No spot on the Minnesota Twins roster needs more new players than their bullpen. As things stand, Cole Sands, Kody Funderburk, and Justin Topa look to be the only ones on the 40-man roster with jobs locked in for Opening Day next year.
That leaves five more spots to fill, whether through internal candidates already on the 40-man roster or free agency. No matter where the Twins settle on payroll, they will sign bullpen additions through free agency, though more likely on minor-league deals with invitations to spring training.
There are over 574 players who became minor-league free agents last week, most of whom are pitchers (336). While the Twins shouldn’t limit themselves to just these options, fans can expect there to be many signings from this class.
Below are four minor-league free agents and one major-league free agent reliever the Twins should pursue.
Grove missed all of 2025 due to right shoulder surgery. The Los Angeles Dodgers took the Wheeling, W. Va., native in the second round of the 2018 draft. However, he has only pitched parts of three seasons in the majors, working out of LA’s bullpen from 2022 to 2024.
Grove’s career numbers are not the most awe-inspiring. He has a 5.48 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, in 149 ⅓ innings over 64 appearances, 20 of which were starts. Grove has a good strikeout rate of 23.2% and a walk rate of 6.9% over his first three seasons. His pitching arsenal features a knuckle curve, cutter, slider, and sinker, in addition to his fastball.
Grove is a slider-first pitcher, something the Twins have gravitated toward signing in recent years. His long-term outlook is not too dissimilar from Brock Stewart’s, the oft-injured 34-year-old reliever they traded to the Dodgers at the deadline. Before signing with the Twins on a Minor League deal in July of 2022, Stewart had a 6.05 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, and allowed 26 home runs in 105 ⅔ innings in his MLB career.
Fortunately for Grove, he has had slightly better numbers in his career than Stewart did when the Twins signed him. Given his recovery from shoulder surgery, Grove would have a longer timetable to work back through injuries in the minors before he gets a call-up to the Twins.
The upside of signing Grove is having another Brock Stewart blossom in their bullpen. If things don’t work out, then they’re only out $800,000 on a minor-league deal.
One of 11 minor-league free agents the Miami Marlins released, Valente Bellozo has spent parts of the last two seasons in their rotation and bullpen with spurts of success to back him up. He had a solid rookie campaign as a starter with the Marlins in 2024, pitching to a 3.67 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and 117 ERA+.
The Marlins still sent Bellozo out as a starter to begin the 2025 season, and he performed well, posting a 3.27 ERA in 22 innings over five starts. However, the Marlins opted to move him to the bullpen for the rest of the season, and Bellozo made 30 relief outings, finishing the year with a 4.65 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, and 15 home runs allowed in 81 â…“ innings.
Bellozo is likely a full-time receiver going forward, which would allow him to avoid throwing the worst pitches in his arsenal. He throws six pitches: four seamer, cutter, changeup, splitter, and sweeper. However, opposing batters teed off on his cutter and curveball.
Opposing batters had a .324 batting average, and .382 wOBA off of Bellozo’s cutter and hit four home runs off it. Meanwhile, they hit .308 with a .437 wOBA off his curveball.
If the Twins were to pursue Bellozo on a Minor League deal and add him as relief depth, they could have him cut back on the pitches that opposing hitters are hitting off him more often than the others. If Bellozo is coming into games to get three outs rather than 18, he won’t need as deep a pitch arsenal to get batters out.
Bellozo will be only 26 next season and still a season away from arbitration eligibility. If things work out well for Bellozo in the Twins org, he could be an asset for years to come.
While he’s not the hardest-throwing free agent on the market, Nabil Crismatt is a journeyman reliever in this free agent class who could likely sign with the Twins. Crismatt only threw 89 MPH on average off his fastball last season, but what makes him a low-risk, medium-high reward is two things: His chase rate and the exit velocity off his stuff.
Crismatt had a chase rate of 33.2% against batters in 2025, along with an average exit velo of 87.9 MPH in just 34 innings of work. If Crismatt had qualified, his exit velocity would have ranked in the top 60 pitchers among qualifiers, and his chase rate would have been in the 93rd percentile.
However, Crismatt is the least likely of this group to get an opportunity in the majors next season. He made only eight appearances with the Arizona Diamondbacks, five of which were starts. He’s still a journeyman reliever with just a 3.71 ERA, but his 16.3% strikeout rate and a 5.9% walk rate are worth taking a flyer on for a minor-league deal.
The lone major-league free agent in this group, Phil Maton, had a strong 2025 season between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers. Maton put together a 2.79 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 32.7% strikeout rate, and 9.3% walk rate in 61 â…“ innings over 63 relief appearances in 2025.
His time with the Cardinals was much better than how he performed with the Rangers post-trade deadline acquisition. Maton had a 2.35 ERA in 38 â…“ innings with St. Louis compared to a 3.52 ERA in 23 innings with the Rangers.
Like Crismatt, Maton is not the hardest-throwing 90.6 MPH on his cutter, but still got great results with a whiff rate in the top 98th percentile of the league and an average exit velo of 84.8 MPH, good for the 99th percentile in MLB.
Maton only earned $2 million on a one-year deal with the Cardinals this season. His strong performance may increase the price for him this off-season, but he’s still a reliever who they could fetch for $3 or $4 million to help bolster the back end of the Twins bullpen, which they desperately need.
A former MLB Futures Game All-Star in 2019, Bowden made a comeback into the majors this year after not having pitched in a game since 2021 and bouncing between five different organizations in that time.
Bowden appeared in only 11 games with the Athletics this year, but pitched to a 4.22 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, walked five batters, and struck out seven in 10 â…” innings. The Twins have four left-handed pitchers at St. Paul as Triple-A depth, but the Twins will probably add Connor Prielipp to the 40-man in a few days to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.
Bowden works well as a minor-league signing. However, if he has a strong spring training, the Twins could retain him as a lefty candidate in the bullpen. Even though he had three seasons between his last MLB appearances, Bowden’s continued ability to pitch makes him a suitable candidate for the Twins to pursue this offseason.