Relatively speaking, the Minnesota Twins are on a shopping spree. One day after agreeing to sign left-handed reliever Danny Coulombe to a one-year deal, the Twins have struck again, locking down outfielder Harrison Bader on a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2026.
Specific terms of the deal were not immediately available, but it's worth noting that teams have been using mutual options this offseason as a way to kick the can down the road a bit salary-wise. For instance, Randal Grichuk signed a one-year deal worth $5 million with the Arizona Diamondbacks, but a $3 million buyout on a mutual option for 2026 — these are rarely exercised by both parties — guarantees him $8 million.
UPDATE: Ken Rosenthal reports the deal is worth a "guaranteed $6.25 million" with up to $2 million available in bonuses. What isn't clear, however, is how much of the guarantee is 2025 salary vs. the added buyout.
Bader spent the 2024 season with the New York Mets, earning $10.5 million — a figure he'll almost certainly not come close to with this deal. He appeared in 143 games, playing center field exclusively when on the field defensively, but has some experience in both left and right field dating back to his formative days with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Bader, who turns 31 in June, finished sixth in Rookie of the Year balloting in 2018 and won a Gold Glove in 2021, and is known mostly for his defense in center field. That's not to say he hasn't had his moments on offense; he hit .267/.324/.460 with 16 home runs in 103 games in 2021 (3.8 bWAR), but for his career he's a .242/.306/.392 hitter.
We talked at length about Bader on the latest Locked On Twins, by the way:
Where he fits in nicely with the Twins is not just backing up in center field behind Byron Buxton, but as an option in the corners as a right-handed hitter. The Twins are extremely left-handed on offense in the corner outfield with Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner the likely incumbents, and Bader is a career .249/.315/.461 hitter (121 OPS+) against southpaws.
True enough, Bader is on the wrong side of 30. However, his defense last season graded out at plus-7.7 runs on Fangraphs, and the Statcast sliders people love to cite have him with a 92nd percentile fielding run value. That's parsed out to 10 outs above average in range (95th percentile), a plus-1 in arm value (70th) and an arm strength rating at the 86th percentile.
To that end, he should be an ideal fit in either corner against left-handed pitching. With solid defense in center, one would likely expect he could move to either corner and acclimate reasonably well, and he has enough arm to play right field.
Offensively, there's a ton of blue in his Statcast profile. To the unitiated, it's....not great. But he doesn't strike out (or walk, for that matter) much (21.7 percent), and his sprint speed of 28.2 feet per second puts him in the 74th percentile and makes him an option to pinch run late as well.
For a team with a manager like Rocco Baldelli who likes to use players as chess pieces, Bader is a nice fit. Guys like Coulombe and Bader likely won't win a division for a team, but they can definitely have well-defined, meaningful roles on a team that finds its way into October.