Kyle Farmer, INF
While the Twins didn't spend big money last offseason, Kyle Farmer was the team's most expensive addition. He agreed to a $6 million arbitration settlement over the winter which was more than the team spent on any other player it added.
The idea was that Farmer essentially served as the big free agent signing fans wanted the Twins to make, but he failed to live up to that billing. Farmer was abysmal this season, hitting .187/.291/.260 between April and June before being taken out of the regular rotation of the lineup in July.
Farmer's struggles were amplified by how badly the Twins needed him to step up. Royce Lewis missed the first two months of the season and Farmer failed to fill the gap. Willi Castro ended up being a revelation for Minnesota in large part because he became the versatile player it needed Farmer to be.
He's well respected in the clubhouse, which is one of the main reasons he avoided being DFA'd during the season. Farmer is due to make another $6.3 million in 2025, but the Twins are unlikely to exercise their part of that mutual option.
Calen Thielbar, P
It was a brutal year for Caleb Thielbar, who went from someone who looked like a potential knight in shining armor returning from the IL to being a total liability in the bullpen.
Minnesota's bullpen was hailed as one of the best in baseball on Opening Day, and while Thielbar started the year on the injured list he was viewed as someone who would come back and cancel out the need to have added someone in free agency. This classic Twins strategy unsurprisingly backfired, although the collapse Caleb had was a total bummer to watch.
Right off the bat in his first apperance of the season, Thielbar was lit up by the Tigers for three runs on three hits in just 1/3 innings of work. That ended up being a theme that was established throughout the season with Thielbar, who bottomed out in June when he went back-to-back apperances without recording a single out.
He ends the year with a -0.6 WAR and 5.32 ERA, something the Twins are likely going to stay away from when it comes to deciding whether or not to bring him back.
Manuel Margot, OF
Next to Carlos Santana, the other big external addition the Twins made was trading for Manuel Margot. He was acquired as an insurance plan for Byron Buxton, and some clever finagling allowed Minnesota to free itself from the bulk of Margot's $11 million contract.
The idea was that Margot would fill the Michael A. Taylor role but provide higher upside as an offensive option. That absolutely didn't happen, and while he did hit lefties well nothing else went right. He became a liability on defense, he posted a -0.7 WAR, went 0-for-29 as a pinch hitter, and finished the season with the second-worst batting average of his entire career.
During the Twins' second series of the season, Margot decided to bunt with the bases loaded and two outs. That set the tone for what fans came to expect out of him at the plate and there's absolutely no world in which he's back in Minnesota next season.
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