Minnesota Twins: Non-Tendered free agents of interest
By Nate Palmer
The Minnesota Twins have a lot of holes to fill this offseason and there are some players who just recently became free agents who could help.
The Minnesota Twins ended up trimming one player from their 40-man roster Friday as the deadline to tender players contracts came and went. That has made Robbie Grossman a free agent with the ability to sign with any team who may want him. Grossman wasn’t alone in being released from his 2018 team as several other players endured the same fate and are ready to sign with a new team.
The Twins have plenty of spots on their roster to plug as they head into the winter meetings in about a weeks time. Some of the newly made free agents could become attractive to the Twins at some point this offseason even if few of them aren’t players that we will drool over. Here is a list of a few names to keep an eye on this offseason.
RHP Mike Fiers
Mike Fiers was left to be a free agent after being acquired by the Oakland Athletics midseason in 2018. While his 2018 ERA of 3.58 was his best in several seasons the A’s didn’t want to tender him a contract likely because he was projected to make $9.7 million via arbitration. Fiers also just turned in one of the lowest strikeout rates of his career at 19.5% but also had a near career low with his walk rate of 5.2%.
Fiers FIP of 4.75 doesn’t support his strong 3.56 ERA and his 3.7 bWAR and 1.4 fWAR evaluate him much differently making Fiers a bit more tricky pitcher to evaluate. He certainly is not the first pitcher the Twins should go after, but if they needed or wanted a pitcher on the cheap Fiers is an option.
RHP Shelby Miller
How things have changed for Shelby Miller. Once the center of two eye catching trades, he has now been evaluated basically as damaged goods. 2017 was cut short for Miller by Tommy John and 2018 was a continued struggle to return from said surgery only being able to start four games. Some team will be willing to take a chance on Miller and hope that somewhere within him the All-Star 2015 Miller can still emerge.