"After entering the offseason as expected sellers, the Twins have seemingly reversed course. They're now inclined to hold Byron Buxton, and Pablo López while making a few depth additions. Speaking at the Winter Meetings, general manager Jeremy Zoll highlighted revamping the bullpen and adding a power hitter as two offseason goals. Minnesota has never spent much on the bullpen under president of baseball operations Derek Falvey. That's likely to continue this offseason, as they'll presumably take a volume approach and bring in a few arms on one-year deals."
"Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports that Minnesota has checked in with each of Ryan O'Hearn, Rhys Hoskins and . Hayes writes that the front office has around $20MM to spend this offseason. That opens the ability to play in the third or fourth tier of free agent bats. The Twins should be able to find an upgrade over utility player Kody Clemens, who's probably the top in-house option at first base."
"O'Hearn, a lefty bat, would be the most expensive of that trio. The 32-year-old is coming off a .281/.366/.437 showing with 17 homers across 544 plate appearances between the Orioles and Padres. He has been an above-average hitter in three consecutive seasons. O'Hearn has improved his approach while hitting between 14 and 17 longballs in each of the past three years."
Minnesota entered the offseason expecting to sell but now appears inclined to hold Byron Buxton and Pablo López while adding depth. The front office identified revamping the bullpen and acquiring a power hitter—likely at first base—as primary offseason objectives. The team historically spends little on relief pitching and plans to target multiple one-year bullpen arms on low-cost deals. The Twins have roughly $20MM of payroll flexibility, enabling pursuit of third- or fourth-tier free-agent bats. Ryan O'Hearn, Rhys Hoskins and Bell have drawn checks from Minnesota. O'Hearn projects to command the largest contract among those targets.
Read at MLB Trade Rumors
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