Being a lifelong Minnesota Twins and baseball fan, this is normally one of my favorite times of year. With Spring Training starting in a few days, Twins fans, like all baseball fans, have dreams of their teams being alone at the top in October as World Series Champs. But this year is unlike any other season.
After a lost 2025 season, which led to a jettisoning of half their roster, the firing of manager Rocco Baldelli, and the horrible news that the Pohlad family would retain ownership of the franchise, Twins fans were left down and in the dumps.
It couldn’t get any worse, could it? Well, with lackluster free-agent pickups and the resignation of team president Derek Falvey, the team managed to sink to new depths. As they say, here goes nothing, or at least as far as a $105 million roster will take you. In Part 1, we’ll cover the everyday players.
2026 Twins Opening Day Roster Projections
Catcher
Ryans Jeffers and Victor Caratini: Compared to the rest of the roster, this is a position of strength for the Twins. Jeffers has been a very capable hitter for the Twins over the past couple of seasons, and his defensive skills have improved every year. And former Houston Astro Caratini projects to be a very balanced addition to this squad and should complement Jeffers nicely.
The fly in the ointment is that the Twins could part ways with Jeffers at some point this season, leaving Caratini to split time with the good-fielding, weak-hitting former Baltimore Oriole Alex Jackson. This combination would be reminiscent of the duo of Jeffers and Christian Vazquez that the team employed the past three seasons. Not the trend you were looking for
Infield
Josh Bell, Luke Keaschall, Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee, Kody Clemens, and Ryan Kreidler: Bell and Clemens will timeshare first base while also seeing time at DH. Both have some pop to their bats, but neither brings much to the table defensively. Clemens will also spend some time at second base. Despite some injuries, Keaschall acquitted himself well in his rookie season, bringing some speed and pep to the lineup. With the elbow problems he has suffered in the past, here’s hoping the Twins limit his time in the outfield.
There is still time for Lewis and Lee to rise up and become potent and consistent everyday starters. But after injuries and prolonged batting slumps, that window closes a little more each day. Having them both in the lineup on a regular basis would be a great start.
Kreidler beats out Tristan Gray for the last infield roster spot purely because Minnesota needs a backup shortstop for the off-injured Lee. The Twins did sign former Twin and Yankee Gio Urshela to a minor league contract today, but we’ll have to see how he fits in the mix.
Outfield
Byron Buxton, Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach, Austin Martin, and James Outman: Poor Buck! He finally stayed healthy for an entire season while swinging a potent bat and reviving himself defensively. Too bad the rest of the team fell apart around him.
Wallner has thirty homer potential and a cannon arm in right field. But as everything Twins-wise, you have to take the not-so-good with the good. He strikes out a ton, kind of lumbers around defensively, and he is yet another left-handed hitting/corner outfielder/DH/first baseman on the Minnesota roster. Larnach is too old to wear the prospect tag anymore and frankly didn’t warrant a re-sign.
But the Twins went bargain basement and signed him for $4.5 million for the season. He’ll play some leftfield, but a majority of his time will be spent at DH. Not keeping former Toronto Blue Jay Alan Roden on the roster defaults the left-field job to Austin Martin. He’s been slow to develop, but he’s shown flashes and adds much-needed speed to the team. Outman’s out of options and is the best candidate defensively to back up the brittle Buxton.
More to Come
Are you on the edge of your seat yet? Stay tuned for Part 2, where we review the Twins’ pitching staff.
