While the MLB playoffs are in full swing, the Minnesota Twins are at home trying to decide how to ensure the team is still playing this time next year.
That's easier said than done, especially when the expectation is that it will be another lean winter where the team doesn't add meaningfully to the roster. There are moves the Twins can make to improve things, but spending money to make it happens doesn't seem to be a route ownership wants to take.
Part of that means not adding free agents on the open market, but the other part involves making decisions on players who have expiring deals. The Twins have a handful of arbitration-eligible players they'll need to either tender or let walk, as well as some pending free agents who the team will have to make some tough calls on whether they stay or go.
5 free agents Twins will have to make a big decision on this offseason
Willi Castro, UT
In back-to-back years the Twins could end up paying a utility player more than they spend on anyone else. Last year the investment didn't work out, with Kyle Farmer failing to live up to the $6 million contract Minnesota gave him to settle arbitration.
An almost identical scenario is about to play out with Willi Castro.
Perhaps the biggest internal questions the team needs to answer this winter are whether to tender Castro and then what to pay him. The first answer seems obvious, as Castro was an All-Star this season and unexpectedly became one of the team's best and most important players.
Something similar happened with Michael A. Taylor last year, but the Twins ultimately decided to not meet his market value in free agency. The difference here is that Castro is headed to arbirtration and also has more upside than Taylor. He certainly provides more value than Farmer does, and it could be that another $6 million utility player is about to go on the books.
It seems obvious that the Twins should bring Castro back, but never underestimate how foolish a frugal franchise can be when trying to save a buck.
Max Kepler, OF
Had things gone differently for Max Kepler, he'd be the player Minnesota has the biggest decision to make on. Instead, after a middling year offensively that saw both the best and worst versions of Kepler, it seems his time with the Twins has come to an end.
Nothing is certain, though. Everyone has seemingly accepted that he's played his final game in a Twins uniform but until he signs elsewhere there's still a chance he comes back. The challenge here is how much Kepler might command as a free agent and where there's justifiable space on the depth chart for him.
He's not going to get more than the $20 million qualifying offer, but it's not outrageous to see a team like the Braves, Yankees, Blue Jays, or Mariners pay a little more than sticker price for him. Minnesota's excuse to not meet that price lies in what the future holds in the outfield.
If Kepler returns, he could compete with, or even hold back, rising prospects like Emmanuel Rodriguez, Luke Keaschall, and potentially Walker Jenkins. There's also guys like Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner, Austin Martin, and Willi Castro who can help fill out a platoon in right.
There are fewer ways that Kepler stays than plays somewhere else next season, but he's a Minnesota lifer. Kepler has been in the Twins organization since 2009 and has spent in his native Germany and is the longest tenured member of the team. That's not an insigifincant factor here that could lead to him coming back on a team-friendly deal, but it's a decision that will be out of his hands.