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Twins free-agent targets: 15 fits for a front office shopping in the discount aisle again

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Twins free-agent targets: 15 fits for a front office shopping in the discount aisle again

Last offseason, after ownership ordered the front office to slash payroll by $30 million coming off the team’s first playoff success in over two decades, the Minnesota Twins shopped strictly in the bargain bin of free agency.

In a far cry from handing Carlos Correa a franchise-record $200 million contract the previous winter, the Twins spent a grand total of $7.7 million on three major-league free agents, each signed to one-year deals.

Most one-year clearance signings go poorly, as the Twins learned the hard way with Jay Jackson ($1.5 million) and Josh Staumont ($950,000), both of whom were cut in July. But signing Carlos Santana for $5.25 million proved to be excellent value, as the 38-year-old first baseman was one of the Twins’ best players and their lone successful offseason or trade deadline addition.

With ownership expected to keep payroll in the $130 million range for 2025 and the Twins’ roster projected to cost more than that as is, the front office will almost surely be shopping entirely in the discount aisle again. And with plenty of help needed and limited resources, they’ll need to find at least one Santana-level hit while avoiding Staumont/Jackson-like whiffs.

To get a sense of the degree of difficulty facing the front office, I’ll put myself in their shoes and pick 15 free-agent fits for the Twins who aren’t included on The Athletic’s top-40 free-agents list. In other words, no stars or even lower-tier regulars likely to have solid price tags. I’m picking through the clearance rack because that’s what the front office will be forced to do.

Let’s try to find some one-year bargains.

David Robertson, RP (Rangers)

This is the fifth straight offseason I’ve recommended the Twins sign David Robertson, who has a 2.92 ERA over the past four seasons and remained as good as ever in 2024 at 39 years old. Leaning heavily on a 92-94 mph cutter that misses bats and induces weak contact, along with a big-breaking curveball, he posted a 3.00 ERA with 99 strikeouts in 72 innings in a setup role.

Robertson’s cutter is truly elite and comes with the benefit of being a reverse-split weapon, making the matchup-proof right-hander even more effective facing lefties than righties. There’s always the risk of steep decline at age 40, and Robertson might be out of the Twins’ price range anyway, but suggesting him as a free-agent target has become my annual tradition.

A.J. Minter, RP (Braves)

Twins left-handed relievers combined for an MLB-worst 5.75 ERA in 2024, so rebuilding the left side of the bullpen should be a priority. A.J. Minter is the highest-upside option not in The Athletic’s top 40 and could be gettable with a one-year deal following August hip surgery. Before going under the knife, he did his usual thing with a 2.62 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 34 innings.

Hip surgeries are scary, but the 31-year-old has a career 3.28 ERA with 422 strikeouts in 349 innings, including a sub-3.80 ERA in five straight seasons. Minter works with a mid-90s fastball, a low-90s cutter and a changeup that neutralizes righties. There’s risk, but he’s expected to be ready for spring training and this could be a chance to get a high-end reliever at a discount.

Paul Sewald, RP (Diamondbacks)

Paul Sewald’s three-year run as one of MLB’s best relievers came to an end in 2024 as he suffered oblique and neck problems on the way to a 4.13 ERA. He still managed 43 strikeouts in 40 innings, but Sewald’s already middling fastball velocity dipped slightly to a 91.4 mph average, which is worrisome for a 34-year-old who can’t afford to lose any more juice.

But the side-arming right-hander had a 2.95 ERA with 256 strikeouts in 189 innings from 2021-23, shutting down righties (.175) and lefties (.179). Sewald can succeed without big velocity because his “flat” fastball plays tricks with a hitter’s brain, much like Joe Ryan’s, and his Frisbee-style sweeper is hard to square up. If healthy, he’s an ideal bounce-back candidate with upside.

Carlos Santana, 1B (Twins)

Why not? I understand the risk of a 39-year-old declining rapidly. After all, last offseason I was skeptical Santana could be productive in an everyday role. But he was, evading Father Time for his best year since 2019 and ranking fourth on my team MVP ballot by combining Gold Glove-winning defense with 23 homers, 65 walks and a 109 OPS+ in 150 games.

Santana’s price presumably won’t rise much, and Alex Kirilloff’s retirement means the Twins lack in-house replacements unless they want to take a big defensive hit with Jose Miranda and/or Edouard Julien. They each have the advantage of minimum salaries, and the Twins tend not to re-sign veterans after good one-season stints, but Santana could be worth an exception.

Josh Bell, 1B (Diamondbacks)

If the Twins don’t bring back Santana, they could replace his switch-hitting ability and 20-homer power with Josh Bell, who’s also seven years younger. Bell slumped to a 97 OPS+ in 2024, ranking as a below-average hitter for the first time in eight full MLB seasons, but he was productive after a July 30 trade from Miami to Arizona, hitting .279/.361/.436 with a 121 OPS+ in 41 games.

Bell’s stretch-run numbers more closely resemble his career 114 OPS+, and given their ages and recent track records, it’s logical to project he’ll out-hit Santana in 2025. But the 6-foot-4, 260-pound Bell is a poor first baseman, by the eye test and the numbers, and has only sporadically hit enough to make his defensive shortcomings worth the trouble.

Justin Turner, 1B (Mariners)

Justin Turner is a shell of his former All-Star self at age 40, but that shell is still a pretty good hitter. He posted a solid 114 OPS+ in each of the past two seasons, controlling the zone and making high-end swing decisions despite the loss of bat speed and power. He has a compact swing and remains a tough at-bat by not chasing bad pitches, rarely whiffing and using the whole field.

Turner is at the end of the road, but last season’s sturdy .354 on-base percentage was in line with his lifetime .363 mark, and his 114 OPS+ would have been fifth on the Twins, ahead of Santana (109) and Miranda (112). He lacks experience at first base after a career spent across the diamond but graded out just fine in about 600 innings there the past two seasons.

Yimi García, RP (Mariners)

Elbow issues limited Yimi García to 39 innings in 2024, souring what was otherwise a career-best campaign for the 34-year-old right-hander. He had a 3.48 ERA with 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings, held opponents to a .167 batting average and his fastball averaged a career-high 96.5 mph. He spent September on the injured list but was able to avoid surgery.

García has the deep bag of a starter and the velocity of a reliever, pairing a high-90s fastball with five other offerings thrown at least 5 percent of the time. He has upper-echelon raw stuff, and a 3.58 ERA with 186 strikeouts in 166 innings the past three seasons, but the Twins’ medical staff would have to feel confident about the health of his right elbow.

Chris Martin, RP (Red Sox)

Chris Martin has said 2025 will be his final season and it’s hard to imagine a huge payday at age 39. He’s been one of the league’s best setup men since 2018 by relentlessly pounding the zone with fastballs and cutters for a 3.05 ERA and absurd strikeout-to-walk ratios. He struck out 50 and walked three (yes, three) in 44 innings last season.

Martin can’t be counted on to handle the workload of a primary setup man, but the 6-foot-8 right-hander would be a seamless fit in a medium-leverage role where he can pump strikes, avoid barrels and induce grounders. It’s a straightforward approach and doesn’t require using him only in favorable matchups thanks to fairly neutral platoon splits.

Andrew Kittredge, RP (Cardinals)

Tommy John surgery in mid-2022 stole a bit of Andrew Kittredge’s velocity, but he returned to setup-caliber form in 2024 with a 2.80 ERA and 67-to-20 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 71 innings. Homers have always been Kittredge’s main weakness — he’s allowed 10 per 70 innings for his career — but when healthy the 34-year-old right-hander has been a bullpen asset.

Kittredge’s recipe is simple: He gets grounders with a mid-90s sinker and whiffs with a high-80s slider that held opponents to a .177 batting average with a miss on 41 percent of their swings in 2024. Left-handed sluggers can give him trouble, but Kittredge would fit nicely in a seventh-inning role with an eye on favorable matchups.

Randal Grichuk, OF (Diamondbacks)

Now that he’s in the role-player phase of his career, Randal Grichuk would fit well as a platoon corner outfielder tasked mostly with facing left-handed pitching. He’s ceased being a consistent threat against right-handers, but Grichuk, 33, hit .317/.368/.573 with 25 homers in 498 plate appearances versus lefties the past three seasons, including .319/.386/.528 in 2024.

That skill set would work particularly well in a Twins lineup slated to have left-handed hitters Matt Wallner and Trevor Larnach as the starting corner outfielders. Larnach is a career .204/.262/.308 hitter off lefties and Wallner is even worse at .144/.232/.278 in a smaller sample. They can crush righties and Grichuk can crush lefties while also being a nice weapon off the bench.

Harrison Bader, OF (Mets)

Harrison Bader offers great defense and a right-handed bat, two keys for any Byron Buxton backup. Unfortunately, his right-handed bat isn’t very good: Bader is a career .242/.306/.392 hitter with a 91 OPS+ in 778 games, including an 86 OPS+ last season. By comparison, Michael A. Taylor had a 90 OPS+ the year before he joined the Twins as Buxton’s backup in 2023.

If they want to avoid a fielding drop-off whenever Buxton is out and have a righty alternative to Wallner/Larnach when Buxton is in, Bader is the best bet. He’s a Gold Glove-caliber center fielder with 20-steal wheels and has a serviceable .705 OPS with nine homers in 308 plate appearances against lefties the past three seasons. (Taylor is also a free agent, but he hit .193 with a 52 OPS+ in 2024.)

Andrew Chafin, RP (Rangers)

Andrew Chafin lacks Minter’s upside, but he’s been a solid lefty setup man for a decade and showed minimal signs of slowing down last season at age 34. He racked up 70 strikeouts in 56 innings for his third straight year with at least 10 strikeouts per nine innings, registering a 3.51 ERA with just five homers allowed on the strength of a fantastic low-80s slider.

Chafin’s control has slipped and his sinker got hit hard for most of 2024, so he leaned on his slider a career-high 46 percent of the time. Opponents hit .127 versus the pitch and whiffed on a jaw-dropping 55 percent of their swings, with equal dominance of lefties and righties. He won’t light up radar guns, but Chafin would be a clear upgrade to the left side of the bullpen.

Danny Coulombe, RP (Orioles)

Danny Coulombe was a nice scrap-heap find for the Twins in 2020, posting a 2.92 ERA in 49 innings across parts of three seasons, but 2022 hip surgery led to his exit. Then the 5-foot-10 left-hander became a nice scrap-heap find for the Orioles, working his way into a key setup role with a 2.56 ERA in 81 innings the past two seasons.

Coulombe misses more bats than his size and low-90s fastball may suggest, striking out 9.3 per nine innings since 2020, and adding a cutter broadened an already deep pitch arsenal that has fared well versus lefties and righties. He missed most of the second half with an elbow injury before returning in September, and durability is an issue at age 35, but Coulombe can get outs.

Amed Rosario, IF/OF (Reds)

Amed Rosario proved overmatched defensively as a starting shortstop, so he spent the past two seasons bouncing around the league and the diamond in a reserve role. It hasn’t always been pretty, especially in the outfield, but his fielding flexibility, high-end speed and ability to hit left-handed pitching make Rosario a potentially useful bench piece.

He’s batted .290/.329/.441 with 48 extra-base hits in 478 plate appearances versus lefties the past three seasons, along with 91st-percentile sprint speed and at least some big-league reps at every position but catcher and first base. Trusting his glove requires a big leap of faith, but the 29-year-old’s skill set is intriguing if the Twins think he can be a passable outfielder.

Kevin Newman, IF (Diamondbacks)

Correa is coming off a second straight season wrecked by plantar fasciitis and he started just 84 of 162 games at shortstop, so a competent backup is a must. That could mean sliding Brooks Lee or Willi Castro to shortstop, like the Twins did last season, but it might also make sense to add a traditional backup infielder to essentially replace free agent Kyle Farmer.

Kevin Newman has experience playing everywhere in the infield, including more than 3,000 career innings at shortstop. He’s a high-contact right-handed bat with minimal power and enough speed to go 24-for-28 stealing bases over the past three years, and his 89 OPS+ in that time is palatable for a bench role. By comparison, Farmer had an 89 OPS+ the year before joining the Twins.

(Photo of Josh Bell: Jason Miller / Getty Images)

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