As the Minnesota Twins approached the Major League Baseball (MLB) trade deadline on Tuesday, what they needed to do was apparent. They were five and a half games behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians, and they had just gotten blown out by the Mets the previous night by a score of 15-2.
Obviously, the addition of a quality starting pitcher was just what the team needed to overtake the Guardians and perhaps make an extended playoff run. Despite rumors that the Twins’ front office might continue to play it safe financially, fans were hoping the team would come through and acquire that much-needed pitching help.
Twins Have Money
Instead, Minnesota sat on its hands and did practically nothing. In a minute, I will talk about the addition they did make. Now, I am sure there are some of you out there who reason that the Twins are a small-market team and can’t compete with teams like the New York Yankees or the Los Angeles Dodgers.
But let’s look at the facts. According to Spotrac, the Twins have the eighteenth-highest team salary in MLB this season at $129,302,082. That, of course, pales in comparison to the New York Met’s luxury tax-ridden $316,785 959 payroll.
However, when you examine the list of baseball’s wealthiest owners, the Twins’ owner, the Pohlad family, ranks eighth with a total wealth of $3.8 billion. There’s nothing small about that market. So, the Twins and the Pohlad family have ample finances to upgrade the team.
Same Old, Same Old
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Unfortunately, Minnesota fans have been down this road before. Old-timers like me can harken back to the Calvin Griffth days when he was one of the last owners to profit almost entirely from their sports franchise. Minnesota fans saw players like Rod Carew, Bert Blyleven, and Lymon Bostock fly the coop because Calvin wouldn’t raise their salaries. But the Griffiths had an excuse. They really didn’t have the money to compete for these players’ services.
But the Pohlads do. More recent fans will remember the hype as Target Field was being built in the 2000s. The Twins then promised, “Build us a ballpark, and we will sign the players to help fill the stands.” Pipe dreams, of course. But what really happened?
The Twins were a playoff team the year Target Field opened in 2010, thanks to some quality players like Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Michael Cuddyer. But in the five-team American League Central Division, here is where they placed in the division race for the next four years: Fifth, fifth, fourth, and fifth. The Pohlads simply refused to pony up the funds to field a competitive team despite their promises.
Who Did the Twins Pickup?
In the waning days before the trade deadline this year, two teams had not made a move to improve themselves. Those two teams, the Minnesota Twins and the lowly soon-to-be vagabond Oakland Athletics. The pressure was on for Derek Falvey, Thad Levine and the rest of the Twins’ brass to make a move to bolster their starting pitching.
And there were several live arms that were available for them to sign. Pitchers such as Jack Flaherty, Garrett Crochet, Yuusei Kikuchi, and Nathan Eovaldi. All of these hurlers could have immediately bolstered the thin Twins rotation.
Instead, they picked up a relief pitcher named Trevor Richards from the Toronto Blue Jays, whose last good season was 2021. This selection did not make the loyal Twins fans erupt in loud cheers in bars all across the Northland.
What’s Next
Minnesota has to hope that hitting stars Carlos Correa, Royce Lewis, and Byron Buxton stay healthy. Staff ace Pablo Lopez has to turn his inconsistent season around. Rotation members Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober have to maintain their consistency. And the bullpen has to support a starting rotation that does not always go deep into games. A lot of questions remain.
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