With the arrival of the Winter Meetings, the hot stove is likely to start heating up as free agency gets into full swing. Juan Soto is holding up the line as he determines which $700 million-plus deal he wants to accept, but one he signs the floodgates are expected to open and trades won't be very far behind.
Don't expect a lot from the Minnesota Twins, who rarely make splashy moves and don't typically get involved in the Winter Meetings chaos. That doesn't mean we won't hear their name whispered by the winds of the rumor mill, and not just for the bizarre Carlos Correa speculation that won't go away.
The Twins are up against their tight $130 million payroll, and if any meaningful additions are going to be made then subtractions will be necessary. Rather than a Pablo Lopez-style trade, the Twins could realistically be in the market for some salary dumps that free up some space.
3 players the Twins could salary dump in a trade this offseason
Chris Paddack, SP
The most movable name the Twins have outside of dipping into higher-end players like Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober is Chris Paddack. Minnesota bet on him to help make up the difference in production after letting Sonny Gray walk in free agency but that gamble didn't pay off. Padack finished the year with a 4.99 ERA and only 81.1 innings pitched, which is not anywhere near where the Twins needed him to be.
Still, he posted a 0.4 WAR and the work he did take wasn't a total disaster. There's value in Paddack being a No. 4 or No. 5 starter in a rotation but it's hard to see that being in Minnesota.
He's set to make $7.5 million, which is an amount of money the Twins would love to move but it's easier said than done. Trading Paddack would be a pure salary dump, and might require Minnesota throwing in something extra to sweeten the deal for whoever takes his contract on.
It's not an extraordinary amount of money, so it's not impossible to see the Twins being able to offload his deal without much of a fuss. There aren't a ton of obvious landing spots, though, which means this could be a deal that gets made late in the offseason with the money used to bring in a low wattage signing rather than getting someone at the height of free agency.
Christian Vazquez, C
Finding a trade partner for Christian Vazquez has been tough sledding, though, and it's starting to look increasingly unlikely that the Twins will be able to make something happen. Kyle Higashioka signing with the Rangers for $13.5 million over two years and Danny Jensen going to the Rays for $8.5 million only make it harder for Minnesota to move the $10 million left on Vazquez's contract.
Perhaps the market will move in Minnesota's favor, but Higashioka and Jensen are low-end starter or high-end backup catchers, so the expectation that someone will want to take on the money Vazquez is owed seems unlikely.
Of course, the Twins keeping Vazquez isn't the worst thin gin the world either. What he lacks in offense he makes up for with defense, which is primarily what the team needs out of that position. Ryan Jeffers struggled in that area last year and Jair Camargo has proven to have subpar defensive skills.
There's nothing wrong with the Twins keeping Vazquez, rather it's the price point that seems to be the issue. It's one that is probably not going to get resolved this winter, especially since it's looking like the Twins would have to eat money to move off the contract.
Willi Castro, UT
There's a few moving pieces to this and it's a little concerning how much of it sounds similar to where things were with Kyle Farmer this time a year ago. He was tendered and eventually given a $6 million contract, but it was Willi Castro who had the season everyone expected Farmer to have.
Now the Twins are in a position where Castro's projected arbitration salary is higher than what Farmer was given, with the risk of regression just as present. The main thing working against a potential Castro deal is the fact that he was tendered, which suggests the Twins want to work out a deal to bring him back or are comfortable giving him close to $7 million next season.
That's a big number for a team as frugal as Minnesota, which could suggest the team is hoping to come in way under that total and will think about trading him if they're overruled. Just like Farmer last year, there's value on the trade market for Castro -- who was an All-Star in 2024 and plays all over the field -- but the Twins can't expect much back for him.
Salary dumping Castro would be a bizarre strategy considering he already seems to be in the plans, but he seems to be the last of the obvious candidates to get moved this offseason.
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