The 2024-25 free agent market is loaded with talent. From Juan Soto to Corbin Burnes, MVP, Cy Young, and All-Star players are available at almost every position.
However, fewer teams will likely have the capital to spend on big-name free agents this offseason. The Minnesota Twins are among the teams with a tight budget. Their payroll will remain at around $130 million.
It’s unfortunate timing because some of these bigger-name players would fit well into the holes the Twins currently have on their roster. Their top positions to fill are a right-handed-hitting corner outfielder, a new first baseman to platoon alongside José Miranda and Edouard Julien, bullpen help (but that goes for all 30 teams), and a veteran starter who can fill the back end of the rotation and balance out innings workloads for their younger arms.
It’s been a while since right-handed hitting outfielders Teoscar Hernández and Anthony Santander’s caliber has been on the open market. Hernández and Santander represent the best alternative options for all the teams in on the Soto-sweepstakes that could miss out on him. However, for a mid-market team like the Twins, one of these outfielders would be atop their list in a year when the front office could increase payroll.
Teoscar Hernández
Hernández is coming off his second All-Star season. Shohei Ohtani led the Los Angeles Dodgers in most statistical categories. Still, Hernández was second on the team in home runs (33), RBI (99), and slugging percentage (.507). He cut back on his strikeout numbers, dropping from 31.1% in 2023 with the Seattle Mariners to 28.8% in 2024. However, his 188 strikeouts were still tied for the fourth in all of MLB.
His high number of strikeouts doesn’t equate to a lack of contact. Hernández posted a career-high .344 batting average on balls in play this season. His bat and primary defensive home in left field are the perfect fit for what the Twins need this off-season. However, the 32-year-old outfielder is projected to draw an annual salary of around $20 million a season.
Anthony Santander
Santander is expected to draw a similar annual salary as Hernández. The first-time All-Star set career highs in home runs (42), RBI (102), and OPS (.814) and will only be in his age-30 season for 2025. Santander is likely to draw a lengthier contract because of his age, and it could also bump his price range further out of the way for the Twins front office to pursue him.
Christian Walker
The Twins can afford to bring in a free-agent first baseman this year, even if that means re-signing 2024 first baseman and Gold Glove winner Carlos Santana. Although he turns 39 in 2025 and intends to try and play for three to four more years, a Twins front office with a larger budget may pursue a free agent younger than him, such as former Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker.
Lou Hennessy laid out cases for Josh Bell or even former MVP Paul Goldschmidt. The 34-year-old Walker would be the perfect replacement for Santana. For the previous two years, Walker was Santana’s National League counterpart for the Gold Glove.
The Diamondbacks gave Walker a qualifying offer worth roughly $21.05 million. Still, if Walker enters the free-agent market, he will be many teams’ second choice after Pete Alonso, the headliner this year. Walker is one of the best defenders at the position, and he has hit at least 26 home runs, 84 RBI, and an OPS over .800 in three consecutive seasons.
Walker’s All-Star level consistency at the plate and on the field will earn him offers that could surpass the annual amount in his qualifying offer. That makes it almost impossible for the Twins to sign this off-season. However, in a perfect world where the team payroll could be hovering around $180 million, he’d be the ideal solution for Minnesota’s needs at first base going into 2025.
Jordan Lyles
Even with a limited payroll, the Twins can pursue relievers this offseason. However, the bargain bin prices they’ve always spent on relievers cost them last year. Will they make the same mistakes in 2025 or play things close to the chest to avoid disaster again?
On the starting rotation front, the Twins have developed enough depth with their young prospects, making their need for one additional starter lower than in a long time. Still, with Simeon Woods Richardson and David Festa setting career highs in innings thrown in 2024 between Triple-A St. Paul and the Twins, an extra arm just to be an innings eater to lighten young arms workload couldn’t hurt.
A healthy Lyles would be the right guy at the right price to balance these things out. Or perhaps Michael Lorenzen, who made just $3.5 million last season with the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals. Still, signing even one of these arms could bankrupt Minnesota’s free agency budget, making them more of a wish list item than a potential signing.
