Offseason Outlook: Minnesota Twins

By some measures, the Twins’ season was a pleasant surprise. Minnesota was in contention for much of the first half and even operated as buyers at the deadline. On the other hand, their dalliance with contention stemmed more from an almost unfathomably mediocre American League, where most of the league was at least nominally in contention through the first several months. By season’s end, the Twins were sitting on a 77-85 record that was more or less in line with preseason expectations after 2025’s deadline teardown and a pretty quiet offseason. There are already signs that this winter, however, will be more active. Guaranteed Contracts Byron Buxton, OF: $30MM through 2028 (up to $10.5MM in annual incentives based on plate appearances and MVP voting) Pablo López, RHP: $21.5MM through 2027 Victor Caratini, C: $10MM through 2027 (includes $3.5MM buyout of 2028 mutual option) Jeff Hoffman, RHP: $7.25MM through 2027 (Blue Jays paying $3.75MM of Hoffman’s $11MM salary) Other Financial Commitments $20MM owed to Astros ($10MM in 2027, $10MM in 2028) as part of 2025 Carlos Correa trade $25K buyout on 2027 mutual option for Justin Topa (released in May) Total 2027 commitments: $60.275MM Total long-term commitments: $88.775MM through 2028 Option Decisions Joe Ryan, RHP: $13MM mutual option with $100K buyout (remains arbitration-eligible if option declined) Josh Bell, 1B/DH: $10MM mutual option with $1.25MM buyout Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; salary projections via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) Anthony Banda (5.135): $2.3MM Dean Kremer (5.107): $6.5MM Bailey Ober (5.093): $6.9MM Joe Ryan (5.033): $9.6MM (current deal has $13MM mutual option for 2027 with $100K buyout) Trevor Larnach (5.014): $6.3MM Royce Lewis (4.139): $5.1MM Cole Sands (4.017): $1.3MM Tommy Nance (3.165): $1.2MM Kody Clemens (3.134): $3.6MM Taj Bradley (3.097): $4.5MM Non-tender candidates: Banda, Ober, Lewis, Sands Free Agents Ryan Jeffers, A.J. Minter, Taylor Rogers, Alex Jackson (outrighted) The Twins’ 2026-27 offseason will commence with a much different feel than last time around. Following the 2025 season, Minnesota was only months removed from a deadline teardown that shipped out 11 players. The Pohlad family, which has owned the team for four decades, had explored a sale but had pivoted to bringing in multiple (as of then) unknown minority stakeholders to join the ownership group. The main question was whether the teardown would continue with trades of Joe Ryan, Pablo López and even Byron Buxton. A year later, the Twins’ ownership group not only has more stability from its new additions but a new control person. The front office has a new leader. Tom Pohlad ousted younger brother Joe and took the reins of the team. Longtime president of baseball operations Derek Falvey stepped down in January, just over one year after his longtime No. 2 — GM Thad Levine — opted to leave the team. Assistant GM Daniel Adler and the Twins mutually agreed to part ways last month. Minnesota will also be on the lookout for a new pitching coach after electing not to renew Pete Maki’s contract. It’s a dizzying slate of turnover, but the result is a Jeremy Zoll-led front office. Zoll, who rose through the Dodgers’ ranks for years before being hired away by Minnesota and eventually elevated to GM in the wake of Levine’s departure, enters his first offseason running the ship. Finding a replacement for Maki and assistant pitching coach Luis Ramirez is probably first on the agenda. With so many high-profile decision-makers leaving the club in the past two years, it wouldn’t be a shock to see some new names join the baseball operations staff, though it’s not clear the Twins are actively seeking out any new assistant GMs to aid Zoll. Once the early personnel decisions are out of the way, Zoll & Co. will turn their sights to reshaping a roster that has already gone through a major transition. We’ll dive more into the promising young core that has bubbled up to the majors in a bit, but before any of that, it bears emphasizing that the Twins seem poised for a far more aggressive winter than we’ve seen the past few offseasons. Tom Pohlad has been far more vocal than predecessors Joe (his younger brother), Jim (his uncle) and Carl (his grandfather). He gave several interviews throughout the 2026 season and was emphatic at every opportunity that his plan is to raise the payroll and win back the trust of a jilted fanbase. Granted, raising payroll over 2026 levels won’t be hard. Back in 2023, the Twins rode a franchise-record payroll of nearly $155MM to a postseason berth and a Wild Card round win over the Blue Jays before falling 3-1 versus the Astros in the ALDS. The good vibes from that breakthrough didn’t last long. Ownership slashed payroll every offseason since, bottoming out with an Opening Day mark in the $105MM range this past season. Despite his frequent mentions of raising payroll, Tom Pohlad hasn’t indicated whether payroll will rise back to its 2023 levels at any point in the near future. Rather, he’s suggested that he has faith in Zoll’s ability to make good baseball decisions and that he’ll support him at every turn. That leaves plenty of room for interpretation, but it’s encouraging for Twins fans that the newest Pohlad-in-charge has intimated that a merely modest payroll increase won’t get the job done. “A $100 million payroll, or anything close to that, is not sufficient to be consistently competitive and in the playoffs,” Pohlad told the Twins beat at season’s end (via Dan Hayes of The Athletic). “We intend to take the offseason and meaningfully invest. I know everybody in this room wants me to define what meaningfully is, and I understand that’s a subjective word. But I am confident that if (Zoll) has conviction about a move that’s going to improve this roster and help us accomplish our goals, that this ownership group is prepared to support him with the financial resources he needs.” To get a sense for what might be in the cards, it’s first important to get a lay of the land. The Twins owe a combined $53.75MM to the quartet of Buxton, López, Jeff Hoffman and Victor Caratini in 2027. They’re also on the hook for $10MM of Carlos Correa’s salary as part of the ’25 deadline stunner that sent him back to Houston. They have a fairly large arbitration class, headlined by Ryan’s final trip through the process, but said class also features several non-tender and/or trade candidates. A reasonably back-of-the-napkin projection would give the Twins a bit more than $87MM owed to nine players on the roster, plus a slate of league-minimum salaries (whatever that may be in the next collective bargaining agreement) to round out the roster. There’s a bit of breathing room between that number and this year’s $105MM Opening Day mark, and that’s before getting into some of the possible trade scenarios we’ll dive into shortly. If Pohlad is comfortable truly juicing payroll by a wide margin over last year’s levels, then Minnesota could be in for its most aggressive offseason since the Twins shocked the baseball world by signing Correa (in consecutive offseasons). Where could that money be invested? Let’s take a look. Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco. Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony. Remove ads and support our writers. Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker