Twins Place Kenta Maeda On 10-Day Injured List
Aug. 26: Maeda saw an orthopedic surgeon in Dallas, but there is not a definite plan for the treatment moving forward, per Phil Miller of the Star Tribune (via Twitter). There are multiple surgical options on the table, as well as the possibility for a rehab approach.
Aug. 24: Maeda is receiving multiple opinions on the injury, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. He adds that there’s “some concern” regarding possible damage to the right-hander’s ulnar collateral ligament as well.
Aug. 23: As expected, the Twins placed Maeda on the 10-day injured list due to right forearm tightness. The placement is retroactive to August 22. Miguel Sano was reinstated from the paternity list and will take Maeda’s spot on the active roster.
Aug. 21: Twins right-hander Kenta Maeda left today’s start due to right forearm tightness. Maeda allowed one run in his first four innings against the Yankees but then ran into trouble in the fifth, retiring only one batter and then allowing the next four New York hitters to reach base. Maeda had thrown nine consecutive balls before finally leaving the game.
Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli told Phil Miller of The Minneapolis Star Tribune (Twitter links) and other reporters that Maeda will undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the injury. It seems like a trip to the injured list will be in order, as Baldelli said “I don’t see very many scenarios right now where it’s not going to take some time to get Kenta back where he needs to be.”
Given the date, it certainly seems like Maeda’s season could be in jeopardy, to say nothing of a longer-term absence should his forearm injury prove to be serious. Maeda has made four visits to the IL during his six Major League seasons, though none of those stints were particularly long, and none involved an arm injury. Though Maeda’s contract (initially signed prior to the 2016 season) was rather notably incentive-heavy due to the Dodgers’ concerns about his physical, the righty has been mostly durable as he has pitched into his age-33 season.
Over 106 1/3 innings in 2021, Maeda has a 4.66 ERA, easily his highest as a Major Leaguer. That ERA is partially due to bad luck, as Maeda’s Statcast numbers are solid and he has above-average strikeout and walk rates. “Above average,” however, still represents a marked step backwards from Maeda’s elite 2020 performance, as the Twins righty finished second in AL Cy Young Award voting.
While the Twins are already looking ahead to 2022, losing Maeda for at least a while will only further deplete the team’s pitching depth. Minnesota has been deploying three rookies (Bailey Ober, Griffin Jax, and Charlie Barnes) in the rotation due to injuries and Jose Berrios leaving town at the trade deadline, with the newly-acquired John Gant also getting starts.
Twins Release Keon Broxton
The Twins have released veteran outfielder Keon Broxton, who’d been with their Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul, as first indicated on the Triple-A East transactions page at MiLB.com.
Broxton, 31, signed with Minnesota over the winter but never got a call to the big leagues this year even as the club has endured multiple injuries in the outfield. Byron Buxton, Alex Kirilloff and Jake Cave have all spent significant time on the injured list — Kirilloff’s season is over; Buxton has played in just 27 games — and Max Kepler has also missed some time.
Broxton would’ve seemed a natural fit to pick up some of those at-bats had he been productive, but that simply hasn’t been the case. The former Brewers center fielder has appeared in 73 games in St. Paul but posted just a .186/.288/.335 batting line with nine home runs. Broxton is 10-for-11 in stolen base attempts and has walked at a strong 11.7 percent clip, but his longstanding strikeout issues have climbed to new heights in 2021. He punched out in 44 percent of his plate appearances with the Saints prior to being cut loose.
Few players can match Broxton’s combination of power and speed, but sky-high strikeout tendencies have always come along with that tantalizing mix of tools. Even at his best with the 2016-17 Brewers, when Broxton hit .227/.318/.424 with 29 home runs and 44 steals in 707 trips to the plate, he fanned at a 37.6 percent pace.
It’s common, however, for contending clubs to pick up fleet-footed veterans like this in advance of September roster expansion. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Broxton land elsewhere on a minor league deal and eventually surface with a contender who can afford to carry a player who is primarily a pinch-runner or late-inning defensive specialist on its roster. Broxton is capable of playing all three outfield spots and carries a career mark of 19 Defensive Runs Saved in 2128 innings in center field. Overall, he’s a .209/.297/.388 hitter with 39 homers and 60 steals in 1026 big league plate appearances.
Twins Select Andrew Albers, Kyle Barraclough
The Twins have selected the contracts of pitchers Andrew Albers and Kyle Barraclough, according to Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press (Twitter link). Left-hander Lewis Thorpe is landing on the 10-day injured list with a left shoulder impingement, while righty Edgar García is being optioned to Triple-A St. Paul. Minnesota removed right-hander Beau Burrows from the 40-man roster. Burrows has already cleared outright waivers and will remain in the organization on assignment to St. Paul.
Albers is back in Minnesota for his third separate stint with the club. He broke into the majors with the Twins in 2013 but was released the following offseason so he could pursue an opportunity in the Korea Baseball Organization. Albers returned stateside in 2015 with the Blue Jays, then found his way back to the Twins in 2016 in free agency. He saw some big league time with the Mariners in 2017, then signed with the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball for the 2018 campaign.
The well-traveled Albers signed an extension with the Buffaloes to keep him in NPB through 2020. He returned to affiliated ball this past offseason, singing a minors pact with the Twins in February. Assigned to St. Paul, Albers has been a mainstay in the Saints’ rotation. Over 91 innings in that hitter-friendly environment, he’s worked to 3.86 ERA, offsetting a below-average 19.8% strikeout rate with an incredible 2.3% walk percentage. That strong showing has earned the 35-year-old another big league opportunity, where he figures to be a multi-inning relief option for manager Rocco Baldelli.
Barraclough hasn’t been away from the big leagues quite as long as Albers has, but he’s back at the highest level for the first time in two years. The hard-throwing righty looked like a key bullpen piece for the Marlins early in his career, working to a 2.78 ERA across 97 innings between 2015-16. But Barraclough’s always-shaky control became less palatable as his strikeout totals fell over the coming seasons, and he hasn’t pitched in the majors since a tough 2019 campaign split between Miami and the Nationals.
Signed to a minor league deal by the Yankees over the winter, Barraclough was granted his release in mid-June and hooked on with the Twins two days later. Between the two teams’ Triple-A affiliates, the 31-year-old has posted an even 3.00 ERA with a massive 38.7% strikeout rate. Barraclough’s walk rate has still been troublingly high at 14.8%, but his impressive swing-and-miss stuff will earn him a look in a Minnesota bullpen that had to cover almost ten innings yesterday because Thorpe departed with shoulder soreness early in his start.
Burrows was a first-round pick of the Tigers in 2015 and was seen as one of the more promising pitching prospects in the Detroit system over the next few years. He dominated the lowest levels but hasn’t yet found much success above Double-A. The 24-year-old owns a 5.15 ERA over 94 1/3 Triple-A innings and has been tagged for 22 runs over a brief 17 2/3 frame look at the major league level.
Clearly, Burrows’ time in the big leagues hasn’t gone as he’d envisioned to this point. That said, he’s still young enough it’s plausible he can eventually deliver upon some of the promise that made him so well-regarded not long ago. The Twins are surely happy to get an opportunity to work with Burrows, whom they added on a waiver claim from Detroit in late June, without having to dedicate a 40-man roster spot to him.
In other news for Minnesota, Baldelli informed reporters (including Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com) that star center fielder Byron Buxton is set to embark upon a rehab assignment with St. Paul tomorrow. It’ll be his first game action in nearly two months, as Buxton suffered a left hand fracture after being hit by a pitch on June 22. Position players can spend up to twenty days on rehab assignments, so Buxton looks likely to be back in the big leagues by the first week of September so long as he doesn’t suffer any setbacks.
Buxton’s return comes as the Twins have started to play more to their expected level coming into the year. It’s too late for Minnesota to make a playoff push, but an improved second half could reinforce the front office’s belief the club is capable of returning to contention in 2022. Buxton’s return for the season’s final month-plus will be a welcome opportunity to give him some needed reps. It’s certainly been a frustrating campaign for Buxton, who has been brilliant (.369/.409/.767) when healthy but has required a pair of significant IL stints. The 27-year-old missed around six weeks between May and June with a right hip strain, then made it back for just three games before suffering the hand fracture.
Twins Designate Nick Vincent For Assignment
The Twins announced Wednesday morning that they’ve designated veteran right-hander Nick Vincent for assignment. The move opens a spot on the active roster for left-hander Lewis Thorpe, who has been recalled from Triple-A St. Paul to start today’s game.
Vincent, 35, appeared in just two games for Minnesota but pitched quite well, holding opponents to a run on four hits and a walk with four strikeouts in that limited action. Prior to his selection to Minnesota’s big league roster, he split the 2021 season with the Triple-A affiliates of the Twins and Rangers, pitching to a combined 4.19 ERA with very strong strikeout and walk rates of 29.3 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively.
Minnesota was the sixth big league organization for which the increasingly well-traveled Vincent has pitched. The soft-tossing righty continues to bounce around the league despite enjoying fairly consistent success. He’s never posted a single-season ERA higher than last year’s 4.43 mark, and he’s posted strong strikeout-to-walk numbers throughout his career. Vincent averaged just 88.8 mph on his fastball in his brief time with the Twins, although that’s not exactly a new or notable decline in his velocity. He’s never averaged even 91 mph on his heater in a given season and hasn’t cracked a 90 mph average since 2017 — but he’s nevertheless had success along the way.
A fly-ball pitcher who averages around 89 mph on his heater is something of an oddball in today’s velocity-driven game, however, so Vincent will now head to either outright waivers or release waivers in the coming days, giving the other 29 clubs around the league a chance to pick him up. In 403 1/3 career innings, he carries a 3.37 ERA with a 24.2 percent strikeout rate and a 6.1 percent walk rate.
Thorpe, 25, has seen action in parts of three seasons with the Twins. The Australian southpaw was once a highly touted prospect within the system but has had his career slowed by injuries, most notably Tommy John surgery. He’s tossed 14 innings of 3.86 ERA ball in Minnesota this season but did so with career-low velocity and a perilously low 8.6 percent strikeout rate. Thorpe missed a good chunk of the minor league season on the injured list due to a shoulder strain and only recently returned to the team’s Triple-A club. He’s tossed a 8 1/3 innings since that return, allowing a pair of runs on six hits and a walk with six strikeouts while stretching back out to 65 pitches in his most recent outing.
Twins Option Trevor Larnach
The Twins announced this evening they’ve optioned corner outfielder Trevor Larnach to Triple-A St. Paul. Utilityman Nick Gordon has been recalled to take his place on the active roster.
Minnesota selected Larnach to the big leagues in early May. A 2018 first-round pick, Larnach rose rather quickly through the minors with huge performances up through Double-A. Along the way, he cemented himself as one of the Twins’ most promising prospects — and indeed, as one of the top farmhands in the sport. Entering the year, Baseball America placed Larnach inside the game’s top 40 minor league talents.
The hope was that Larnach and/or fellow top prospect Alex Kirilloff would hit the ground running to cement themselves as potential everyday options alongside Byron Buxton and Max Kepler in the Minnesota outfield. Neither player has yet tapped into their considerable offensive upside, though. Kirilloff hit .251/.299/.423 over 231 plate appearances before suffering a season-ending wrist injury. Larnach has stayed healthy, but he’s hit at a below-average level (.223/.322/.350) for the first time in his professional career. He started the season well, but Larnach’s been mired in a dreadful slump of late, with just two multi-hit games since July 5.
To his credit, Larnach has continued to show plenty of patience at the plate this season, as he did throughout his minor league tenure. The 24-year-old has walked in a quality 10.3% of his plate appearances, swinging at a lower-than-average 28% of pitches outside the strike zone while attacking pitches in the zone at a near average rate. While Larnach hasn’t chased much, he’s simply made too little contact when he has swung. His 62.9% contact rate is the third-lowest mark (above only Mike Zunino’s and Javier Báez’s) among the 228 hitters with 250+ plate appearances this season. That’s led to a massive 34.6% strikeout rate that’s fourth-highest (lower only than Zunino’s, Bobby Dalbec’s and Báez’s) in that group.
While Zunino and Báez have offset their huge strikeout totals with huge power and plus defense, Larnach hasn’t offered that sort of complementary production. He’s always been seen as a bat-first prospect, so the lack of defensive value isn’t a surprise. But Larnach has hit just seven home runs in 301 plate appearances and has a below-average .127 isolated power (slugging minus batting average).
He’s hit the ball solidly, but it hasn’t been the elite contact quality necessary to succeed with a strikeout rate at its current level. According to Statcast, Larnach has made hard contact (defined as an exit velocity of 95 MPH or higher) on 41.1% of his batted balls. That’s above the 35.5% league average, but it’s not at the level of Zunino (48.9%) or Báez (45.6%). Similarly, Larnach’s average exit velocity and barrel rate are right around the 60th percentiles. Zunino has an 89th percentile average exit velocity and a 100th percentile barrel rate, while Báez sits in the 72nd and 86th percentiles in those respective metrics.
More simply put, hitters with that kind of swing-and-miss need to be among the best in the league at driving the ball when they do make contact. Larnach has been above-average but not elite in that regard.
Obviously, Larnach’s first crack at the majors hasn’t gone as he or the organization would’ve hoped. That said, it’s much too early to write off the possibility of him figuring things out. He’s a career .306/.384/.473 hitter in the minors, where his strikeout rate is a far more manageable 21.8%. And he was making the jump to the majors this year with essentially no Triple-A experience. Last year’s canceled minor league season — coupled with the delayed start to the 2021 minors campaign — has kept Larnach to all of three career games at that level.
He’ll head to St. Paul for what’ll presumably be a more extended Triple-A run. If he performs at anything close to his level up through Double-A, he figures to get another look in the big leagues at some point soon. The Twins are playing out the stretch on a disappointing season, and they’re certainly holding out hope Larnach can contribute to a 2022 team they’re expecting to compete in the AL Central.
Twins Place Michael Pineda On 10-Day Injured List
The Twins placed right-hander Michael Pineda on the 10-day injured list due to a mild left oblique strain. Right-hander Ralph Garza Jr. was called up from Triple-A to take Pineda’s spot on the active roster.
The injury developed during Pineda’s start against the Rays last night, as Pineda allowed four runs over 2 2/3 innings before leaving the game after a visit on the mound from the team trainer. Speaking with reporters (including Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press) today, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said the injury isn’t expected to be serious enough to prevent Pineda from returning to the mound before the season is through.
That’s good news in both the short term and the longer term for Pineda, who can use his remaining starts to further bolster his free agent case for the offseason. The subject of several rumors leading up to the July 30 trade deadline, Pineda ended up staying in Minnesota, which counted as a surprise considering his rental player status and the fact that as of July 26, the Twins had yet to engage the righty’s representatives in negotiations about a contract extension.
It’s been a mixed bag for Pineda in 2021, making him an interesting entry for teams to evaluate on the open market this winter. Pineda has a solid 4.13/4.24 ERA over 85 innings, and he has continued his career-long ability to limit free passes by delivering another excellent (4.8%) walk rate. However, Pineda has also allowed a lot of hard contact and his 20.6% strikeout rate is well below the league average.
Durability is also still a question mark, as Pineda has now made three trips to the injured list this season. (He had a 10-day absence in May after undergoing a procedure to have an abscess removed from his thigh, and he also missed three weeks due to elbow inflammation.) Pineda has missed two full seasons of his pro career due to a shoulder surgery and a Tommy John surgery, and he also missed 60 games spanning the 2019-20 seasons due to a PED suspension. Heading into his age 33 season, Pineda has tossed 354 innings since the start of the 2017 campaign.
Twins Select Nick Vincent
The Twins announced they’ve selected the contract of veteran reliever Nick Vincent. Righty Beau Burrows has been optioned to Triple-A St. Paul to create active roster space. To clear a 40-man roster spot, the club transferred outfielder Alex Kirilloff from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.
Vincent is now in line to pitch in the big leagues for the tenth consecutive season. The right-hander has been a generally solid middle innings option, pitching to an ERA below 4.00 in each of his first seven campaigns. Vincent has a matching 4.43 mark in each of the past two seasons, with his strikeout rate falling to a career-worst 18.5% during his time with the Marlins in 2020.
Those declining peripherals limited Vincent to a minor league deal with the Rangers over the offseason. He was released in late June and caught on with Minnesota on a minors pact the following day. Vincent has thus far spent the campaign split between the two clubs’ top affiliates, pitching to a 4.19 ERA but seeing a significant bounceback in his swing-and-miss capabilities. The 35-year-old has punched out a strong 29.3% of opposing hitters in the minors to earn his way back to the big leagues. He’ll reach free agency again at the end of the season.
Kirilloff was already expected to be out for the rest of the year after undergoing right wrist surgery in late July. His IL transfer is a simple formality, and the expectation remains that he’ll be ready for Spring Training in 2022.
Central Notes: Kimbrel, White Sox, Cubs, Donaldson, Boyd, Warren, File
White Sox GM Rick Hahn and Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer began trade discussions on July 9, ESPN.com’s Jesse Rogers reports, and it wasn’t until July 20 that the two sides reconnected for what became more intensive talks that led to a pair of major trades. In separate deals, the Sox acquired Ryan Tepera on July 29 and then a deadline-day blockbuster that saw Craig Kimbrel head to the south side of Chicago.
Nick Madrigal emerged as the top piece in the Kimbrel deal, though it wasn’t until the day of the trade that the White Sox also added right-hander Codi Heuer to make it a two-player package. That was enough to put the Sox ahead of a competitive market, and in Kimbrel, the team landed a player that Hahn and executive VP Ken Williams had both prioritized as a key acquisition to bolster the bullpen.
More on both the AL and NL Central divisions…
- Josh Donaldson continues to be bothered by soreness in his right hamstring, and he didn’t see any action for the second consecutive game. Over the Twins‘ last 10 games, Donaldson has started twice and come off the bench three times, and manager Rocco Baldelli said the club is “still going to wait and see” if Donaldson can avoid the injured list. “JD is still a little sore and we are still working our way through, just figuring out a timeline as far as when he’ll be able to return,” Baldelli told Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and other reporters.
- Matthew Boyd threw a live batting practice session at the Tigers‘ Spring Training facility in Lakeland, manager A.J. Hinch told MLB.com’s Jason Beck and other reporters. Boyd hasn’t pitched since June 14 due to a triceps issue, so a move to the 60-day injured list could be in the works should Detroit require some 40-man roster space in the near future. Boyd’s BP session does represent some progress, and a proper minor league rehab assignment could follow provided Boyd doesn’t hit any setbacks. The left-hander was off to a solid start to the 2021 season, posting a 3.44 ERA over his first 70 2/3 innings.
- Reds manager David Bell provided an update on Art Warren, telling reporters (including The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Bobby Nightengale) that Warren will require roughly another month to recover from a left oblique strain. The rookie right-hander has already missed about four weeks due to the injury, which interrupted a strong beginning to Warren’s first season in Cincinnati. Warren struck out 36.2% of opposing batters while posting a 1.88 ERA over 14 1/3 innings out of the Reds’ bullpen.
- The Brewers announced that right-hander Dylan File has been activated off the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Nashville. File underwent elbow surgery in February and has yet to pitch this season, apart from some minor league rehab outings. Considering that the Brewers are dealing with several bullpen absences due to injuries and a COVID-19 outbreak, it might not be out of the question that the 25-year-old File is called up to make his MLB debut before the 2021 season is through.
Latest On Taylor Rogers
TODAY: Rogers has chosen for the non-surgical option of resting and rehabbing his finger, Baldelli told MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park and other reporters. There aren’t yet any details on Rogers’ recovery timeline.
JULY 31: Taylor Rogers is hoping to avoid a season-ending surgery in the wake of his recent finger injury, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli told The Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Phil Miller and other reporters. Baldelli initially thought that Rogers’ injury would indeed keep the left-hander out of action for the remainder of the 2021 season, though Rogers received a second opinion that could allow him to heal his tendon problem without surgery.
Rogers seems to be considering that second option for now, but it isn’t clear whether or not this non-surgical rehab route might take too long for Rogers to get back on the mound before the season is through. The other factor could be the Twins themselves perhaps stepping in to shut Rogers down for the season, considering the team is out of the pennant race and might not want to risk Rogers coming back for meaningless games in late September.
The injury was officially termed a left middle finger sprain, though Miller notes that the injury specifically involved the pulley tendon within Rogers’ finger. While the extent of the tendon damage isn’t known, the fact that surgery appears to be a consideration isn’t a good sign, and there could possibly even be some uncertainty about Rogers’ readiness for the start of the 2022 season. Given how finger surgeries can often carry unclear timelines, it isn’t surprising that Rogers would prefer to explore any possible avenues to avoid going under the knife.
Were it not for this finger issue, it is quite possible Rogers might no longer be a Minnesota Twin, as the southpaw was drawing a lot of attention prior to the trade deadline. Given how the Twins are reportedly planning to reload and attempt a return to contention in 2022, it doesn’t seem like Rogers will be shopped this offseason, regardless or whether or not he is healthy.
Rogers has been generally excellent over his six years with Minnesota, and his performance this season (3.35 ERA, 35.5% strikeout rate, 4.8% walk rate over 40 1/3 innings) earned him his first career All-Star nod. Rogers has one remaining year of arbitration eligibility before hitting free agency in the 2022-23 offseason.
Twins’ President Derek Falvey Discusses Deadline Moves, 2022 Outlook
Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey met with reporters last weekend to discuss the team’s activity leading up to the trade deadline (video clip available from KSTP-TV). Minnesota’s baseball ops head also offered some hints at the team’s plans for the upcoming offseason, unsurprisingly suggesting they’re eyeing a return to contention as soon as 2022.
“(This year) has not been what we wanted. But we still feel we have a lot of talent in the clubhouse for 2022, 2023 and beyond,” Falvey told reporters. Not coincidentally, the Twins generally acquired prospects at the higher levels of the minor leagues with a chance to contribute at the major league level in the near future. Joe Ryan and Drew Strotman, acquired from the Rays for Nelson Cruz, are both at Triple-A. The players acquired from the Blue Jays for José Berríos — Austin Martin and Simeon Woods-Richardson — are both in Double-A, as is Alex Scherff, whom the Twins added from the Red Sox for Hansel Robles.
Moving Berríos for Martin and Woods-Richardson was obviously the Twins’ biggest deadline decision. Falvey indicated the club saw both players as among the top 50 prospects in the league, and he was particularly effusive in his praise of Martin, whom Minnesota viewed as one of the top two talents in the 2020 draft class. The 22-year-old split his time evenly between shortstop and center field in the Blue Jays’ system, and Falvey indicated Martin would continue to see action at both positions in his new organization.
While there’s certainly reason for excitement regarding the young players added to the system in recent weeks, the front office clearly needs to add immediate big league help this offseason if the Twins are to challenge the White Sox. That’s most apparent in terms of the starting rotation, which has lost Berríos, J.A. Happ and Matt Shoemaker from the season-opening group and could also see Michael Pineda depart in free agency this winter. Kenta Maeda will obviously be among the starting five next season, and young right-hander Bailey Ober has probably shown enough promise to have the inside track on a spot as well.
There’s very little clarity beyond those two. Falvey pointed to Randy Dobnak, who struggled early in the year and has been out since mid-June with a finger injury, as a potential internal option. Minnesota has been giving starts to Charlie Barnes and Griffin Jax of late, and it’s possible Ryan or Strotman get their first big league calls later this season. Someone from that group could pitch well enough down the stretch to earn a permanent spot, but there’s enough uncertainty overall that Falvey flatly acknowledged “we’re going to need to add to that” via trade or free agency this winter.
The Twins should have the financial resources to make a couple noteworthy additions on the pitching staff. The team has just $49.2MM in guaranteed commitments on the books for next season, in the estimation of Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Arbitration raises for Byron Buxton, Taylor Rogers, Tyler Duffey and Luis Arraez will probably add somewhere in the $20MM range to that ledger, but that’d still leave quite a bit of breathing room relative to their approximate $125MM payroll for 2021.
The position player group looks mostly set. Core players like Buxton, Josh Donaldson, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Arraez and the catching tandem of Mitch Garver and Ryan Jeffers are under team control, as are highly-touted young players like Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff and top prospect Royce Lewis. (Miguel Sanó is under contract as well, although he’s amidst a second consecutive disappointing season, so it’s arguable the Twins should pursue a first base upgrade).
That lineup core still looks like a potentially productive one, although the Twins are now without their best hitter of the past few seasons after trading Cruz to the Rays. Before the trade, Cruz was quite vocal about his affinity for the Twins organization, and Falvey said the front office would “never rule anything out” regarding the possibility of making a run at the 41-year-old in free agency this winter.