The Minnesota Twins are playing the waiting game this offseason but another unfavorable development happened early Saturday morning when Corbin Burnes agreed to a six-year, $210 million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The agreement, which ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported, signals another jump in the free agent market for pitching where several arms have cashed in with deals over $20 million per season. It leaves the Twins scrambling for help and could lead them down a different path to improve the roster for 2025.
MLB’s free agent market continues to price out the Minnesota Twins
Twins fans didn’t have high hopes this offseason as reports said the team would operate around a payroll of $130 million for the second straight year back in September. While it didn’t say the team would slash payroll, it also didn’t account for players that will make more money in arbitration, bringing the Twins' current payroll to an estimated $142 million.
While that initially priced out the Twins, other teams haven’t done them any favors. The New York Yankees dished out an eight-year, $218 million contract to Max Fried at the Winter Meetings and Blake Snell cashed in with a five-year, $182 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier this winter.
Even potential Twins targets have been too pricey with Yusei Kikuchi (three years, $63 million with the Los Angeles Angels), Luis Severino (three years, $67 million with the Athletics), and Sean Manaea (three years, $75 million from the New York Mets) getting deals with an average annual value over $20 million.
With Walker Buehler also getting a one-year contract reportedly worth $21.5 million, even “prove it” deals are tough to come by, which puts the Twins in a bad spot.
The Minnesota Twins will likely turn to the trade market to improve the rotation
Everyone is sick of hearing about payroll, but the Twins still need to find a way to add depth to their starting pitching. While Pablo López, Bailey Ober and Joe Ryan are a serviceable trio at the top, the Twins have questions for the final two spots where Simeon Woods Richardson will battle top prospects David Festa and Zebby Matthews in Spring Training.
Behind that group is a grim picture. The Twins have Chris Paddack but at $7.5 million, he’s likely to be moved in a salary dump trade. Louie Varland is also an option but he could be headed for a bullpen after posting a 7.61 ERA in the majors last season. Mix in the potential of an injury and Minnesota’s depth is paper thin heading into 2025.
With the current price on the free agent market, the Twins' best option could be to find a trade. While it could be as simple as tapping into MLB.com’s second-ranked prospect pool, the Twins have also shown a knack for acquiring high-risk players in the past. This includes Anthony DeSclafani, who didn’t throw a pitch for Minnesota after being acquired in the Jorge Polanco trade with the Seattle Mariners last January.
It could also mean the Twins have to deal from what little pitching they have as López was floated out as a potential trade chip in a report by Passan earlier this month.
Whatever the Twins decide, they can not afford to stand pat. But that is becoming difficult as the cost of pitching continues to rise.