The Twins bought Caratini at a good value. If we just pretended he was a right-hand hitting first basemen that kept Bell off the field, we'd think it was a decent signing at two years and less than 15 million total. We were looking at Ryan O'Hearn for twice that amount, and while he's the better hitter, we shouldn't doubt that there are a lot of clubs more appealing to free agents even if we offer lots of money. Caratini may have simply been about the best right handed hitter we could sign at the time with the money available.
Of course, it also is possible that the front office was thinking about trading Jeffers prior to his walk year. Under that plan they would still having catching figured out through '27 with Caratini and Jackson and probably get a decent return, but it fizzed out for one reason or another.