DALLAS – After spending four days at the league’s annual winter meetings, the Twins left with one potential addition to the bullpen, Rule 5 Draft pick Eiberson Castellano, and not much else to show.
“Right now, I would say most of our time has been spent with other teams, which is a little different for us than maybe in past years where we are doing a lot of free-agent conversations with agents or otherwise because we are trying to find that overlap and those fits,” Falvey said during an MLB Network Radio interview at the winter meetings.
Starting pitcher Chris Paddack is a trade candidate, owed $7.5 million for the last year of his contract, but his trade market may not fully develop until more free-agent pitchers make signing decisions. Paddack carries some injury risk, but he will be another year removed from his second Tommy John surgery.
Catcher Christian Vázquez’s trade market is more complicated. He’s owed $10 million, so teams likely will ask the Twins to pay down some of the salary. The Twins, however, like their catching situation with Ryan Jeffers behind the plate for about half the games, so trading Vázquez would require the Twins adding another backup catcher, and there may not be any legitimate options remaining in free agency.
Trading Willi Castro, because of his projected $6 million salary, is a possibility, but Carlos Correa is unlikely to be traded, though the Twins front office wouldn’t immediately hang up the phone if another team brought him up. The Twins have several other options, but those players would bring less salary relief.
Here are some other takeaways from the winter meetings: