5 free agents the Twins should sign after Carlos Santana

Johnny Cueto, RHP

A lot has been made about the Twins need to find some positional depth, but there's still a lot of unanswered quesitons about the rotation. Perhaps that's where a classic veteran signing could come into play in the form of Johnny Cueto.

He's planning on pitching in 2024 and seems to be working his way back in a way that should intrigue the Twins. After all, the team loves to take chances on aging veterans to see if they have anything left in the tank, and Cueto fits the bill.

He pitched 158 1/3 innings for the White Sox in 2022, posting a 3.35 ERA which helped him revive his career a bit and land a nice deal with the Marlins. Unfortunately that's where the good times stopped rolling, as Cueto got injured in his first start and got lit up once he returned to the mix later in the season.

Finishing last year with a 6.02 ERA isn't exactly attractive, but it might not be a true indication of what he has left in the tank. He'd be a low-risk, high-upside candidate for the Twins, the kind the team likes to take a flier on to see if he can recapture some magic. It might be wishful thinking, but Cueto's ceiling might be a Diet Coke version of what Kenta Maeda brought to the rotation last year, which helps start to answer the question of what to do at the back of the Twins rotation.

Then again, there's already a growing logjam of pitchers there who could fill the No. 4/No. 5 starter role.

Anthony DeSclafani was acquired in the Jorge Polanco trade and figures to be in the mix to replace Maeda's role in the rotation, and there's also Louie Varland to consider as well. The Twins really don't need anymore help in the bullpen, but the team failed to proper address needs in the starting rotation.

Cueto might be a good player to bring in on a minor league deal and see if he can work his way into a meaningful role in the rotation. It's not unlike the flier Minnesota took on Dallas Kuechel last year.

Tommy Pham, OF

There was a solid five minute span during last year's trade deadline where Twins fans went nuts thinking that the team had pulled off a last minute trade for Tommy Pham. He ended up going out west to the Arizona Diamondbacks, but the buzz and the fit for Pham in Minnesota still exists.

Over the last two seasons, Pham slashed .259/.331/.456 against lefties with 28 extra base hits and 15 home runs. He lacks the power that Duvall would provide, but Pham is a much more disciplined hitter at the plate, which makes him a more well-rounded option for Minnesota.

Pham finished the year with a 111 OPS+ in 481 plate appearances, and was a huge trade deadline pickup for the Diamondbacks on their way to reaching the World Series. While he didn't lead the charge in any way for Arizona, Pham was a perfect complimentary piece to the lineup, and it's something that should interest the Twins when it comes to finding platoon depth behind Matt Wallner and Max Kepler.

Corner outfield is where Pham probably fits best, but it also happens to be a spot the Twins need to address. Austin Martin should be able to provide adequate support behind Byron Buxton, and there could be an argument for Trevor Larnach behind Wallner. Just like with Duvall, getting someone in right field feels like a priority, especially if the Twins end up trading Kepler at some point this season and need a reliable option to replace him with.

Right now Minnesota doesn't have that, but Pham seems like he'd be able to step up and fill the role without missing too many beats.

Michael A. Taylor, CF

We're almost to Spring Training and Michael A. Taylor is still available, which is pretty surprising given the way he was positioned heading into the offseason.

Taylor was one of the best additions of any team last season, as he came to the Twins as defensive depth behind Byron Buxton and ended up becoming Minnesota's everyday centerfielder. He made the most of the bizarre opportunity, finishing the year with a career-high in home runs and posted the second-highest OPS+ of his career. He was also a defensive gem throughout the year, and potentially saved the Twins season with a masterful play in the AL Wild Card series.

We had seen this story before, and in years past that ball careens off the wall and the Blue Jays storm back to once again break the Twins postseason hopes. That catch alone made trading for Taylor worth it, but it was also a display of the type of defense he could add to an outfield.

It's why teams like the Angels and Mets were rumored to be interested him early in free agency, but nothing ended up happening. A reunion with the Twins is looking more and more likely, although there are road blocks that might stand in the way. For starters, the Twins are expecting Buxton to actually play the field this year, and rookie Austin Martin projects to be his platoon depth in center.

There's also the question of how to best allocate the remaining offseason funds. If the Twins are going to hand out around $8 million for a free agent outfielder, would that money be better spent on Tommy Pham or Adam Duvall -- or another right-handed hitting corner outfielder?

Familiarity helps Taylor's chances, though, and if the Twins are shopping for free agents he deserves to be on the list.

Hyun-Jin Ryu, LHP

Making the argument for Johnny Cueto with the Twins is mostly rooted in a personal enjoyment of seeing once-great names revive their careers one more time. A much more logical fit, though, could be Hyun-Jin Ryu who is still available and continues to feel like a potential sleeper fit for Minnesota.

In fact, most of the reasoning behind why Cueto makes sense applies to Ryu but without as gnarly of a downside. Both are working their way back from injury, but Ryu was far more productive with the Blue Jays -- despite the lasting image of him in that AL Wild Card game against the Twins.

The comparisons between Ryu and Maeda are almost scary how well they line up for history to repeat itself; both would be trying to bounce back from Tommy John surgery after having been dominant pitchers with the Dodgers in the latter half of the last decade. The year that Maeda finished as a Cy Young runner up, Ryu finished third in voting over in the NL.

Last season he finished the year with a 3.46 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP after missing almost all of the season coming back from injury. Ryu only made in 11 starts and posted a 3-3 record with Toronto, but he showed enough with his off-speed pitches to suggest that some time with Minnesota's excellent pitching staff could help him hone his game closer to what it was before he needed Tommy John.

The fact that he's still a free agent bodes well for the Twins in terms of what Ryu might cost. At the beginning of the winter he was projected in the season $8M range, which might still be the case but there's leverage to knock that price down and make up for it with incentives.

Ryu wouldn't solve the problem of replacing Sonny Gray, but he might have the highest-upside of the group of pitchers who will be auditioning for Maeda's old spot in the rotation.

Brandon Woodruff, RHP

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