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  • Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

    The latest Minnesota Twins free agent and trade rumors, along with notes and tidbits about the team.
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    Matthew Lenz
    Fresh off the heels of the somewhat surprising news that the Twins are looking for a veteran back up shortstop, Dan Hayes drops this little nugget in response to a fan's question.
    Willi Castro the first basemen? Whaaaaaat? If you're wondering, Castro has seven positions throughout his career. He's never played catcher and he's never played first base in his professional career. As in he has 0.0 (or 0 0/3 if you prefer that format) innings at first.
    In the last few days, the Twins have addressed their two biggest needs. A left-handed reliever and a corner outfield who can handle left-handed pitching. Lower in the priority list has been a first basemen to back up Miranda, but I'm not sure anyone would have guessed that Castro would be a viable option. In fact, Castro grades out as a negative defender at nearly every position he plays aside from third base. I don't know about you but I'm not thrilled that the contingency plan behind Miranda looks to be Castro (or Julien) as of right now. Maybe the need for a back up first basemen is bigger than we initially thought.
    What do you make of this news?
    Matthew Lenz
    It sounds like the Pohlad's may be ripping open their pocket books!
    *Dramatic pause for audience eyeroll*
    Seriously though, Dan Hayes of The Athletic just reported that "the Twins are believed to have some financial leeway, perhaps $5 million in the 2025 payroll" in his latest report.
    While $5 million won't net them much, it's about $5 million more than we originally thought Derek Falvey had left to play with. Coincidentally, the report comes around the time of the offseason where the "Falvine" regime has tended to cook, as the kids say. In fact, that topic was just broached today here at Twins Daily.
    The timing of Hayes' report and Twins Daily speculation cannot be overlooked. Might Falvey be prepping the meal and just waiting for his moment to cook? Only time will tell.
    How do you think the Twins should spend the $5 million?
    Matthew Lenz
    Towards the end of last season, when the Minnesota Twins were in the midst of a historic collapse, Rocco Baldelli had Royce Lewis try his hand at second base. The move was partially due to Lewis' performance at the hot corner (11 errors; 10 throwing), but it was more about the lack of production coming from those at the Keystone, which was a game of mix and match all season.
    At the time, Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic reported that Lewis was "apprehensive" with the move across the diamond. In fact, around that same time, he said the following about moving off third: "If you take a baby out of its crib where it’s safe, it’s going to feel a little bit scared. That’s kind of where I’m at right now".
    Despite those concerns, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reiterated ($$) in November that the Twins and Royce Lewis had a "second shot" at second base this offseason. What was interesting in that update was that Hayes led off by stating that Lewis' agent, Scott Boras, thought he'd be open to the move.
    Alas, here we are two months later and the latest update from Darren Wilson via the Minnesota Sports with Mackey & Judd podcast is that he's been taking more reps at third than second this offseason. Emphasis on "more", meaning he is still taking reps at second but that seems to be part of the plan to continue mixing and matching at the position, as needed, in 2025.
    If the roster generally stays the same between now and opening day, what does your starting infield look like?
    Matthew Lenz
    Unsurprisingly, it's been a quiet offseason for the Minnesota Twins coming off an 82-win season. While pitchers and catchers report in under a month, multiple sources are indicating the Twins have been active in the trade market.
    On January 16th, Jeff Passan stated ($$) "Minnesota has entertained plenty but consummated nothing" in response to a question regarding any remaining "big trades" this offseason. Then, a day later, Dan Hayes quoted Derek Falvey ($$) who stated "...I can tell you we’ve had more active conversations in the last couple of weeks than we’ve had prior..."
    While specifics names and teams weren't mentioned, it's clear that the Twins are doing their diligence whether it's on bigger names like Carlos Correa and Pablo Lopez or salary dump candidates in Willi Castro, Chris Paddack, and Christian Vazquez.
    Are there any Twins on the current roster you'd like to see moved? Any players on other teams you'd like to see added? Let us know in the comments!
    Matthew Trueblood
    This one has nothing to do with the impending decision by Roki Sasaki, but another flamethrowing young pitcher has created another opportunity to pick up a previously committed Latin American talent—and, once again, the nimble Twins are taking advantage.
    Raudy Reyes had a major growth spurt and emerged late on the scene as the top non-Sasaki arm in this class, and the team from suburban Cobb County, Georgia pivoted to sign him, despite the major resource reallocation that required. In so doing, they vacated an informal agreement with Dencer Diaz, an infielder from the Dominican Republic, and the Twins' international scouting department (guided by, among others, Kevin Goldstein) was in position to offer a substantial bonus to snare Diaz on the rebound. This is the second late move they've made as this market opens for 2025, supplementing a class previously viewed as interesting but not exceptional. With Diaz and Teilon Serrano added to their haul, the Twins keep building upon a strong reputation in Latin America.
    Matthew Trueblood
    One of the fascinating and important knock-on effects of the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes is a miniature windfall of international amateur free agents becoming unexpectedly available at the last second, as a new window for signing such players begins Wednesday. This was foreseen. Sasaki's signing bonus with whichever team he selects (it's down to the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and Toronto Blue Jays) will have to come from a finite, hard-capped pool of money allotted for each team to spend on these players each year, and since teams strike handshake deals with big-money prospects long before the actual opening of the signing period, whoever signs Sasaki will have to throw back a few high-profile members of their class.
    On Tuesday night, the Twins were the beneficiaries of that situation. Teilon Serrano, a Dominican shortstop-turned-outfielder with impressive tools and a mid-six-figure expected price tag, was set to sign with the Dodgers, but they released him to seek a deal with another team, and Minnesota has swooped in to scoop him up.
    The frequent metaphor for players like these is an accurate one: they're lottery tickets. Serrano is unlikely even to play in the big leagues, let alone to become a star. Still, just as you'd happily take an extra fourth-round draft pick if it were just floating out there for the taking, it's worth pursuing a player like Serrano if your scouts have done some due diligence on him and like what they've seen—and the disruptive influence of Sasaki has given the Twins just such an opportunity.
    Matthew Trueblood
    The name of the game is landing smart people to build and operate your baseball team—but as soon as you do so, the name of the game becomes keeping them. So, from time to time, you have to rename their games. The Twins promoted Josh Kalk, Alex Hassan, and Sean Johnson to assistant general manager roles Tuesday, in a move that partially backfills the promotion of Jeremy Zoll to GM in November. Zoll replaced the outgoing Thad Levine in that job, but still (of course) answers to president of baseball and business operations Derek Falvey.
    In Johnson (scouting), Kalk (data and analytics) and Hassan (player development), the team not-so-coincidentally inflated the titles of three people who had taken on chief roles within the three major departments that make up most front offices. Giving them this bump affirms the team's satisfaction with the jobs they've each done, and it shields the team a bit from the risk of losing any of them to another organization. All three were already so established and accomplished with the club, though, that it's hard to envision them leaving for anything short of a GM job elsewhere. That's still possible, but surely not imminent, and now, the three are all incrementally more prominent in their places with the team as they look toward 2025. It's not a true restructuring; it's just a good way to give some essential baseball personnel their due.
    Matthew Trueblood
    In news that could prove to be huge (but is noteworthy, either way), Sportico reported Monday that the Ishbia brothers purchased a small minority stake in the White Sox in 2021. Naturally, to avoid conflicts of interest, MLB will require them to divest themselves from the Sox before buying the Twins, which they do seem to be strongly interested in doing. It's a procedural hurdle, at worst, because it's not as though they've been active in the operation of the team in the short period during which they've had a financial investment there. 
    Still, this is news. When it was first reported that the two might be interested in buying the Twins, it came in the wake of rumors that they had explored buying the White Sox in full from Jerry Reinsdorf. Apparently, they had (instead) made a small investment and stayed behind the scenes there. The Sox are a messy potential purchase right now, as Reinsdorf angles for a new ballpark to replace Comiskey Park II (for so we shall continue to call it) and the organization fights its way out of a deep competitive chasm. It only makes sense that, if the chance is there, the Ishbias will buy the Twins and disentangle themselves from the Sox. That they are involved and interested enough to have stirred the right embers to alert the folks at Sportico tells us something concrete, even if it's only implied.
    Brock Beauchamp
    Ari Alexander reported that several teams are showing interest in 34-year-old right-handed reliever Nick Anderson while Doogie Wolfson reported the Twins are expected to be in attendance.
    Anderson was once a promising arm that couldn't stay on the field. He burst onto the scene in 2019 with the Tampa Bay Rays before injuries got hold of him. He only pitched 57 innings combined in the four seasons of 2020-2023.
    In 2024, he signed with the Royals and had a less-than-spectacular season. His K rate plummeted to just 19% while his expected stats (xERA, FIP) started with a "five".
    Brock Beauchamp
    It felt almost inevitable to hear this, didn't it?
    Jeff Passan of ESPN recently wrote that the Twins front office has been receiving calls inquiring about the availability of starting pitcher Pablo Lopez, who is under contract for the next three seasons.
    Lopez, entering his age-29 season in 2025, is owed $21.75 million per season for the next three seasons. The Twins need to remove approximately $10 million from their payroll before Opening Day to meet budget expectations. They could probably meet that number by trading both Christian Vazquez ($10 million) and Chris Paddack ($7.5 million), or they could get under the number in one fell swoop by trading one of their two large contracts in Pablo Lopez or Carlos Correa.
    The Twins aren't in a rush to trade Lopez but the recent sky-high prices for pitching may cause them to change their minds.
    Brock Beauchamp
    Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star-Tribune wrote that Derek Falvey is open to bringing back Carlos Santana in 2025.
    Santana was paid $5.25 million in 2024 and is entering his age-39 season. He posted a 109 OPS+ in 2024, his best offensive season since 2019.
    The Twins are already over their 2025 budget by approximately $10 million, give or take a few million. Santana will also likely look for a raise over his 2024 salary and could fetch a contract more in the $7 million range.
    If the Twins are interested in this reunion, they must subtract to add.
    Brock Beauchamp
    Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star-Tribune wrote up a nice piece on Derek Falvey at the Winter Meetings. In it, he revealed that Falvey has received multiple calls about a potential Carlos Correa trade.
    Yep, it's that time of year. The Twins are already over their projected 2025 payroll of $130 million. They will need to shed somewhere in the vicinity of $10-15 million before the season begins. While they can trade players like Chris Paddack and Christian Vazquez, neither has excess value and will have to be something close to a pure salary dump.
    On the other hand, Correa is due to make $36 million in 2025. Dumping his salary will put the Twins well under budget and allow them to chase multiple, high-octane, $4 million role-players in free agency.
    Carlos Correa has a full no-trade clause. Twins fans can only hope he refuses to waive it.
    Brock Beauchamp
    Alex Speier of The Boston Globe wrote a throwaway line near the bottom of his recent piece about the Red Sox pursuing pitching help this offseason, saying the Twins have "shown little appetite for dealing righthander Pablo Lopez."
    In an offseason completely devoid of Twins rumors, this is good news. Speier is a highly-respected Red Sox beat reporter and is tuned into the Sox's pursuit of high-end starting pitching, which has been active with news since the completion of the 2024 season.
    And the Sox are engaged with almost everybody right now. They've met with every pitcher expected to receive a nine-figure deal. They were runner-up on Juan Soto. They're in on Alex Bregman. They kicked the tires on Willy Adames. They've been circling Garrett Crochet for weeks.
    Long story short, if anybody is keenly aware of who is available on the current market and where they're wasting their time, it's the Boston Red Sox.
    Matthew Lenz
    While it's been mostly speculation to this point, it seems the idea to move Griffin Jax to the starting rotation is picking up steam.
    What started as an interesting article by Eno Sarris of The Athletic ($$) on the impact of a reliever moving into the rotation was followed up by this tweet from Mark Ferrin of MLB Network.
    So nothing set in stone, yet, but definitely more than just speculation at this point.
    Before becoming one of the leagues best relievers, Jax did come up as a starter through the Twins system and even made 14 Big League starts in 2021. He wasn't even a little bit effective as a starter, posting a 6.10 ERA / 6.24 FIP with an abysmal 9.9% K-BB rate. Of course, he's had time to master his craft and it's reasonable to think he would perform much better in a starters role in 2025 and beyond.
    As pointed out by our own Cody Pirkl, it would be an odd move from a roster/organizational perspective.

    Do you think the Twins should move Jax to the rotation?
    Brock Beauchamp
    MLB Trade Rumors released their top 35 trade candidates for the 2024-2025 offseason. To the surprise of absolutely no one in the room, the two Twins that made the list are the biggest salary concerns on a Twins team already over their projected payroll for 2025: catcher Christian Vazquez and pitcher (starter? reliever? mascot?) Chris Paddack.
    Vazquez can be considered a luxury on a Twins team battling baseball economics: he's a good defensive backstop with limited offensive capabilities and is slated to make $10 million in his walk season. Paddack is a different story but a similar payroll concern: he's due to make $7.5 million in 2025 but only made 17 starts last season. It's also uncertain whether the Twins want him in the rotation on Opening Day or would prefer to move him to the bullpen where his velocity and speed has played up in the past.
    Brock Beauchamp
    MLB Trade Rumors recently wrote about the Twins' financial situation, their current payroll, and options for the coming offseason. Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic recently wrote about the Pohlads committing to keeping the 2025 payroll at roughly the level of the 2024 payroll.
    The primary problem facing the Twins front office this offseason is that without doing anything through the winter, they're still roughly $10 million over last year's payroll number.
    Obviously, the Twins need to shake up the roster (at least a little) after the worst collapse in team history. This means the one tool remaining in Derek Falvey's (admittedly empty) tool chest is to deal from the team's relative depth, primarily on the position player side. Some of the names that are due raises via arbitration (MLBTR estimates shown) are Willi Castro ($6.2 million), Ryan Jeffers ($4.7 million), Bailey Ober ($4.3 million), Joe Ryan ($3.8 million), Jhoan Duran ($3.7 million), Griffin Jax ($2.6 million), and Royce Lewis ($2.3 million).
    This isn't an ideal situation for the Twins, as they will likely be forced to deal additional value and hope to recoup more value in return. They were able to achieve this goal with the Luis Arraez for Pablo Lopez trade but it's a fine line to walk and fraught with risk.
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