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. 25-No. 18

• No. 25: Jackie Bradley Jr.
• No. 24: Adam Duvall
• No. 23: Chad Pinder
• No. 22: Jake Marisnick
• No. 21: Ben Gamel
• No. 20: Tommy Pham
• No. 19: Odubel Herrera
• No. 18: Robbie Grossman

These first eight outfielders on the list all come with some serious issues, mostly offensively, as each one hasn’t aged as well as they would have liked. With nine outfielders on the current roster, the team should avoid signing these veterans to active roster deals, but an MiLB deal with an invite to Spring Training Camp would make for a great deal.

Jackie Bradley Jr. is nowhere near his prime, but his defensive ability hasn’t faded enough that he’s worth taking a chance on. Duvall, Pinder, Marisnick and Gamel all offer interesting profiles, but likely wouldn’t crack a big league roster and don’t top Celestino’s potential or Contreras’ defense.

Tommy Pham hasn’t been a stud since 2019, but he was decent in 2021 and offers some decent pop and a little bit of speed. He’s the perfect candidate to try and sneak onto a roster. Odubel Herrera makes some mistakes defensively and doesn’t offer a lot offensively, but if the Twins were looking for a cheap Buxton backup, they’d have trouble finding a better deal.

The last player on this group is former Twins outfielder Robbie Grossman. Grossman played great defense, got on base a ton, and was a stud from 2020-2021 (.784 OPS). He’s 33 now and shouldn’t play a major role, but the switch-hitter would be great to have back in the fold.

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?