Minnesota Twins: 3 Non-Tendered Players for the Twins to Target

It was a busy first month of the offseason across baseball, with many free agents who would normally wait until February already inking big contracts before the lockout. The Minnesota Twins have made a couple of moves, extending Byron Buxton and adding Dylan Bundy on a one-year deal. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen a high-profile free agent acquisition yet.

It looks like a players’ market with a lot of money handed out thus far, and the Twins might not be comfortable giving away a nine-figure deal. But, with the non-tender deadline behind us, players were added to the free agent pool who won’t command such big contracts.

The list is a bit more shallow in 2022 than last season, as there’s no Kyle Schwarber or Eddie Rosario. However, there is still some talent that could make a big impact for a retooling Twins team.

Last offseason, the Twins brought in Hansel Robles on a one-year, $2 million deal after the Angels didn’t tender him a contract. He wasn’t great, posting a 4.91 ERA before being dealt to the Red Sox at the deadline. So it doesn’t always work out, but if you don’t try, you’ll never find those diamonds in the rough.

With several needs the Twins have to fill, the Twins can try and complete their roster with a few of those diamonds. Here, I highlight three non-tendered players that I believe can make the Minnesota Twins better in 2022.

Minnesota Twins Non-Tender Candidate No. 1: 1B Mike Ford

Mike Ford first burst onto the scene with the New York Yankees in 2019 after an impressive minor league career, slashing .259/.350/.559 in 50 games that year. Since that rookie season, though, he hasn’t been the same hitter and has bounced around a bit, seeing time in the Rays and Nationals minor league system after the Yankees gave up hope.

During the last two seasons, he owns a .134/.250/.276 slash line in 51 major league games. It’s a small sample size, but it’s far off from the .909 OPS he managed in ‘19, but it’s why the Nationals decided to non-tender him. I still think he has something in the bat. In 40 games with the Rays Triple-A affiliate when he hit .243 with 11 HRs and a .874 OPS.

He’s left-handed but has shown reversed splits in his major league career, posting a 150 wRC+ against southpaws. That makes him a candidate to platoon with one of the left-handed hitters in the lineup if he can find his stroke again.

The raw power he possesses is very attractive given how cheap he’ll be on the market. There aren’t many opportunities to bring in a player who produced a .301 ISO just three years ago. The key part for him is that he doesn’t need to set the world on fire. If he can manage an OPS around .760 with 12-15 HRs as a part-time player, that’s a valuable bat who will outperform his contract.

Minnesota Twins Non-Tender Candidate No. 3: RHP Chad Kuhl

Everyone knows the Twins are desperate for starting pitching, so I had to include one here. It was slim pickings, though, making Chad Kuhl the best choice over the injured Matthew Boyd.

When you look at what he’s done in his career, Kuhl may seem underwhelming. That’s true, and there are no underlying numbers to suggest it’s been a product of bad luck. He has a career 4.44 ERA and is coming off a 4.82 ERA season.

He doesn’t strike people out and walks too many, posting an 8.40 K/9 and 4.71 BB/9 in 2021. In terms of quality of contact, according to Statcast, he put up a 4.83 xERA, .347 wOBA, and .334 xwOBA.

There isn’t much to like. Why on Earth should we even think about giving Kuhl a chance? It really just comes down to the fact that he was a Pittsburgh Pirate. The Pirates have become notorious for wasting talented arms, such as Gerrit Cole, Tyler Glasnow, and Charlie Morton. He was never an elite prospect, but he was ranked 16th in a solid 2016 Pirates system.

The philosophy in Pittsburgh has been the opposite of pretty much the rest of the league; pitch to contact and don’t waste your energy racking up strikeouts. Kuhl seems to be another case of the Pirate way, throwing his sinker 11.4% of the time, even though it was his worst pitch according to xwOBA. Instead of wasting 11.4% of his pitches, he could be throwing his better offerings to get swings and misses, or at least weaker contact.

If another team like the Twins picks him up and fixes his pitch usage a bit, he may become a solid back of the rotation arm or at least a swingman. He has good offspeed pitches and a fastball that averages 94 MPH. There’s little risk in at least trying it out, and he’d probably take a minor-league deal. At this point, the Twins should be considering every rotation option available, so why not Kuhl?

This list of players doesn’t have high-end names, but that doesn’t mean they can’t make an impact. I think the potential outweighs the cost, and right now, the Twins don’t have enough depth to be a real World Series contender.

Adding a low-end free agent doesn’t mean the Twins can’t be in on some bigger name too. However, the smaller moves are necessary to build a championship roster. That’s why I would like to see the Twins give at least one of these guys a shot.