Minnesota Twins: Ranking the Top 35 Free Agent Relievers Available
By Otto Johnson
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 35 relievers for the Minnesota Twins to go after in Free Agency.
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 gone over all of the offensive positions of need:
We’ll finish up today’s list with what could be the team’s biggest need: the bullpen. While Kyle Farmer shouldn’t be the only shortstop they bring in, they at least have a player who is capable enough to start until Royce Lewis returns. The relief corps is in dire need of a major upgrade.
The team has some talent. Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, and Caleb Thielbar were excellent in 2022. Bounce-back years from Jorge Lopez and Jorge Alcala are very likely. Jovani Moran looked very impressive. The team needs eight relievers though, and right now, they have one for-sure stud, five (probably) good relievers, and the rest are major question marks.
Emilio Pagan and Trevor Megill were awful despite great stuff. Cole Sands, Josh Winder and Ronny Henriquez showed promise, but all three are far from sure things, which isn’t ideal as long far as long relief options go. The team needs some help, especially if they (correctly) want to use Duran as a key leverage reliever instead of traditional closer. Let’s go over some of their options.