Minnesota Twins: Ranking the Top 25 Free Agent Outfielders 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, whether that be another catcher to pair with Ryan Jeffers, a shortstop, a true first baseman, any of the outfield spots (Buck needs a backup), or more pitching.

We rank the Top 25 outfielders 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.

So far, we’ve covered catcher, first base, and shortstop, and we continue onward with the outfield. Similar to second base, third base isn’t a need at all, as Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee both profile there with Gio Urshela and Jose Miranda in the bigs now, a thin market (Justin Turner and Brandon Drury are the only noteworthy options) means we best focus elsewhere.

The outfield is an extremely interesting situation. As mentioned yesterday, the re-addition of Kyle Garlick is a game-changer in that the Twins simply have too many outfielders on the roster who only can hold organizational depth roles. I’d expect that to change tomorrow on the 40-Man roster deadline, especially with so many great free agent options. With that in mind, let’s dig in.

Minnesota Twins Top Free Agent Outfielders: No. 17-No. 10

• No. 17: Andrew McCutchen
• No. 16: Corey Dickerson
• No. 15: Wil Myers
• No. 14: Tyler Naquin
• No. 13: Jurickson Profar
• No. 12: Matt Carpenter
• No. 11: Joey Gallo
• No. 10: A.J. Pollock
• No. 9: Kevin Kiermaier

The first eight outfielders all don’t move the needle much for the Minnesota Twins, but these eight outfielders almost certainly would. Most of them shouldn’t be placed in everyday roles, but they’d be great platoon options (even better than Garlick).

Andrew McCutchen is more of a veteran leader and designated hitter at this point, but the former MVP has some left in the tank. He may have struggled last year, but the man with a career .936 slashline against lefties would still be worth a one year flyer to see him in a Minnesota Twins uniform.

Corey Dickerson, Wil Myers, and Tyler Naquin are a decent trio of outfielders, with all three capable of producing some offense (with your defense suffering). Despite a middling (bordering on bad) year in 2022, each one was quite productive in 2021, so if they can come cheap, they might be better than some of the current options on the roster.

Jurickson Profar continues to offer good depth for any team that adds him, and after an impressive 3.1 bWAR season, his switch-hitting ability would be a big boost. Profar is the type of players that great teams hunt for.

Matt Carpenter had an incredible 47-game run with the Yankees last year (.305/.412/.727), but he’s about to be 37 and there’s a legitimate question as to whether he can repeat it (though it might be worth a look). Joey Gallo doesn’t offer a lot on defense, but he’s still one of the better defenders available. If Kepler is moved, he’d be an interesting replacement.

A.J. Pollock was dominant in 172 games between 2020 and 2021 (133 OPS+), and with his ability to play all three outfield positions, he’s worth taking a chance on despite a disappointing 2022. With strong splits against left-handers as well, Pollock would be a near-perfect fit in Minnesota and a big upgrade over Kyle Garlick.

The last player on this list is Kevin Kiermaier. Arguably the second-best defensive center fielder in baseball, Kiermaier is a tremendous defender who does little with his bat. The team needs a Buxton backup for when the superstar inevitably goes down, but is another injury-prone player that might not really add too much the answer?

Minnesota Twins Top Free Agent Outfielders: No. 8-No. 1

• No. 8: J.D. Martinez
• No. 7: Michael Conforto
• No. 6: Andrew Benintendi
• No. 5: Mitch Haniger
• No. 4: Michael Brantley
• No. 3: Joc Pederson
• No. 2: Brandon Nimmo
• No. 1: Aaron Judge

Each and every one of these signings would be a massive addition to the offense, a player that you expect to play every single day. Sure, a few of them would likely command the largest free agent deal in team history, but the ones at the top are worth it.

J.D. Martinez and Michael Brantley are separated by five spots on this list, but both are designated hitters at this point in their respective careers. Martinez still has plenty of power, Brantley has great contact skills, so their bats would both be huge in a lineup that needs more hitting.

Michael Conforto is one of the offseason’s biggest unknowns coming off a major shoulder surgery, but if he comes back healthy, he’s an absolute stud. Andrew Benintendi is an extremely reliable corner outfielder, but his left-handed bat wouldn’t be as useful as player like Mitch Haniger.

Haniger has certainly had a down year in 2021, posting his lowest OPS (.736) since his rookie season, but the right-handed batter would still be a great fit with the Minnesota Twins, as the right fielder typically mashes lefties and would give the team more lineup flexibility.

Joc Pederson was a legitimate star in 2022, posting a monstrous .874 OPS (144 OPS+) and playing all three outfield spots and mashing 23 homers. He’s likely do for a slight regression, but he still would be an All-Star level outfielder.

One spot above him is Brandon Nimmo, whose down year (by his standards) still resulted in a 130 OPS+ and a 5.1 bWAR. He’s a legitimate star center fielder who is pretty strong defensively and could man the corners if Buck was healthy. He’ll likely command a monstrous deal, but if the Twins can be in the conversation or would have interest, he’d solidify the outfield for a long time to come.

Lastly, the top spot on this list is Aaron Judge. Judge’s historic 2022 season saw him lead the American League in RBI, walks, OBP, slugging percentage, OPS, OPS+, runs, total bases, and set the AL record for homers with 62. If that weren’t enough, the near-lock for AL MVP missed the Triple Crown by .005 in the batting average category, an incredible feat.

Judge will almost certainly earn the largest free agent deal in MLB history (and certainly in this class), and while the going assumption is he will land back in New York, at least a couple different websites suggest that the Minnesota Twins could be a very dark horse (a guy can dream).

Today’s 40-man roster deadline and Friday’s non-tender deadline will bring more clarity to the outfield position, but the team could definitely use some real help to make the outfield a definitive strength, rather than a very large, injury-plagued question mark.