DALLAS – After spending four days at the league’s annual winter meetings, the Twins left with one potential addition to the bullpen, Rule 5 Draft pick Eiberson Castellano, and not much else to show.
Takeaways: What we learned about the Twins’ offseason plans at the winter meetings
Here’s a list: The Twins are prioritizing trades over free agency. They’re seeking a first baseman and a righthanded-hitting outfielder. And Derek Falvey sees a prospect likely to make an impact.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
December 14, 2024 at 2:45AM
The Twins remain active in trade discussions, which is much more of a current priority than free agency. The Twins have $136 million committed to next year’s payroll, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, and Derek Falvey, the president of baseball operations, already confirmed they plan to keep their payroll around the same $130 million range as last season.
“Right now, I would say most of our time has been spent with other teams, which is a little different for us than maybe in past years where we are doing a lot of free-agent conversations with agents or otherwise because we are trying to find that overlap and those fits,” Falvey said during an MLB Network Radio interview at the winter meetings.
Starting pitcher Chris Paddack is a trade candidate, owed $7.5 million for the last year of his contract, but his trade market may not fully develop until more free-agent pitchers make signing decisions. Paddack carries some injury risk, but he will be another year removed from his second Tommy John surgery.
Catcher Christian Vázquez’s trade market is more complicated. He’s owed $10 million, so teams likely will ask the Twins to pay down some of the salary. The Twins, however, like their catching situation with Ryan Jeffers behind the plate for about half the games, so trading Vázquez would require the Twins adding another backup catcher, and there may not be any legitimate options remaining in free agency.
Trading Willi Castro, because of his projected $6 million salary, is a possibility, but Carlos Correa is unlikely to be traded, though the Twins front office wouldn’t immediately hang up the phone if another team brought him up. The Twins have several other options, but those players would bring less salary relief.
Here are some other takeaways from the winter meetings:
- Whether it comes through a trade or freed-up salary to sign a free agent, the Twins are seeking a first baseman and a right-handed-hitting outfielder. The Twins have interest in a reunion with Carlos Santana, who won a Gold Glove last year. Austin Hays, who played for new Twins hitting coach Matt Borgschulte in Baltimore, could be a fit in the outfield after he was released by the Philadelphia Phillies last month.
- The Twins haven’t closed the door on the idea of using Griffin Jax as a starting pitcher next season, but it appears unlikely. There are Twins officials who think he could succeed at it with his pitch mix, even if his velocity slightly declined while throwing more innings, but Jax knows he’s one of the most dominant relievers in the league, too.
- Falvey was asked to pick a prospect he thinks could impact the major league club next season. He named center fielder Emmanuel Rodriguez, who finished the year at Class AAA. “There’s some development left, like there is in any young player, but he has such a unique profile with the ability to hit for power and get on base that I think he’s a really interesting player that’s a lot closer than we think.”
- Tyler Holton was one of the most important members of the Detroit Tigers’ pitching staff because of his versatility. He posted a 2.19 ERA over 94⅓ innings while starting nine games and earning eight saves. “I don’t think there are many guys that volunteer for a role like that,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I haven’t thought about guys on our team that would be able to do things like that, but Lou Varland would do anything we asked him to do. If we asked him to open, close, pitch a bulk role or start, he would do any of it and probably do it to the best of his abilities and be fine.”
- Matt Canterino, a pitching prospect plagued by injuries, is expected to work as a reliever if he can remain healthy. The Twins kept him on their 40-man roster after he threw live batting practice sessions in October. “He’s starting to ramp up his throwing again,” Twins General Manager Jeremy Zoll said. “Optimistic that we’ll get him over the hump this time and see how it goes from there.”
Talk of competing for the best players or of a potential new owner wielding big bucks doesn’t change this: They are last in popularity among the four major men’s pro sports.
