MINNESOTA TWINS
2025 finish: 70-92 (4th in AL Central)
Manager: Derek Shelton (1st season)
Leading the front office: Jeremy Zoll, executive vice president and general manager (1st season)
DOLLARS AND SENSE
Largest luxury tax hit: RHP Pablo Lopez ($18.4 million)
Top returning players: OF Byron Buxton (5.0 fWAR), C Ryan Jeffers (2.1), 2B Luke Keaschall (1.6)
Top returning starting pitchers: RHP Joe Ryan (3.1), Lopez (1.8), RHP Zebby Matthews (1.4)
Top returning relievers: RHP Justin Topa (0.9), RHP Cole Sands (0.8), LHP Kody Funderburk (0.4)
ROSTER WATCH
Key additions: 1B Josh Bell (free agent), C Victor Caratini (free agent), LHP Taylor Rogers (free agent), LHP Anthony Banda (trade), LHP Andrew Chafin (minors), RHP Eric Orze (trade), C Alex Jackson (trade), 2B Tristay Gray (trade), INF Gio Urshela (minors), INF Orlando Arcia (minors), RHP Liam Hendiks (minors), RHP Dan Altavilla (minors), RHP Julian Merryweather 9minors), RHP Raul Brito (minors)
Key losses: 2B Edouard Julien (trade), LHP Genesis Cabrera (free agent), C Christian Vazquez (free agent), RHP Michael Tonkin (free agent)
Baseball America top-100 prospect(s): OF Walker Jenkins (5), OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (57), SS Kaelen Culpepper (74), LHP Connor Prielipp (94)
Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton signs autographs for fans during a spring training baseball workout in Fort Myers, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
KEEP AN EYE ON
RHP Pablo Lopez missed half of 2024 with a shoulder injury and now is dealing with a UCL tear. That will leave RHP Joe Ryan (13-10, 3.42 ERA) fronting the rotation and the Twins hoping the likes of RHP Bailey Ober (6-9, 5.10 ERA), RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (7-4, 4.04 ERA), RHP Zebby Matthews (5-6, 5.56 ERA) and RHP Taj Bradley (0-2, 6.61 ERA) pick up the slack on the back end.
After trading away much of their relief help last year — Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax and Danny Coulombe — the Twins are turning to a familiar face to lock down the ninth inning. LHP Taylor Rogers, traded away to the Padres in April 2022, is back in Minnesota on a one-year, $2 million deal. The 35-year-old Rogers has 83 career saves but just two over the last three seasons.
The Twins are also sorting out what to do at shortstop after ending the Carlos Corea era with last year’s trade back to the Astros. Switch-hitter Brooks Lee, 25, had 16 homers and a .654 OPS in his first full season in the majors and appears to be first in line.
Fangraphs projection: 79.8 wins