Twins Notes: Peralta, Jeffers, Bullpen

Entering the offseason, most expected the Twins to continue the July fire sale that saw them trade 11 players for a combination of salary relief, prospects and controllable young big leaguers. Instead, after finalizing the addition of three new minority stakeholders, ownership gave president of baseball operations Derek Falvey and his staff at least some modest resources to add to a stripped-down payroll. That’s resulted in free-agent pickups of Josh Bell, Victor Caratini and, most recently, Taylor Rogers. (The latter two of those signings have not yet been made official.)

Minnesota at least looked into one far more notable swing, it seems. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Twins were among the teams to show some late interest in now-former Brewers ace Freddy Peralta before Milwaukee traded him to the Mets.

Given Peralta’s status as a one-year rental, it’s clearly a surprising fit. The Twins have made some relatively small additions but don’t stand as a clear contender, even in a perennially weak AL Central division. That said, Peralta’s $8MM salary would fit into even their stripped-down budget, and the Twins have a plethora of MLB-ready young arms as well as a glut of young outfielders who have either already made their MLB debut or are on the cusp of MLB readiness. Acquiring Peralta would’ve boosted their chances in the Central. Peralta could’ve been shopped again at the deadline had the season not gone their way, and he’s a clear qualifying offer recipient who’d net a team a compensatory pick upon rejecting.

It’s not clear how aggressively Minnesota pursued the idea, but it’s of at least minor note that they even looked into the possibility. The trade market has been largely picked over, particularly with MacKenzie Gore coming off the board in yesterday’s trade with the Rangers, but even faint Peralta interest suggests that the Twins could look into other moves on the buyers’ side of the trade spectrum.

Further reinforcing the idea that subsequent moves will be geared toward improving, catcher Ryan Jeffers said in a recent appearance on the Inside Twins show (video link) that management kept him apprised of how things were developing throughout their pursuit of Caratini. At first glance, the Caratini signing would seem to make Jeffers, a free agent next winter, a possible trade candidate. Jeffers suggests that management indicated otherwise to him.

“Before all that happened, I had conversations [with management telling me] ’Hey, this might happen,’ and just reassuring me that my role as the guy who’s going to catch 100-plus games is not going to change,” Jeffers told host John Vittas. I’m excited to go back there and really get a full season in. Throughout my career, I’ve split time with a lot of guys, and I’m excited to catch a full workload and also be joined by a guy (Caratini) who’s been in the game for eight-plus years and has a lot of experience, has won a lot of games and has been with some organizations that have played really good baseball.”

Jeffers, 28, has quietly been one of the better-hitting catchers in the league over the past three seasons, hitting a combined .254/.338/.434 (117 wRC+) in 1264 plate appearances. A fair portion of that time has come at designated hitter while others handle the work behind the plate — veterans Christian Vazquez and Mitch Garver among them. Jeffers has never caught more than 88 games in a season, but the Twins have indeed signaled that the plan for him is to be behind the plate more often in 2026.

Caratini, of course, still figures to see plenty of time behind the plate. Even if the plan is for Jeffers to catch 100 to 110 games, that’d leave ample time at catcher for Caratini and Alex Jackson, who’s also on the 40-man and out of minor league options. Caratini has experience at first base and could log some DH reps himself, and he provides a nice fallback for the Twins in 2027 if Jeffers departs as a free agent. In that instance, Caratini could help to serve as a bridge to top prospect Eduardo Tait, whom the Twins acquired in last summer’s Jhoan Duran blockbuster with the Phillies.

While the Twins might not be making a full-fledged push for contention — they’re still going to end up with payroll that’s more than $20MM shy of last year’s $135MM mark, in all likelihood — it sounds as though there will still be some additions on the horizon. Rogers adds a veteran arm to the bullpen, but there’s still room for more additions. Rogers, Cole Sands, Justin Topa and Kody Funderburk are the only Minnesota relievers with even one year of major league service time.

Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune suggests that Rogers could be the first of multiple bullpen additions in the near future. Falvey told Nightengale and others that the Twins have been talking with multiple relievers. “We’re close to being able to add some guys that we think will fill out some experience in that group, but we’re going to need some young guys to step up,” Falvey said.

The Twins had at least some contact with right-hander Seranthony Dominguez before he landed with the White Sox on a two-year deal today. The open nature of their bullpen mix would make them an appealing destination for rebound candidates seeking opportunity at late-inning spots. Speculatively speaking, names like Michael Kopech, Liam Hendriks, Jose Leclerc and Drew Smith could see an unsettled Twins bullpen as an appealing opportunity where they’ll be afforded some leash to get back on track after recent injury troubles. Regardless of specific targets, it seems quite likely that Rogers won’t be the lone bullpen addition the Twins make between now and Opening Day.