After acquiring Michael A. Taylor and Manuel Margot as the primary backup outfielder over the last two seasons, the Twins plan to follow a similar formula with Harrison Bader in 2025.
Gold Glove center fielder Harrison Bader set to join Twins as free agent
Bader has been in the major leagues for eight seasons, and spent 2024 with the Mets.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 5, 2025 at 8:12PM
Bader agreed to a one-year contract with the Twins on Wednesday, which is pending a physical exam, a source familiar with the deal told the Minnesota Star Tribune. The deal includes a mutual option for the 2026 season.
The Twins have a full 40-man roster and will have to make two corresponding roster moves once the free agent signings for Bader and lefty reliever Danny Coulombe become official.
Bader, 30, is known for his excellent defense in center field. A Gold Glove winner in 2021, Bader played 143 games for the New York Mets last year while hitting .236 with 12 homers, 51 RBI and a .284 on-base percentage. Bader, who made $10.5 million last year, added 17 stolen bases in 25 attempts.
He was mostly a bench player during the Mets’ postseason run, compiling nine at-bats and two starts as the Mets advanced to the National League Championship Series.
The Twins sought a righthanded-hitting outfielder to spell Byron Buxton in center field — Buxton played 102 games last year, his highest total since 2017 — and it gives them another option to platoon with lefthanded-hitting corner outfielders Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner. Larnach was rarely used against lefty pitchers last season, recording 23 plate appearances against them, and Wallner had only 44 plate appearances in lefty-on-lefty matchups.
The fourth outfielder role has been important to the Twins. Taylor excelled in center field for the Twins in 2023, albeit in a season when Buxton was exclusively a designated hitter, and totaled 355 at-bats. Margot, who was hitless in 30 at-bats as a pinch hitter, struggled defensively and was limited to a corner outfield role. Margot, a free agent, still registered 315 at-bats.
Bader didn’t hit well against lefty pitching last year with a .204 batting average, five homers and five doubles in 137 at-bats, but he was excellent against them in 2023 (.936 OPS and four homers in 87 at-bats).
Entering his ninth major league season, Bader has spent time with the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds and Mets. He was an above-average hitter with the Cardinals, but his offensive production has been inconsistent throughout the past 2½ seasons.
The Twins lost right fielder Max Kepler to the Philadelphia Phillies in free agency — Kepler signed a one-year, $10 million deal — and the club was light on backup options. They’d prefer to keep Willi Castro, a possible trade candidate, at second base, third base and left field.
Before Bader agreed to sign with the Twins, Austin Martin was likely the Twins’ top candidate to earn time in center field, a position where he struggled defensively last year.
Along with better defense, Bader gives the Twins some much-needed speed on the basepaths. Castro led the club with 14 stolen bases last season, the team’s only player with more than seven. Bader has swiped at least 15 bases in each of the last three years.
Bader has been in the major leagues for eight seasons, and spent 2024 with the Mets.
