DALLAS — In what’s proving to be another dull winter, the offseason is a month old and thus far there are no changes to the Minnesota Twins’ Opening Day roster short of Alex Kirilloff’s surprise retirement.
Even though the Winter Meetings begin Monday in Dallas, the team’s slow-moving pace isn’t expected to accelerate anytime soon.
Following several years of furious activity, including major trades and significant free-agent signings like Carlos Correa (twice), Josh Donaldson and Nelson Cruz, the Twins are unlikely to complete any needle-moving acquisitions this offseason, their second low-key winter in a row.
Faced with self-imposed financial limitations, the front office must fill out a talented roster they believe can compete by once again reallocating assets. Their biggest challenge is improving the roster while concurrently reducing payroll. Payroll for the current roster is projected to be $140 million, but the team has roughly a $130 million budget, the same as last year.
At a time when the team could use a talent infusion to reconnect with a discouraged fan base that has stayed away for several years, the possibility of the Twins making such a move seems out of the question after the Pohlad family announced in October it is exploring selling the team after 40 years of ownership.
Though the club’s immediate future may seem bleak and uninspiring, the front office believes the Twins still return a good team on paper. Early betting odds have the Twins with the best chances of winning the AL Central because the bones of a team that went 12-27 down the stretch and missed the playoffs are still very promising.
“It leaves us scratching our heads that much more about how did that happen at the end of the season,” Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll said. “And (it leaves us) wanting to make sure we do everything we can to not let that be the case moving forward. Ultimately, the way the roster projects even without making any moves is certainly really encouraging and exciting. But we can’t rest on that. We have to find a way to keep putting ourselves in the best position possible.”
Given their limitations, perhaps the easiest way for the Twins to put themselves in the best position to round out the roster would be to unload Carlos Correa’s franchise-record contract by trading him to one of the teams that came up empty in the Juan Soto sweepstakes. Correa, Byron Buxton and Pablo López are scheduled to earn $72.5 million this season, a figure that accounts for 56 percent of the team’s expected $130 million payroll, a much bigger chunk than it was two years ago when the Twins featured a club-record $153.7 million payroll, according to Cots Contracts.
From a mathematical standpoint, subtracting Correa’s contract with four years and $128 million remaining has merit. The Twins could turn to Brooks Lee or Willi Castro at shortstop and use the money saved on Correa to acquire multiple players to complete their roster.
But replacing Correa’s value, regardless of how much he earns, would be difficult. Players with 6-WAR potential don’t grow on trees. Then there’s the matter of Correa’s high baseball IQ and his leadership, both of which were dearly missed down the stretch when the All-Star was sidelined for 53 games with plantar fasciitis.
For their part, the Twins say trading one of their big contracts isn’t a focus. They want to win this year and think they have a core in place that can make a successful postseason run. But now that Soto is off the board, Correa could be an attractive fallback plan for one of those big-spending teams and change the Twins’ outlook.
Still, the Twins receiving the type of value they’d seek for Correa in a trade seems unlikely, making the possibility of a massive trade far-fetched.
So what else might they do?
Chris Paddack is the player most likely to be moved. Though his season ended in July, Paddack showed promise over 88-plus innings in 2024 as he returned from a second Tommy John surgery, enough that a team looking for an affordable one-year starting option should come calling.
The Twins also could look into trading Castro, an All-Star who can play all over the field and only has one year before he heads to free agency.
There’s also the possibility the Twins trade catcher Christian Vázquez, though at this point the team would likely need to eat part of his $10 million salary to make it happen.
Other possibilities could include trading Bailey Ober, Griffin Jax or Johan Duran.
If they move any of these players, the Twins would be primarily looking for help at first base and in the corner-outfield spots in return.
While the Twins have been slow on the acquisition front, their offseason started with a cavalcade of big news.
The Twins started October by firing or reassigning four coaches off last year’s staff, including parting with hitting coach David Popkins.
They’ve since replaced Popkins and company with hitting coach Matt Borgschulte, assistant coach Trevor Amicone and assistant Rayden Sierra.
They also replaced infield/assistant bench coach Tony Diaz by promoting two coaches. Hank Conger was elevated to assistant bench coach while longtime minor-league manager Ramon Borrego is taking over the infield and first-base coaching duties.
Beyond those moves, Dave St. Peter announced he’ll transition from team president into a senior advisory role in January with Derek Falvey taking over as club president.
The Twins also opted to not renew the contract of former general manager Thad Levine in October. Zoll was promoted from assistant GM to GM in November.
The team announced in October it would allow Major League Baseball to take over running its broadcasts after severing ties with Bally/Diamond Sports.
And then the Pohlad family announced its intention to explore selling a team it has owned since 1984.
While the Twins made it clear in October that there are no payroll reductions to come after trimming payroll by an astonishing $30 million a year ago, the impending sale almost certainly means no significant increases, either.
Unfortunately for fans, that leaves the front office little wiggle room to improve a roster seemingly only a few moves from being a serious contender.
(Photo of Chris Paddack: Matt Krohn / Getty Images)
