The Twins need thunder in the middle of the order, and Astros first baseman Christian Walker looks like a clean fit if Minnesota wants to buy one. The lineup didn’t have enough pop this season, with Kody Clemens leading the club at 27 homers. Byron Buxton, Brooks Lee and Josh Bell were the only other Twins to clear 20, and Bell is headed for free agency this offseason unless his club option is unexpectedly picked up.
Walker would bring immediate power. The 35-year-old launched 29 home runs this year and has 151 over the last five seasons.
Chandler Rome of The Athletic expects Walker to come up in trade discussions this offseason, and Houston’s situation points toward movement. The Astros won the AL West, yet finished 81-81, the worst record ever for a playoff team in MLB history.
The organization has already moved on from general manager Dana Brown during the season and recently parted ways with manager Joe Espada, so the roster is likely headed for a shakeup as well.
There’s also a financial angle that could make this doable. Walker is under contract through next season and is set to make $20 million.
If the Twins are willing to absorb most or all of that salary, the acquisition price in prospects shouldn’t be steep. His 2026 line wasn’t elite, but it was productive: .226/.299/.427 with a 103 wRC+ in 156 games.
He also gives real value with the glove, finishing with +3 Defensive Runs Saved and +3 Outs Above Average.
That combination matters if Minnesota is serious about moving on from Royce Lewis. The Twins’ first/second baseman struggled this year, hitting .227/.287/.380 with an 85 wRC+ across 125 games.
Over the past three seasons, Lewis has produced just 2.6 fWAR. Minnesota sent him to Triple-A St.
Paul in May and brought him back soon after, but the brief reset didn’t bring back the 2023 version of Lewis, when he put up a 152 wRC+ with 15 homers and 52 RBI in 58 games and then hit four home runs in six postseason games.
At this point, the Twins may be staring at a decision on Lewis, whether that ends up being a trade or a non-tender. He’s projected to make $5.1 million in arbitration next year, and the club also has Marek Houston in the pipeline, with a possible arrival in late 2027 or sometime in 2028.
In Other News...
Jeff Hoffman Gives Twins A Real Bullpen Question For 2027
Jeff Hoffman arrived at the trade deadline and immediately gave the Twins something they have not always had in the late innings: a reliever who could miss bats. Over 18 innings in Minnesota, he flashed the kind of stuff that can change the shape of a bullpen, with strong underlying indicators and a pitch mix that suggests he can handle high-leverage work if the role keeps growing.
The question, of course, is whether the Twins can trust that profile in the ninth inning over a full season. Hoffmans command wavered enough to leave the door open for a long look at other options, and Minnesota is expected to spend part of the offseason strengthening the bullpen with established arms. Even so, his arrival gave the club a real decision to make for 2027, and that alone is a meaningful development for a team that has spent too much time searching for certainty at the back end. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Offseason Could Hinge On Two World Series Targets
With the World Series about to open at American Family Field, the Twins are already being linked to a couple of players who could shape their offseason plans. The matchup between Tampa Bay and Milwaukee puts a pair of familiar names on a bigger stage, and for Minnesota, it is the kind of reminder that roster help can come from the most visible October showcases.
Gary Snchez of the Brewers and Freddy Peralta of the Rays both fit obvious needs for the Twins, even if in different ways. Catching remains a spot to watch, and pitching depth is always part of the conversation in Minnesota, with Peralta standing out as the sort of arm worth considering for a longer-term deal if the front office decides to get aggressive. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Suddenly Have A Tough Anthony Banda Decision This Offseason
Anthony Bandas offseason case is more complicated than a typical bullpen decision. The left-hander went down with a lat injury in July 2026, and the Twins now have to sort through both his medical outlook and his place in a relief group that is already likely to see plenty of movement. His past work in the bullpen gives Minnesota something to weigh, but so does the reality that the club cannot make a clean decision until it has a better read on where he stands physically.
There is also the money side of the equation, which makes Banda harder to file away as a simple non-tender or keep decision. He remains arbitration-eligible, and the Twins have to decide whether the potential value outweighs the cost while they juggle other roster priorities in the bullpen. For now, Banda sits in that awkward winter category teams know well: useful enough to consider, uncertain enough to complicate everything. [Read more 🡒]