The Twins have signed first baseman/outfielder Ben Paulsen to a minor league deal, 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson reports (Twitter link). The contract contains an invitation to Minnesota’s big league Spring Training camp.

Paulsen was outrighted off of Colorado’s 40-man roster in September and granted free agency after the season. The 29-year-old saw regular action for the Rockies at first base and in left field in 2015, when he hit .277/.326/.462 with 11 homers over 354 plate appearances, but he appeared in just 39 games last season and spent the bulk of 2016 at Triple-A. Of Paulsen’s 517 career PA in the bigs, 458 of them have come against right-handed pitching (he has a .758 career OPS against southpaws) and he has significant home-away splits — an .810 OPS at the batter-friendly Coors Field and a .705 OPS on the road.

With Joe Mauer locked into the Twins’ first base job, Paulsen can provide some left-handed hitting depth, or an alternative to Byung Ho Park (a righty bat) or the switch-hitting Kennys Vargas at DH.