Minnesota Twins: Ranking the Top 10 Free Agent Shortstops Available

The Minnesota Twins are facing a tough challenge ahead of the 2023 season. After the 2022 season went awry, fans are angry, and the roster has some pretty major holes. In order to fix things, the team needs to spend, and after seeing nine players entering the free agent pool, there’s lots of money to work with.

In addition to some potential trade moves (the Twins have a lot of decent talent in the high minors), the Twins could use help everywhere other than second base, whether that be another catcher to pair with Ryan Jeffers, a shortstop, a true first baseman, a legit third baseman to non-tender Gio Urshela, any of the outfield spots (Buck needs a backup), or more pitching.

We rank the Top 10 shortstops for the Minnesota Twins to go after in Free Agency.

With all of those needs in mind and free agency about to begin, it’s time to break down the different players that they can spend money on. We’ll go position by position, talk strengths and weaknesses, whether the Twins would be interested, and if there’s a real chance.

For each list, we’ll be breaking down the positions into three groups: decent players who would be disappointments, good players who would fill the need, and top notch players that fans would be thrilled to get.

We’ve already covered catchers and first basemen, and the team’s depth at second base (and only Jean Segura and Adam Frazier as viable options at the position), we skipped ahead to the team’s most desperate need: shortstop.

The 2022 Twins desperately needed a shortstop too, and they responded by taking advantage of a strange lockout market by signing Carlos Correa, arguably the best in the game at his position. Now, after Correa (as expected) opted out of his deal, Royce Lewis not due back until June/July, and Jermaine Palacios waived, the team once again desperately needs a shortstop.

The team will assuredly sign a shortstop, whether it be one of the four top options or a stopgap option until Royce Lewis returns, so similar to catcher, the question becomes: who will become the team’s Opening Day shortstop? Let’s talk about the potential answers.

Minnesota Twins Top Free Agent Shortstops: No. 10-7

• No. 10: Jonathan Villar (S)
• No. 9: Aledmys Diaz (R)
• No. 8: Andrelton Simmons (R)
• No. 7: Didi Gregorius (L)

This is the group of shortstops that Twins fans should feel nothing short of major disappointment if the team signs. If the team wants Royce Lewis to be the man at short, that’s understandable, but adding any of these options would be nothing short of waving a white flag until he returns.

Jonathan Villar and Aledmys Diaz aren’t good offensively, but both would be able to help out with multiple positions as depth once Lewis took over the position again. The team needs production though, so neither offer much outside of being a stopgap.

A reunion with Andrelton Simmons would give the team a solid defender, but bringing him back is the last thing that Twins fans would want to see. His disappointing first tenure here means enough that the team probably won’t bring him back.

Didi Gregorius is in a different situation. The longtime Twins killer and Yankee hero has had a rough past two seasons, but he has a much better track record than the other three players on this list. He’s a mostly decent defender, but signing him would require some belief that he bounces back, and that just seems unlikely.

Minnesota Twins Top Free Agent Shortstops: 6-5

• No. 6: Jose Iglesias (R)
• No. 5: Elvis Andrus (R)

The first group of shortstops really don’t move the needle for the Twins at all, but this second group has some real ability to play the position solidly and hold over for Royce Lewis. If things break right, they could even keep the job and allow Lewis to play his ideal role of utility man.

Jose Iglesias is the perfect example of a stopgap shortstop. His numbers from 2022 are right in line with where he’s been over the past three years, a time period where he’s slashed .292/.325/.408 and historically been an okay defender.

He can’t hit for power and rarely walks, but Iglesias also doesn’t strike out very often. He’d come cheap and would be very easily moved into a backup role while not sinking the team’s season. If the team spends big elsewhere, he’s a fine option.

Elvis Andrus is in the same boat. The two-time All-Star is still reliable with his glove, but it’s his bat that has been his calling card, and that was true late last season. Andrus slashed .271/.309/.464 with 9 homers in 43 games after joining the White Sox.

There’s no expectation that Andrus will post a similar stat line if he were to join the team, but for 60-70 games, he’d be a more than decent replacement. He only lands over Iglesias because Iglesias offers so little in terms of power.