A Look at the Twins 40-Man Roster Heading into a Key Offseason

The Twins finished the 2026 season with a full 40-man roster, but there's plenty of movement ahead as the front office works to reconfigure and revamp its collection of usable talent over the winter. As we start thinking about where the Twins might add or overhaul during the offseason, it's helpful to get a clear read on where they stand heading in.

Below, you can find a breakdown of the 40-man roster as it sits before things get moving. I've broken the 40 players down into three groups: locked in, on the bubble, and pending free agents. The latter four players will officially hit the open market the day after the World Series ends, opening up four spots immediately, although several of those spots will be filled by players needing to be activated from the 60-day injured list (Mick Abel, David Festa, Pablo López).

Locked In

1. B. Buxton, OF 
2. V. Caratini, C 
3. K. Clemens, 2B 
4. K. Culpepper, SS 
5. G. Gonzalez, OF
6. W. Jenkins, OF 
7. L. Keaschall, OF 
8. R. Kreidler, UTIL
9. B, Lee, 3B
10. A. Martin, OF
11. H. Mendez, OF
12. A. Roden, OF
13. E. Rodriguez, OF
14. T. Adams, RHP
15. T. Bradley, RHP
16. K. Funderburk, LHP 
17. Y. Gomez, RHP 
18. J. Hoffman, RHP
19. D. Kremer, RHP
20. Z. Matthews, RHP
21. A. Morris, RHP
22. C. Prielipp, LHP 
23. M. Raya, RHP
24. K. Rojas, LHP
25. J. Ryan, RHP

On the Bubble

1. T. Gray, IF
2. T. Larnach, OF
3. R. Lewis, 1B
4. B. Ross, UTIL
5. A. Sabato, 1B
6. M. Wallner, OF
7. G. Acton, RHP
8. J. Anderson, RHP
9. T. Nance, RHP 
10. B. Ober, RHP
11. E. Orze, RHP

Pending Free Agents

1. J. Bell, DH
2. R. Jeffers, C
3. A. Minter, LHP
4. T. Rogers, LHP

60-Day Injured List

1. M. Abel, RHP 
2. A. Banda, LHP 
3. D. Festa, RHP
4. P. Lopez, RHP
5. M. Paredes, RHP
6. C. Sands, RHP

Breaking Down the Bubble Candidates

I characterized 11 players who are currently on the 40-man roster, and three players on the 60-day IL, as "on the bubble." They are still under team control for 2027, but there's at least a reasonable chance the Twins will choose to move on via non-tender, DFA, or low-scale trade. There's a range for degree of likelihood here — they are almost certain to move on from Matt Wallner, and I can't imagine Aaron Sabato makes it past the first cut. Someone like Royce Lewis or Eric Orze, meanwhile, is more of a coin flip.

Either way, between the four pending free agents and those bubble candidates, that's 15 total spots that could be cleared up without a whole lot of pain. Again, we have to assume that three will be taken over by the returns of Abel, Festa and López — TBD on Anthony Banda, Mike Paredes and Cole Sands — but there is no shortage of available space for new additions.

Protecting Prospects from the Rule 5 Draft

Of course, another key consideration for 40-man roster planning is the need to protect eligible prospects from being plucked away in the Rule 5. Last year's batch included Kendry Rojas, Connor Prielipp, Andrew Morris, John Klein, Gabriel Gonzalez and Hendry Mendez. The first three went on to play fairly significant roles for the Twins staff in 2026.

This year, there are relatively few obvious names who would merit consideration for this purpose. That's not to say there aren't plenty of prospects capable of contributing to the team's future, but there's little urgency to add them now, especially since it means starting up a young player's three-options timeline. 

Among newly eligible players, Yasser Mercedes is the standout name. Cody Christie wrote about the tough decision the Twins face here, as Mercedes has plenty of intriguing tools but hasn't turned them into consistent performance in the low minors. think they'll lean toward protecting him, and there might be some other sleepers that aren't really on the radar (such as Klein a year ago), but I don't envision the Twins needing to set aside nearly as many roster spots for incoming prospects.

An Open Slate

Maybe it's not surprising for a team that won only 77 games, but the Twins are far from facing a 40-man roster crunch. They will have plenty of flexibility to add during the offseason, so it comes down to how ambitious the front office will be in shaking things up, and how aggressive ownership will be in providing resources to support meaningful upgrades.

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