{"id":425373,"date":"2025-11-10T19:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T19:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/425373\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T19:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T19:44:13","slug":"two-free-agent-fits-for-minnesota-twins-at-shortstop-twins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/425373\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Free-Agent Fits for Minnesota Twins at Shortstop – Twins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Twins are (pardon the pun) short at the shortstop position. Brooks Lee<\/a> is, frankly, the only player in the organization who has shown any indication that he may be a viable MLB shortstop in 2026, and even he has played at replacement level across 712 plate appearances in two seasons, slashing .232\/.279\/.357, with middling-at-best shortstop defense (-3 OAA across 803 innings, about 90 games\u2019 worth).\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBehind him are a slew of semi-viable backup shortstops who have proved even less. Ryan Fitzgerald<\/a> made his big-league debut late in 2025, posting an OPS 10% above league average (at .758) in 52 plate appearances. He plays shortstop, but he\u2019s not great defensively. The Twins recently claimed Ryan Kreidler<\/a>, a 28-year-old with a good glove but no bat, who has 211 plate appearances across four big-league seasons. Those 211 plate appearances are 211 more than Twins fans\u2019 folk hero Payton Eeles<\/a> has, and although many are clamoring for him to take a utility role in 2026, scouts are mixed on him at shortstop.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s always Kaelen Culpepper<\/a>, who rose quickly through the Twins\u2019 farm system and is poised to open the 2026 season in Triple A, or at least reach that level early. Scouts see him as able to stick at shortstop, at least early in his career. His bat was impressive, with an .844 OPS across High A and Double A. He may be the Twins\u2019 shortstop before long, but he doesn\u2019t appear ready now. His late-season struggles could carry over into 2026, and he shouldn\u2019t be counted on as depth yet.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThus, even in a year like this\u2014when payroll room seems tight once again\u2014the Twins would benefit from bringing in a veteran shortstop as a utility infielder, since there\u2019s a reasonable chance that none of the four aforementioned names are even on the 40-man roster on Opening Day.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBeyond that, though, are the questions about Lee. The Twins might not just need a utility infielder; they might need someone to play more like every day. If they have any genuine interest in competing in 2026, it would behoove the team to have someone else who wouldn\u2019t be an outright disaster as a starting shortstop, even if they aren\u2019t above average.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tUnfortunately, starting shortstops aren\u2019t easily obtained in free agency. A player like Bo Bichette<\/a> or even Ha-Seong Kim<\/a> is priced out of the Twins\u2019 market. And speaking of Bichette, many viable MLB players age out of shortstop viability by the time they hit free agency in their late 20s or early 30s. Free agents like Willi Castro<\/a>, Luis Rengifo<\/a>, Chris Taylor<\/a>, Amed Rosario<\/a>, or Kyle Farmer<\/a> have their shortstop days in the rearview mirror. Those who can still play shortstop often don\u2019t hit much.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tDid you know Farmer played more at first base than shortstop this season\u2014and that he was the designated hitter twice as often as he was the shortstop? I learned that doing this research. Father Time comes for everyone.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHere are the two names that fit in the happy medium space the Twins might be trawling. If it\u2019s not one of these two guys, or someone acquired via trade, they\u2019re going to have to roll with what they\u2019ve got.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIsiah Kiner-Falefa<\/a>

\n\tIt\u2019s the return of the king! The Twin-for-a-Day is probably the most reasonable candidate for this role. He\u2019s getting older, but his performance really hasn\u2019t changed much since the Twins originally acquired him ahead of 2022 to act as their placeholder shortstop. He was approximately the same caliber of fielder at shortstop as Lee in 2025, and both were roughly 25% worse than league-average hitters\u2014though Lee\u2019s profile was more dependent on slugging, while Kiner-Falefa\u2019s was fueled by on-base ability.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThat Lee compares so closely to Kiner-Falefa is probably an indictment of Lee\u2019s play early in his career, but it also puts into perspective the shallowness of the organization\u2019s shortstop ranks. Kiner-Falefa is a known commodity whom the Twins have shown interest in before. He\u2019s spent much of his career in a utility role and has played every position except first base in the majors.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, he\u2019s going into his age-31 season, and his once dependable (if slightly below-average) defense at shortstop may be slipping. On the bright side, he\u2019s looked fine at second and third. His ceiling has never been high, and once the floor is gone, it\u2019s gone. Still, at the price the Twins would be willing to spend, he might be the best line of defense they can afford.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMiguel Rojas<\/a>

\n\tNo, seriously, that\u2019s how thin this market is. After this point, the Twins will be sifting through a collection of sub-replacement-level players who appeared in fewer than 60 games this season, such as Jorge Mateo<\/a>, Paul DeJong<\/a>, Zack Short<\/a>, or Orlando Arcia<\/a>. MLB Trade Rumors lists 10 free-agent shortstops heading into 2026, and one of them is Tim Anderson<\/a>. Tim Anderson had 17 hits this season and started 11 games at shortstop.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tRojas was a Game 7 hero, and will be written into Dodgers lore forever. He was a part-time player this season. He managed to play a solid shortstop in limited action, but was an excellent second baseman. Depending on who you talk to, he\u2019s either a great leader and beloved in the clubhouse or the worst teammate imaginable, but he could be a veteran presence. He intends to play in 2026 and then retire.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAlas, he has made it clear he wants that 2026 season to be in Los Angeles. Jumping into a clubhouse of strangers on a team that might be rebuilding isn\u2019t how most players envision their final year. So, yeah, even if the Twins wanted to, it seems like a long shot.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSo maybe it\u2019s truly Kiner-Falefa or bust, if the Twins decide they need infield depth. But how many other teams are in the same position and don\u2019t want to spend big on Bichette or Kim? Could Kiner-Falefa see a fairly robust market?\n<\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t know. This seemed like a more interesting topic when I signed up for it. I suppose it\u2019s more \u201cinteresting\u201d in the Minnesota vernacular. The trade market could be more interesting, but as Derek Falvey noted at last week’s press event introducing Derek Shelton, trades for role players like these can be tricky, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Twins are (pardon the pun) short at the shortstop position. Brooks Lee is, frankly, the only player…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,1391,57306,2057,8935,822,60,3190,4,12223,148],"class_list":{"0":"post-425373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-twins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brooks-lee","10":"tag-dc-analysis","11":"tag-isiah-kiner-falefa","12":"tag-miguel-rojas","13":"tag-minnesota","14":"tag-minnesota-twins","15":"tag-minnesotatwins","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-ryan-fitzgerald","18":"tag-twins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115527120770697156","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}