Twins may be more than a surprise.  But yes, lots need to go right.

So I don't see them making a move on Ryan or Lopez.  The more I read about trading Jeffers, must agree it makes a ton of sense now that Caratini is here for two years.  With all the corner outfielders here and on the way, a Larnach trade is an absolute must.  Maybe they need to add a decent prospect to get a good, young reliever, just do it.  Finally, love the idea of extending both Keaschall and Jenkins now. 

Totally disagree with those comments about Keaschall from Baseball Prospectus.  No one seems to want to remember the kid was hurried to the big leagues and dealing with an arm that wasn't 100% from his surgery and then missed another couple months with a broken arm.  Heck, wasn't he limited to DH most/all of his last year in the minors?  Lets give the kid at least one healthy year to work on his defense before we throw him on the scrap heap.

Agree here. Trading Jeffers would stink but probably makes sense unless we think there is a realistic hope of signing him to an extension. I do understand the business reasons to at least try to contend in the first half and then trade at the deadline, so maybe that's the plan. Still, it's hard to see a way that Jeffers is still with the Twins after July 30 (or Aug 4 since that's this year's deadline).  

Waaaay to early to decide that Keaschall is only going to be a bench bat based on analytics. Let's actually give him one healthy season before we chart out his future career with certainty. I believe in analytics, but there's way to much projection from small samples that goes on and this is a prime example of that.   

[Nick Nelson]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

If you're trading Ryan and/or Jeffers, why are you signing Kopech?

 

To be clear, I'm not expecting them to make all 5 of these moves. That said ... why not? The Twins can still have a decent catching unit without Jeffers and a decent rotation without Ryan. If they're going nowhere, you hope Kopech is having a good year and you can trade him at the deadline. 

[bean5302]

10 minutes ago, Exiled in Illinois said:

In terms of fan morale, Keaschall and Jenkins would be the best move suggested...

Meh. Fans don't care about names on the roster. The Twins could trade Lopez or Ryan today and it would make no significant difference in attendance. The Twins signed Correa and Twins attendance was lower in 2022 than in 2021 relative to the league. Sure, it gets internet forums excited, but it doesn't really put butts in the seats. It takes a major investment, then results, then re-investment to generate excitement.

[DocBauer]

I doubt the team was ever in on Valdez. More than likely they were talking about other players and some ideas and somewhere in the conversation Valdez comes up as just part of the conversation and the topic quickly changes. So I don't know that the Twins have a lot of open $ to still work with. 

Kopech has the potential to help at least. And maybe there's another $2M arm to be had like Suter, just for example, that might "finish" the bullpen for now.

As I posted elsewhere, if they really had a little more $ to play with, knowing there are no more expensive pen arms, how about trying to move Larnach and his $4.5M for a unity option better than what we have, and then add another $3M to the saved Larnach money and add Nathaniel Lowe? The payroll is still under $120M, 1B has an actual 1B playing there on a daily basis, (with wolid career aplits), Bell gets to DH daily, Clemens gets to remain a bench player, and LF has more speed and defense with Martin and Roden and no further Larnach in the OF temptation. We might even find a better utility option for the INF if the Larnach trade works put ideally. (I'd settle for another Al Newman at this point). 

1B and LF are improved, nobody is really blocked, Roden can give Buxton days off here and there, and the payroll still ends up at or slightly less than how 2025 ended after the firesale. 

Nothing there is GREAT, but at least it's a more balanced roster.

[USAFChief]

6 minutes ago, Nick Nelson said:

To be clear, I'm not expecting them to make all 5 of these moves. That said ... why not? The Twins can still have a decent catching unit without Jeffers and a decent rotation without Ryan. If they're going nowhere, you hope Kopech is having a good year and you can trade him at the deadline. 

I guess there's the chance Kopech returns something at the deadline. That's true.