With minority owners coming into focus, Twins want to add to bullpen

ORLANDO – The message Twins executives are telling agents during this week’s MLB winter meetings is a different one than they had during face-to-face meetings in November.

“A month ago, I was direct and honest in meetings we had,” Twins President Derek Falvey said. “I said: ‘Guys, I’m not sure I’m in a position right now to tell you exactly where we’re headed, so I’m not sure what I want you to tell your player. We like some of your players and want to talk about them. But I’m not in a position to move the ball forward much.’

“Now, it’s a little more clear that we have been able to move the ball forward.”

From the Twins’ perspective, it’s better late than never. They want to add relievers to boost a bullpen that was torn apart at the trade deadline four months ago, and they are looking to bring in at least one more power hitter.

The Twins signaled their intention to keep All-Stars Byron Buxton, Joe Ryan and Pablo López for the 2026 season. New manager Derek Shelton recently dined with Buxton in Jacksonville, Fla., and he plans to meet with López later this month. Shelton previously planned to meet Ryan in California during November before Ryan welcomed a new baby boy.

It’s still unknown how much money the Twins will have to spend this offseason, but there is a growing sense the team will reveal its minority ownership investors this month, possibly as early as next week.

“I anticipate some news on that here in the near term where things are shaking out around ownership,” Falvey said. “But I’m not currently at liberty to speak to any specifics.”

He has done a version of that every offseason since he became the Twins’ head of baseball operations nine years ago, but this was the first time with a new ownership structure.

“Now it involves a few more people that we get to talk to about it,” Falvey said. “I think that’s helpful to share some broader perspective around where we think our team is. I was hopeful, as I said [in November], that we’d get to this place, but I always knew there could be different paths that we choose. I think, at this stage, figuring a way to add to this group was clearly the best fit for all what we aligned around.”

The primary motivation the Twins want to add to their roster is their internal belief they can field a competitive team despite their trade deadline fire sale. The Twins finished the 2025 season with the second-worst record (70-92) in the American League, 17 games out of a playoff spot, and they had a losing record against all four teams in their division, including the last-place Chicago White Sox.

Five of the 10 major league players the Twins traded in July became free agents at the end of the season. Trading Carlos Correa to the Houston Astros was a salary dump. Then the Twins swapped four relievers who were under team control for multiple years for mostly young big leaguers such as pitchers Taj Bradley (for Griffin Jax) and Mick Abel (Jhoan Duran), and outfielder Alan Roden (Louie Varland).

“It was always on my mind that we would find a way to retool our group on the fly, reset things that were payroll-based certainly — the Carlos deal in particular — but add to a group that we thought we could go build around to compete,” Falvey said.

The Twins front office recognizes there are some major holes on the roster, some of their own doing from the trade deadline. The most experienced arms in their bullpen are Cole Sands, Justin Topa and Kody Funderburk. First base is another question mark with Kody Clemens as the top incumbent.

There won’t be a major influx in spending, and their Opening Day payroll will likely be at its lowest figure in about a decade.

Still, this is the path they chose.