The Twins are staring at one of their trickiest winter decisions, and Trevor Larnach sits right in the middle of it.
Minnesota already went through this once. Last November, the club chose to tender Larnach a contract even though plenty of people expected him to be non-tendered. Back then, the concern was straightforward: a bat-first corner outfielder didn’t seem to fit the more athletic roster the Twins wanted to build.
This time, the question is harder.
Larnach backed up the case for keeping him by improving at the plate in 2026, when he hit .269/.352/.436 with 13 home runs in 122 games before a left wrist sprain ended his season and sent him to the injured list in September. He earned $4.475 million in 2026, according to Twins On SI’s report on his arbitration agreement, and his 2027 salary still hasn’t been set.
That puts Minnesota in a familiar but more complicated spot: does it commit another roster place and a likely raise to a player who may not have a clean path to regular playing time?
The outfield picture has shifted around him. Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez both reached the Major Leagues late in the year, and Alan Roden was back on the roster after Larnach got hurt.
Byron Buxton’s recovery from hip surgery adds another layer to the mix. Those names give the Twins options, but they don’t guarantee that every outfield job is already spoken for by Opening Day.
There’s also a real argument for moving on. If Minnesota plans to give Jenkins and Rodriguez regular at-bats, Larnach could wind up as a productive hitter without a steady role. And with pitching still a need, keeping an outfielder the club sees as a reserve would mean less flexibility elsewhere.
Still, the cleanest move may be to tender him and sort out the rest later. A non-tender would make Larnach a free agent and leave Minnesota with nothing in return.
After his better season, the Twins have more reason than they did a year ago to see whether another team values his bat and the remaining year of control. MLB.com identified him as a possible trade piece while looking at ways the Twins could add pitching, though that was only an evaluation and not a report that anything had been agreed to.
That approach would also give Minnesota a fallback. If the trade market doesn’t bring enough back, Larnach could still compete for outfield and designated hitter at-bats while the younger players settle in and Buxton works through his recovery. It would force the Twins to manage the playing time carefully, but it would avoid giving away a capable hitter just to clear space.
Larnach’s improved 2026 made this call tougher than the one Minnesota faced last winter. The Twins can acknowledge what he delivered at the plate without promising him a job the roster may not have room for. Tendering him first, then seeing what the trade market actually offers, is the most sensible way to handle it.
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