EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- If it’s December, we must be wondering who the Twins’ next first baseman will be. No matter who takes the field at first for Minnesota on March 26 in Baltimore, he’ll be the fifth Opening Day starter at the position in as many years. He’ll join a list that includes Miguel Sanó (2022), Joey Gallo ('23), Carlos Santana ('24) and Ty France ('25). And most likely, like the last three of those names, he’ll be new to the organization. So let’s take a look at the possibilities. The most likely outcome is that the Twins will sign a free-agent first baseman. The Athletic reported recently that Minnesota is looking in that market, and named candidates such as Rhys Hoskins, Josh Bell and Ryan O’Hearn. Other available players in roughly that tier include Paul Goldschmidt, Nathaniel Lowe and Luis Arraez. The Twins’ front office has been given clearance to make additions to the roster without trading players to clear payroll space, so a relatively affordable free-agent add like someone from this list is entirely viable. It’s likely, though far from confirmed, that they have roughly $15-20 million in payroll space, but that will have to cover bullpen additions and perhaps another bat along with addressing first base. |
Hoskins may be the most natural fit from the list. He and Goldschmidt are the only right-handed hitters in the bunch, and while being lefty is not a deal-breaker, the Twins are heavily left-handed at the corners. They could use some balance. Meanwhile, Goldschmidt has already been linked with the Mets after the departure of free agent Pete Alonso to the Orioles. That doesn’t rule Goldschmidt out, but it’s safe to say you don’t really want to get in a bidding war with the Mets.
Free agency is not the only direction the Twins could go, though. Another possibility is to trade for a first baseman. The Phillies are believed to be a motivated seller on Nick Castellanos, so though Castellanos is owed $20 million next year, there’s some reason to believe they might eat a large chunk of that in a deal. And while Castellanos hasn’t played first base in the Major Leagues, he’s expressed an openness to moving there. |
And then there are internal options. One choice would be simply to plug Kody Clemens back into the position he manned down the stretch last year, but Clemens is probably best suited to utility work. And there aren’t a great deal of other obvious places to upgrade the lineup -- which is a priority -- if they don’t bring in a third baseman from outside the organization.
Another would be to move one of the club’s glut of corner outfield/DH types to first. But general manager Jeremy Zoll seemed lukewarm at best to the idea of someone like Matt Wallner or Trevor Larnach moving to a new position. Larnach could conceivably be trade bait for a first baseman, however. It was somewhat surprising that he wasn’t non-tendered.
All of which is to say, the most likely next Twins first baseman, like the last three, is not on the roster just yet. Stay tuned. |
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MLB MORNING LINEUP PODCAST |
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SPEAKING OF NEW POSITIONS ... |
Luke Keaschall was one of the most pleasant surprises of the 2025 season, spraying line drives and running the bases like a veteran. However, he was inconsistent in the field at second base, which isn't a huge surprise since it was his first year back after reconstructive right elbow surgery.
Keaschall’s long-term position remains somewhat up in the air. There’s some notion he could move to an outfield spot, though he also could remain at second in the long term. He didn’t get any work in the outfield last year due to both the surgery and then the broken right forearm he suffered in April.
As for next year, though? It appears that some outfield time is at least in the picture.
“With the way his season went with the broken forearm,” Zoll said, “it kind of screwed up our plans for exploring the outfield more like we were originally going to do this past year. That’s something that from a throwing program perspective this offseason, we’re going to spend more time making sure he’s building out to get some reps out there in the outfield.
“We’re going to have more conversations with him over the next month or so, now that he’s through the earliest parts of his rehab. [Manager Derek Shelton] is on board. They’ve connected some. We’re going to have some more formal conversations on what all that is going to look like pretty soon here and work through that. We think it could be a real opportunity for him to keep finding as many ways in the lineup that help the group as we try to fit all the pieces together and slide other guys around too. It could be really valuable if he could run out to left field or center field along the way.” |
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AND, FINALLY, THE PLAYLIST |
This is for my teammates. If you know, you know. - Oasis, “Don’t Look Back In Anger”
- David Allan Coe, “The Ride”
- Creed, “My Own Prison”
- Taylor Swift, “Love Story”
- Cher, “Believe”
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