On Wednesday, the Minnesota Twins reached a deal with free agent outfielder Harrison Bader to meet another need of the team, a source told MLB.com. This will be the Twins' second signing this week and the second major league signing this offseason. Just Tuesday, the team reached an agreement with rescue pitcher Danny Coulombe.

According to the source, Bard's one-year contract includes a mutual option for both parties in 2026, with a guaranteed amount of $6.25 million and a bonus of up to $2 million.

At the moment, the two signings have not been confirmed by the Twin Cities team, and they should need to wait for the players to pass the medical examination before they can be confirmed.

The 30-year-old Bard can bring value to the Twins in a number of ways. He's a great defensive outfielder who still has the ability to defend the midfield. This would both provide a deep replenishment of personnel in the event of Byron Buxton's injury and allow Buxton to rest occasionally. In addition, Bard is also a right-hand striker, adding balance to the Twins' outfield lineup dominated by outfielder Buxton and dominated by left-hand strikers.

In 2024, Bard plays for the New York Mets (Mets) and hits a triple of .236/.284/.373. He played a career-high 143 games that season, 140 of which were played as midfielders. He hit 12 home runs and stole 25 bases and succeeded 17 times. So far in his career, he has a striking triple of .242/.306/.392.

With the addition of Bard and Columbus, the Twins may need to go further. Prior to these two signings, the squad was full of 40 players, so at least two players would need to be removed to make room. In addition, while it is unclear exactly how much salary space the team has, the team may face some salary clearance pressure in order to accept new signings.

There are two main reasons why the post-season reinforcement of the two cities is not active, the first is that they have not yet settled the issue of broadcast royalties, which is currently handled by the major leagues, which means that the club does not get much benefit from this aspect, and the second is that the club is also preparing to sell at a price, so it is likely that they will maintain a similar short-term reinforcement strategy before the new buyers enter the market, allowing the new owner to decide on the long-term investment in the future.