It’s been a whirlwind week for the Minnesota Twins and teams all across Major League Baseball. It was only six days ago that an agreement between the owners and the Player’s Association started the baseball season after the second longest labor stoppage in MLB’s history.
Now, teams are in Fort Myers getting ready for a season that begins a week later than planned, April 7, and trying to put together rosters and get players ready in a very condensed spring training.
While players try and get ready for actual play, the business side of the Twins has been very active in trying to add players and get a roster set for the season.
Twins General Manager Thad Levine explained that the lockout created a situation where a full offseason of moves has to be done in a much shorter period of time.
“It's such a unique situation down here in the sense that we're trying to jam in what we would normally do in a full off season into about a week's time,” explains Levine. “And so when we're doing business, we always are looking at the full portfolio of things that we're trying to do. We have these plans and we never can fully execute a plan A to Z, but we have a lot of different options.”
Those options include both trades and free-agent signings. The Twins have already made several moves since last Thursday’s labor deal.
The team picked up much-needed pitching in Sonny Gray and Francis Peguero from Cincinnati for last year’s number one draft pick, pitcher Chase Petty. The Twins then traded catcher Mitch Garver to Texas infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa and pitcher Ronny Henriquez. Kiner-Falefa was then sent to the Yankees along with third baseman Josh Donaldson and catcher Ben Rortvedt. They received catcher Gary Sanchez and infielder Gio Urshela.
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Levine hinted that some of the moves the Twins were making were setting up some other moves too.
“So far we’ve been judged on each individual move where they don’t all seem to fit perfectly well together,” says Levine. “I would just say there are more moves to come. We realize we still have some holes to address.”
The biggest hole the Twins needed to address was pitching. Adding an arm like Sonny Gray adds much-needed experience to a starting staff that is full of unknowns. Young pitchers like Bailey Ober, Joe Ryan and Louis Thorpe will get their chances. To compete in the AL Central, Levine says the team needs more pitching.
“We're still hopeful to acquire some more pitching,” Levine said on the WCCO Morning News. “Those were goals that we had this off season. Those remain goals to this day. And I think we view that there's some very attractive players still on this market, whether it be free agents or trades. We're having active dialogue and we'll continue to try to improve the team.”
Meanwhile, the arms that are in camp have to adjust quickly with the actual start of the season just three weeks from Thursday. It’s a compressed spring training with limited opportunities to get players the on-field work they’re accustomed to getting.
Former Twins pitcher and television analyst Bert Blyleven is in Fort Myers and has been working with some of the team’s pitchers. He says they will have to work quickly.
“It's just going to come down to a short period of time,” Blyleven told WCCO Radio’s Mike Max. “Only three weeks for these guys to hopefully pitch five, six innings to get ready for opening day.”
Blyleven says there is some pitching talent he has seen from the Twins so far this shortened spring.
“I got to watch Joe Ryan pitch today on the side,” Blyleven told Max. “Very impressive young man, has a good idea what he’s doing out there. Sonny Gray I haven’t watched yet, but over the years I have. The man can pitch. I think the biggest thing is Ober, he’s going to be a part of that starting rotation.”
Levine says Gray will be an anchor to the staff.
“Sonny Gray has been a stalwart, top of a rotation throughout his whole career,” Levine told WCCO. “We’re hoping to add additionally to him, but we think he anchors what is an otherwise young pitching staff with other young pitchers to come we’re very excited about.”
The biggest rumor surrounding the Twins is still Trevor Story, the Colorado Rockies shortstop who is receiving a lot of interest from teams including the Twins. He wants to remain a shortstop despite some team’s desire to move him to third base. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported that makes the Twins a likely destination for Story.
Levine, who wouldn’t comment directly on Story, says the team definitely is looking to add a shortstop however.
“I would say we do have a need at shortstop and there are a handful of them still out there and available,” says Levine. “We’re pursuing all different options.”
Levine added that the Twins are in a unique position because of the versatility of their existing players. He said they could certainly move Jorge Polanco back to shortstop where he was an All-Star in 2019, and that would allow Luis Arráez to move back to second base where Polanco played in 2021.
With actual baseball games starting Thursday, and an opening day just three weeks away, expect a flurry of moves across MLB as teams continue to maneuver and put rosters in place for the 2022 season.
The Twins open spring ball Thursday in Fort Myers against the Boston Red Sox, a game that can be heard on 830 WCCO and the Audacy app at 12:00 p.m. Central.
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