Minnesota Twins

When the life blood of an organization with a strong belief in player development, it is crucial that players continue to develop, continue to improve. That improvement is needed to work through the minor league system, but it is especially important once a player gets to the big leagues.

For the Twins to have improved from 78 wins to 101 wins, it required individual improvements from several players. There were many solid candidates for 2019 Twins' Most Improved Player, but ultimately the runaway choice was second-year backstop Mitch Garver.

The Minnesota Twins are going to be looking at filling a starting rotation that has just one guaranteed arm for 2020. A top-tier talent or two is going to be a must but bolstering the group with a strong 4th or 5th is equally as important. Derek Falvey will need to decide on what holdovers he wants back, but Michael Pineda is a talent that could be worthy of a qualifying offer.

In many ways, the Twins have changed radically under this front office regime. Derek Falvey and Thad Levine ushered an era of historically elite slugging and high-velo power pitching. The team has also been noticeably splashier on the offseason market, but one thing that remains – and will always remain – constant for Minnesota is a foremost reliance on internal pipeline to fuel sustained success.

Players like Luis Arraez are the lifeblood of this model. And if he follows in the footsteps of past TD Rookie of the Year winners, Arraez is destined to play a major role in the Twins' story for years to come.

The focus across Twins Territory is squarely on adding pitching, and rightly so, but improving the defense would also help maximize the team’s ability to prevent runs. Matthew Trueblood’s recent article in which he pointed out some concerns regarding the Twins defense and athleticism really got my wheels turning. Here's some additional information on how the Twins defense stacks up to the rest of the league.

This 2019 season was a very interesting one for the Minnesota Twins for a number of reasons. There are many ways to dissect what went right and what went wrong, but more than anything, this season dished out some crucial lessons that the Twins will need to understand if they plan on having more success going forward. Let's review the four major concepts that stuck out to me.

With a season that exceeded our expectations and then ended as bitterly as one could conceive, the offseason gives everyone a chance to reset and turn our attention to 2020. With one of the league’s best offenses and a much-improved bullpen set to return intact, the focus will be the starting rotation. With only Jose Berrios set to return from the 2019’s opening day rotation (assuming Martin Perez’s team option is declined), there are likely to be a few new faces. Today, however, we'll take a look at what the rotation would look like if the Twins do nothing at all.

Although there is still major league baseball being played the Minnesota Twins can begin full offseason mode. Here at Twins Daily pre-orders for the 2020 Offseason Handbook are now live, and John jumped into the most pressing matter for Derek Falvey. If there was a takeaway from the stretch run and American League Division Series, it’s that Rocco Baldelli can’t continue to be hamstrung by his pitching staff. This team has money to spend, and there’s only one place to spend it.

Whether you have been watching the postseason from inside a stadium or the friendly confines of your house, there’s been something fishy about the action. Did you notice that the Nationals and Dodgers game featured more than a few opportunities to rob a home run in game 5? How about that Miguel Sano and Nelson Cruz could barely squeak their blasts out of Yankee Stadium in game 1? Well, it appears there’s something to it, and that’s not a good discovery for Major League Baseball.

It’s important to not sugarcoat what just happened, even if there seems little danger of it. While the Twins’ brilliant season was unexpected and thrilling, and while they certainly seem more on the upswing than on the down slope, the decisive and deflating way the season just ended represents a real setback. Not only do they have to start all over next spring without even a moral October victory to balance out the added pressure they’ll face, but the team faces real challenges in reconstituting a roster that will regress substantially in 2020 if left to its own devices.

The 2019 season has come to an abrupt end after 101 wins. This means we may have seen some players in a Twins uniform for the final time. With a lot of question marks about the rotation and a few key position players, I take a look at who should come back and who should be on the move.

It is rare that the offseason machinations of a billion-dollar team can be distilled down to a Twitter hashtag, but the headline says it all: #3Pitchers70Million. The Twins have a nearly empty starting rotation and, even by their modest standards, a lot of money to spend. This essay could end right now, and you would know enough to follow developments this offseason.

Minnesota’s dreams of postseason glory were cut brutally short on Monday night. Target Field was poised to exploded at the first sign of life from the Twins, but that moment would never come. Instead, fans saw the Twins set many dubious records. Minnesota became the first 100-win team to be swept out of the first round of the playoffs and the club has lost an MLB record 16-straight postseason games.

As the dust starts to settle, where should the blame be placed? Fans begin to move from the postseason to a time of second-guessing choices made by the coaching staff and the front office.