The Twins have shown interest in free agent right-hander Seranthony Domínguez, reports Darren Wolfson of KSTP. However, Wolfson also notes that this was last month and brief. Domínguez remains unsigned, so it’s possible the Twins circle back to him as the offseason progresses.
Minnesota certainly has to do something about its bullpen. The 2025 club fell back in the standings in the summer, which prompted the front office to get into seller mode. They leaned hard into selling from the relief corps. Controllable arms Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland and Brock Stewart were all sent packing, alongside rental arm Danny Coulombe.
That left the Twins with a hodgepodge bullpen for the stretch run, consisting of waiver claimees and veteran journeymen. Minnesota’s relievers had a collective 4.93 earned run average over August and September, which was better than just three other clubs in the majors.
Coming into the offseason, it was expected that Minnesota would continue as sellers, perhaps trading big leaguers like Joe Ryan or maybe even Byron Buxton. Instead, the club is planning to hold those guys and will attempt to return to contention this year.
That’s admirable but there’s work to be done to improve a club that finished 70-92 last year. Internal improvements would go a long way but external additions will also be necessary. The bullpen is largely unchanged from the end of 2025. Their most notable pick-up of the offseason so far has been to acquire Eric Orze, who has just 43 1/3 innings of big league experience, from the Rays.
Domínguez, 31, has had a fairly quiet offseason in terms of public rumors. The only other club connected to him so far is the Red Sox, who reportedly had interest in him over a month ago. It’s possible that his market picks up soon. Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to spring training in less than a month in some cases, depending on the team and if players are participating in the World Baseball Classic.
Also, many of the top relievers have come off the board. Edwin Díaz, Devin Williams, Robert Suarez, Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton, Tyler Rogers, Brad Keller, Pete Fairbanks, Kyle Finnegan, Kenley Jansen and many others have been signed. Domínguez is one of the better arms still out there, alongside David Robertson, Liam Hendriks, Justin Wilson, Michael Kopech and others.
Domínguez has been able to get decent amounts of strikeouts and grounders in his career but also with some control issues. He averages in the upper 90s with his four-seamer and sinker while also throwing a slider, sweeper and changeup. He added a splitter and a curveball last year and threw the split 16.6% of the time, scrapping the change and the slider, according to Statcast.
He divided 2025 between the Orioles and Blue Jays, logging 62 2/3 innings with a 3.16 ERA. He struck out 30.3% of batters faced and kept the ball on the ground at a 43.1% pace but also gave out free passes to 13.8% of opponents. He then made 12 appearances for the Jays in the postseason with a 3.18 ERA, though with more walks than strikeouts.
The Twins are dropping the payroll a bit relative to 2025 but seem to have some powder dry, thanks to the money they saved by trading those aforementioned relievers as well as Carlos Correa at the deadline. RosterResource estimates the Twins for a payroll just north of $100MM this year, well below last year’s $142MM Opening Day figure, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts.
Some reporting has suggested the Twins could look to end up in the $115MM range by the end of this offseason. That would likely leave enough to sign Domínguez in a vacuum but they presumably will want to add multiple relievers, while the righty should have interest from other clubs.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images
Saucy!
Please sign him we need somebody good in the bullpen. I liked Topa and Funderburk in the second half but we need another established arm if we actually want to compete next year.
Let’s add Josh Sborz and Jakob Junis to the bullpen. Is that okay? Also, which trade targets do you want the Twins to target?
SEA has some budget room left….they usually grow their relievers, but seems like he would might be a reasonable short term sign for them since a lot of their other free agent targets are off the table.
“Minnesota certainly has to do something about its bullpen.”
….if they want to compete. That is not the goal of management unfortunately.
I don’t think that the Twins are getting Dominguez. They have a rotation of Ryan, Lopez, Woods Richardson, and guys like Ober, Bradley, Matthews, Festa, and Abel. I would be fairly confident in the rotation as a rebuilding team but at the deadline, I think one of Ryan/Lopez is probably going to go.
Then you have Sands, Funderburk, Adams, Topa, Orze, and 2 or 3 more relievers. I would expect the Twins to add 2 relievers and maybe put one of your starters in the ‘pen as a long reliever.
I think that the Twins are going to be selling again at the deadline.
Umm Sir is what you want for a selling team. High upside bullpen piece you can sell at the deadline for a pretty decent prospect
“Pretty decent” might be a stretch. The Jays gave up Juaron Watts-Brown for him last deadline. Fangraphs had him as Baltimore’s 35th ranked prospect in a middling farm. Unless a reliever is elite it’s usually more of a lottery ticket situation.
I much prefer “Eyeing” as opposed to” have an interest in”. That could mean anything.. Twins FO could have an interest in this guy walking their dogs or mowing their lawns. But “Eyeing”, well vaguely creepy in some situations ,shows genuine desire.
In any case, I can’t wait till we get back to the norm, which is sizzling, brake-neck minor league signings!
Shown interest has been mentioned
He’ll keep getting work because of that power arm and he’ll keep blowing big games.
Just get Kopech! might have something left to prove, & somebody like Hendricks on a minor league deal
I would love both, but based on his experiences in Minnesota, I don’t think Hendriks would want to come back.
why’s that?
He sadly faced death threats during his time in Minnesota. He had not yet broken out, but there’s no excuse for that.
I missed this story. Why do people want him gone from this world?
It’s the twins they can get both
Such a sophisticated given name.
His fastballs got a top hat and monocle, while the slider has a bow tie. That’s how you tell them apart.
He throws the Mr. Peanut ball? Awesome.
Signing with the twins in the pen is a fun way to not know where you’ll be playing coming August
Dear Twins, I’ll give you 1B/3B Coby Mayo 6 years of team control and SP Brandon Young for Joe Ryan. Both guys were ranked top as 100 MLB prospects prior to being called up in 2025 (Mayo was top 10). I’ll even give up any 19 y.o A+ pitching prospect that you want.
Deal?