Twins expect quiet offseason to heat up ahead of spring training

The Twins are one of six teams that haven’t signed a major league free agent this offseason, but their front office expects trade talks and free agent conversations to pick up with spring training three weeks away.

The lack of activity leading into mid-January isn’t unusual for the Twins. The trade that brought Pablo López two years ago wasn’t done until Jan. 20. Last year, they dealt Jorge Polanco in a five-player deal on Jan. 29, signed Carlos Santana on Feb. 2 and acquired Manuel Margot in a trade during spring training.

“The reality of the baseball offseason is it feels like each year I come here, there is a lot more ahead of us than behind us,” said Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey at Wednesday’s Baseball Old Timers Hot Stove League annual banquet. “We’ve made trades, acquisitions in February and March. That’s just the way baseball works these days. Ultimately, I feel like it’s the midway point to the offseason. We have a lot more work to do.”

The Twins have very little financial flexibility with a projected $134 million Opening Day payroll, according to Cot’s Contracts, which is near the same level as last year. They’ve been far more focused on the trade market than free agency throughout the winter, but Falvey said the lack of teams acting as sellers has complicated trade talks.

“Often, we get to a place in the offseason where it’s clear 10, 11 teams are in a rebuild phase and they’re kind of restarting,” Falvey said. “That’s not the case right now. There are probably only two or three real sellers. Everyone else is trying to compete and win, which is good for the game. It’s healthy for the game. It makes it harder to find trades to work because if everyone is trying to go for it at the same time, those major league for prospect trades are a lot harder to come by.”

Starting pitcher Chris Paddack, catcher Christian Vázquez and utilityman Willi Castro remain the Twins’ leading trade candidates because they are all making more than $6 million this year and they will reach free agency after the season. None of the three, however, would be expected to net a significant return in a trade.

Paddack missed the final two months of last season because of a right forearm strain, and he hasn’t pitched more than 110 innings in a season since 2019. Trading Vázquez would likely require the Twins paying down some of his $10 million salary, but a deal would leave the Twins without a viable backup catcher and there are no real alternatives on the free-agent market.

Castro could deliver a better trade return than the other two, but his ability to play shortstop and center field is invaluable to the Twins, especially with the injury histories for Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton.

The Twins, if they free up some salary from their own payroll restrictions, want to add a righthanded-hitting outfielder and a first baseman.

“I like the team we have,” Falvey said. “I like a lot of the group that we have. Obviously, you’re going to get hit on certain players and there are going to be some interesting conversations that come up that you weren’t anticipating, but I really like the group that we have. I’d love to find ways to add to it if we can. Right now, it just really hasn’t happened.”

• Not that it comes as any surprise, but manager Rocco Baldelli confirmed López is his pick to be the Twins’ 2025 Opening Day starter. López could become the first Twins pitcher to make three consecutive Opening Day starts since Brad Radke made seven in a row from 1999 to 2005.

• Outgoing Twins President Dave St. Peter said there is no definitive timetable for the Pohlad family to complete their sale of the club. “I expect there will be multiple bidders and we’ll see where it goes over time,” St. Peter said. “I’m also incredibly confident that this team will remain in Minnesota over the long term for all kinds of reasons.”

• The Twins had four players listed on Baseball America’s preseason top 100 prospects list: outfielder Walker Jenkins (No. 5 overall), center fielder Emmanuel Rodriguez (No. 19), second baseman Luke Keaschall (No. 45) and starting pitcher Zebby Matthews (No. 73). Rodriguez and Matthews are on the Twins’ 40-man roster, and the club is hoping Keaschall will contribute in the majors this year.

• Austin Martin could see a lot of playing time in center field during spring training, manager Rocco Baldelli said, to become more acclimated to the position. Martin made 33 starts in center last year, but he had slow jumps reacting to batted balls. “He’s a very good athlete,” Baldelli said. “I think first exposure in the big leagues, his work in the outfield probably could’ve been better than it was, but all the ability is there.”