Twins exploring pitching, outfield additions as spring training starts up

FORT MYERS, FLA. — The Twins didn’t make most of their offseason additions until the last couple of weeks, and it appears there could be more changes to the roster during spring training.

Over the last two-plus weeks, the Twins traded second baseman Jorge Polanco and utilityman Nick Gordon while adding first baseman Carlos Santana, starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani, and relievers Justin Topa, Jay Jackson and Steven Okert.

The Twins are still searching for more pitching depth — like many teams — and there is room to add a righthanded-hitting outfielder.

“We’re kind of rounding out the roster right now is what we’re doing,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I don’t call them big, small and how impactful — they all mean something to us. We’ll miss Nick, but we bring in Okert, who is a good lefthanded reliever, and a good guy in the clubhouse. These are the things that we’re going to just continue to do. We make upgrades when we can and maybe we still have some more moves to make at this point.”

The Twins have a history of adding players after the start of camp. Donovan Solano turned into an impact signing, and he didn’t arrive until Feb. 23 last year.

Payroll estimates have the Twins at around $120 million and Derek Falvey, Twins president of baseball operations, said they were still looking to add to the roster after signing Santana and Jackson to one-year contracts. The club carried a team-record payroll above $155 million last year, and it might drop by around $25 million.

Unlikely to fit a top free-agent starting pitcher into the budget, their best chance to add a front-line starting pitcher is likely through a trade and it would probably require parting with one of their top prospects in addition to any major leaguers.

The Twins haven’t ruled out a reunion with free-agent center fielder Michael A. Taylor, though he was previously seeking a two-year contract. Adam Duvall is another potential fit as a righthanded hitter with experience in center field. Duvall hit .247 with 21 homers, 58 RBI and a .303 on-base percentage in 92 games for the Boston Red Sox last year while starting 56 games in center.

Other righthanded-hitting outfielders on the free agent market include Tommy Pham and Whit Merrifield.

“We have some guys that we think are definitely good players and capable out there,” said Baldelli, noting Willi Castro and Austin Martin give the Twins some internal depth in the outfield. “But we could add a righthanded-hitting outfielder to complement those guys. That’s filling out the group.”

The Twins announced eight spring training games will be televised on Bally Sports North this year, which includes three simulcasts taking the opposing team’s broadcasting feed.

The first game Bally Sports North is picking up is March 12, when the Twins play a road game against the Detroit Tigers. Cory Provus, BSN’s new play-by-play voice, will call three games in the last week of spring training, two games alongside analyst Justin Morneau and one game with LaTroy Hawkins.

Two games televised by Bally Sports North will pick up the radio feed from announcers Kris Atteberry and Dan Gladden. Atteberry and Gladden will call 20 of the team’s 34 spring training games on the radio.

* FanGraphs released its top-100 prospects list Thursday and four Twins players made the list: outfielder Walker Jenkins (No. 26), outfielder Emmanuel Rodriguez (No. 39), infielder Brooks Lee (No. 42) and righthanded starter David Festa (No. 97). Rodriguez is on the 40-man roster while Lee and Festa are nonroster invitees to big-league camp.