Twins remain in bottom half of MLB in payroll despite slight bump from 2024

CHICAGO – The Twins, off to their worst start to a season in nine years, continue to rank in the bottom half of the league in payroll even with a small bump up from last year.

One of three teams that entered Tuesday with a winless record, along with the Milwaukee Brewers (0-4) and Atlanta Braves (0-5), the Twins are carrying an estimated $144.3 million payroll, according to luxury tax payroll figures for Opening Day rosters.

It’s a $12 million increase from the end of last season, when the Twins missed the playoffs following an epic six-week meltdown. The Twins reached a team-record $164 million payroll in 2023, a season in which the club won an American League Central title and advanced in the postseason for the first time in 21 years.

The Twins hold the 18th-largest Opening Day payroll this year among the 30 teams, trailing only the Detroit Tigers ($147.5 million) in the division. The last time the Twins opened the season with a payroll that ranked in the top half of the major leagues was 2012.

Derek Falvey, president of the Twins, maintained optimism despite the club’s start when he spoke before a Target Field food tasting event Tuesday.

“We sure don’t make it easy on ourselves, do we?” Falvey said. “The first four games haven’t been exactly what we wanted to see from our team on the field, but I can tell you we have everything on this roster and on this team to make 2025 an incredible success. And 158 out of 162 left? I think our football family might be just entering the second quarter of Game 1 of the season, so I think we have some time here and we’ll get the bats going as we go forward here.”

The New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers have the highest payrolls in the majors, both sitting slightly above $325 million. The Miami Marlins have the lowest payroll at an estimated $69.1 million.

Edouard Julien made his first start of the season Tuesday, serving as the club’s designated hitter. He didn’t have a plate appearance in the Twins’ opening series in St. Louis after battling an illness.

Julien had an excellent rookie season in 2023, batting .263 with a .381 on-base percentage while often hitting atop the team’s lineup. In 2024, he had a .199 batting average and a .299 on-base percentage as he struck out in 34% of his plate appearances.

“I want him to find himself and his personality again, too, as a player,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I want him to realize he belongs. That’s what I want probably more than anything else. I want him to re-establish himself and know he belongs here. He’s a really good player and he can go out there and produce at this level.”

It’s a mental challenge, Baldelli said, to have all that success in a rookie season and then have it essentially thrown back at him the following year.

“It’s a real test for young guys,” Baldelli said. “He’s not the only guy that ever had something like this happen. What do I want him to take out of it? I want it to make him tougher. I want him to take those challenges constructively.”

Julien will have to earn his at-bats because there isn’t an obvious path to regular playing time with Willi Castro receiving the bulk of the starts at second base. It leaves Julien, a lefthanded hitter who rarely faces lefty pitching, in a backup infielder’s role where he competes for at-bats as the DH.

“He’s going to have the ability to show what he can do,” Baldelli said. “No one has an indefinite amount of time to prove themselves, but he’s going to definitely have at-bats and opportunities to show us he can play.”