It wasn't exactly an exciting offseason for the Minnesota Twins, but it also wasn't totally unproductive. While the team failed to replace Sonny Gray -- which was its biggest need -- the Twins managed to piece together a decent winter haul despite payroll limitations.
Slashing the payroll after ending the season with such hope was terrible optics, and it remains a gripe fans rightfully have with the team. Rather than dwell on what didn't happen, it's worth looking at what additions the team did end up making and the end result on paper isn't as bad as it feels in everyone's gut.
Minnesota didn't replace Gray, but it did add Anthony DeSclafani as its annual high-upside gamble on an oft-injured players. He's projected as the team's fifth starter and will fill the role that Kenta Maeda vacated when he left for Detroit.
The Twins also added guys like Carlos Santana and Manuel Margot, with perhaps the best offseason piece being reliever Justin Topa. As is usually the case with the Twins, how little the team ended up adding to the payroll is going to be a point of pride for the bean counters.
It was frustrating to see the team fail to spend to make the team better this offseason, but taking a step back it is impressive that the team added what it did without moving the financial needle.
Updated 2024 Minnesota Twins payroll
Last year the team had a payroll around $156 million on Opening Day, and managed to reduce that figure by about $33 million while also adding seven players who are projected for 26-man roster spots.
DeSclafani, Margot, Topa, and Steven Okert were all added via trade with Santana, Jay Jackson, and Josh Staumont being the team's only free agent acquisitions. In total the Twins added $31.4 million in contracts but is only paying aroud $17 million thanks to getting money back in those trades.
Looking at it purely from a numbers standpoint, that's pretty dang good.
Here's how things stack up now that it seems the Twins are done making moves this offseason:
Player | Position | Salary |
|---|---|---|
Carlos Correa | SS | $36M |
Byron Buxton | CF | $15M |
Anthony DeSclafani | P | $12M** |
Manuel Margot | OF | $10M** |
Max Kepler | RF | $10M |
Christian Vazquez | C | $10M |
Pablo Lopez | P | $8M |
Kyle Farmer | INF | $6.05M |
Carlos Santana | 1B/DH | $5.25M |
Willi Castro | INF/OF | $3.30M |
Caleb Thielbar | P | $3.23M |
Chris Paddack | P | $2.53M |
Ryan Jeffers | C | $2.43M |
Alex Kirilloff | 1B | $1.35M |
Jay Jackson | P | $1.30M |
Justin Topa | P | $1.25M |
Josh Staumont | P | $950k |
Jhoan Duran | P | $740k |
Edouard Julien | 2B/DH | $740k |
Royce Lewis | 3B/DH | $740k |
Griffin Jax | P | $740k |
Bailey Ober | P | $740k |
Steven Okert | P | $740k |
Joe Ryan | P | $740k |
Brock Stewart | P | $740k |
Matt Wallner | P | $740k |
Mariners cash | (-$8M) | |
Dodgers cash | (-$6M) | |
Dead Money | $2.25M | |
Total Payroll | $123.87M |
Neither Anthony DeSclafani and Manuel Margot will be on the books for their stated salary amount, as the Mariners and Dodgers both sent back money to offset things as part of those trades. Minnesota received a total of $14 million in cash from those deals, and used part of the freed up space to add Carlos Santana.
It's frustrating to have seen the team hit the breaks once it hit rocky revenue road, but the winter wasn't a total loss. Minnesota could have added some other pieces and spent a little more money, but for what the team ended up doing and ened up paying it's hard to be too dissapointed with how this might open up future spending.
Beyond that it's also hard to look at calculated additions like Santana and Margot for depth, and Topa and DeSclafani as additional arms and not feel like they'll be moves that end up paying off in the end.