It’s been a slow offseason for the Minnesota Twins. They finally dipped their toes in the water by signing Danny Coulombe to a major league deal – the team’s first of the offseason. It doesn’t seem likely that Derek Falvey has too much more money to spend.
That doesn’t mean the rest of the AL Central will stand pat, though.
The Twins are currently projected to win the division. That is a similar situation they were in around this time last year. Their competition could thwart that idea by making a monumental move. Alex Bregman is a signing to come that looms large.
Alex Bregman could be a Minnesota Twins’ problem
It’s genuinely crazy that Alex Bregman remains an unsigned free agent. Unfortunately for Scott Boras, Bregman (and Pete Alonso) are his Jordan Montgomery repeats this offseason. Recently, FanGraphs’ ZiPS guru Dan Szymborski looked at how much the infielder would help each team.
| Team | Current Playoff Odds | Playoff Odds With Bregman | Change |
| Minnesota Twins | 49.6 | 58.2 | 8.6 |
| Kansas City Royals | 39.7 | 54.3 | 14.6 |
| Detroit Tigers | 31.2 | 43.6 | 12.4 |
| Cleveland Guardians | 51.3 | 61.4 | 10.1 |
No, the Minnesota Twins are not signing Alex Bregman. Of course, it would help their chances, but there isn’t going to be a shocking Carlos Correa maneuver here. Royce Lewis is set to play third base. Brooks Lee will man second with a cast rotating between the two spots.
That said, the Detroit Tigers are a real threat to sign Bregman, and he bolsters their playoff odds by the second-highest percentage across baseball. Evan Petzold recently reported that Detroit has “conducted their offseason moves around their interest in signing Bregman.”
The fit in Detroit is obvious. A.J. Hinch is the former manager of Bregman, and his team has an opening. Gleyber Torres joined Detroit to play second base. Jace Jung owned just a 93 OPS+ as a rookie last year while manning the hot corner.
Javier Baez has also been terrible at shortstop. So, Alex Bregman would really help their infield.
Bregman would give the Tigers another veteran presence, and even with his injury concerns, he has been constantly productive…especially against the Twins. In 26 plate appearances against Minnesota last season, Bregman posted a 1.256 OPS with three dingers.
The Minnesota Twins would rather not see his plate appearances against them double.
While Bregman would give the Royals the biggest boost of these teams, they seem an unlikely suitor as well. He’d be a big upgrade over both Maikel Garcia or Jonathan India, but Kansas City isn’t going to spring for the contract.
Last season with Houston, the Astros got 145 games of .260/.315/.453 production from Bregman. He hit 26 home runs and owned a 118 OPS+. It seems, after trading Ryan Pressly to clear salary, they might want him back.
The Minnesota Twins can’t do anything to stop Detroit from signing Bregman, short of getting a deal done themselves.
That won’t happen, but they have reason for hope. His agent could advise him to skip Spring Training and sabotage his season, but don’t bet on that happening twice.
