The Minnesota Twins have almost completed their bullpen for the 2026 season. The club added Dan Altavilla, Eric Orze, and Grant Hartwig to the roster this season — all sharing one trait.
These three relievers are all either looking for a comeback season, or are looking to continue their success following a bounce-back year. The Twins, if they are eager to continue following this trend, just missed out on a pitcher who is primed to throw well in 2026 if he remains healthy.
With a right teres major strain and right adductor strain sidelining him for most of the 2025 season, Hunter Harvey was a sneaky-good free-agent signing for the Twins to pursue, but instead he is off to the Chicago Cubs, who made his deal official on New Year's Eve.
Hunter is officially a Cub! pic.twitter.com/FoXVdrIejp
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) December 31, 2025
Twins miss out on bounce-back free-agent candidate Hunter Harvey to Cubs
Signing Harvey is a risk, but he provides so much upside. The 31-year-old still has an elite fastball, and though his numbers in 2025 are on a smaller scale, he was dominant in those outings.
Harvey did not allow a run in 12 appaearances with the Royals this past season, including one inning at Target Field and one outing against the Twins in Kansas City. He allowed seven total baserunners in 10.2 innings, which was spread apart in outings in March/April, July, and August.
What makes Harvey a miss for the Twins is that he has solid numbers across his career in each AL Central ballpark. We got a taste of it again in 2025 as he pitched in-division, but now he is off to the National League to pitch for his fourth team (Nationals, Orioles, Royals).
There are still some key relievers awaiting in the free-agent market, but Harvey seemed like the best fit for Minnesota in terms of high-risk, high-reward. If Harvey can show some durability in 2026, we can expect for him to be a strong relief option for Chicago.