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A Look at the Offseason for the Rest of the American League Central

Nate Palmer

By Nate Palmer
in Twins Daily Front Page News

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Nate Palmer FCL Twins

Nate Palmer

Twins Daily Contributor
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Image courtesy of © Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

As the offseason market churns, the most significant news for the Twins comes from moves that affect off-the-field dealings and less the ones that directly affect on-field competition. The club recently revealed further details about the limited partners purchasing minority interests in the club. Of course, the Pohlads stole the spotlight in that announcement by ousting brother Joe for brother Tom. 

On the field, the Twins have signed Josh Bell to bolster their lineup and replaced free agent Christian Vázquez with Alex Jackson via a trade with Baltimore. A lot of questions remain regarding the bullpen, but an early offseason trade to acquire Eric Orze from the Rays is the most significant relief pitcher addition to date. 

Instead of dwelling on the Twins' needs, let's turn to what the rest of the AL Central has done and what the Twins might be up against in 2026. 

Cleveland Guardians
In light of the news that the Guardians will certainly be without Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz while both face federal charges related to rigging bets, the AL Central foes have spent most of their additions on bullpen arms. Shawn Armstrong will bring his veteran presence to Cleveland, after one of the best seasons of his career as he enters his age-35 season. 

Kolby Allard and Jakob Junis also represent depth arms that Cleveland will need to replace, either through other signings (like Connor Brogdon and Colin Holderman, whom they've also scooped up so far) or from within. Beyond the bullpen, this Cleveland team is currently slated to be the same one we saw last offseason, with familiar names like José Ramírez and Steven Kwan leading the offense. We must remember that this was a group good enough to win the division last season. 

Additions:

  • Signed RP Connor Brogdon to a 1-year deal. 2025 fWAR: -0.3
  • Signed RP Colin Holderman to a 1-year deal. 2025 fWAR: 0.1
  • Signed RP Shawn Armstrong to a 1-year deal. 2025 fWAR: 1.4
  • RP Justin Bruihl (acquired from Toronto). 2025 fWAR: 0.0
  • OF Stuart Fairchild (MiLB deal). 2025 fWAR: 0.0

Subtractions:

Still on the Board:

Chicago White Sox
The White Sox will hope to see many of their young players take the next step in 2026, but they have—if nothing else—added some intriguing names to their talent mix. Munetaka Murakami comes over from Japan on a two-year deal, in a bit of a surprise signing. Murakami could become another South Side power bat that the Twins will be forced to pay attention to. 

Sean Newcomb will add some desperately needed length to the White Sox rotation, which is slated to be led by last season’s Rule 5 pick, Shane Smith. Anthony Kay is a fellow left-handed starter who will come back to the States after a stint in Asia. The White Sox will hope that Kay’s 1.74 ERA over 155 innings will translate back to the United States, as it has for others before him making that same transition. 

Additions:

  • SP/RP Sean Newcomb to a 1-year deal. 2025 fWAR: 1.7
  • 1B/3B Munetaka Murakami to a 2-year deal. 2025 fWAR: NPB
  • SP Anthony Kay to a 2-year deal. 2025 fWAR: NPB
  • SP/RP Chris Murphy (acquired from Boston) 2025 fWAR: -0.2
  • OF Everson Pereira (Acquired from Tampa Bay). 2025 fWAR: -0.5

Subtractions:

Still on the Board:

Losing Tyler Alexander and potentially Mike Tauchman will leave the White Sox with the biggest production voids. The team will only succeed if the young players develop, as the baseball world got a glimpse of last season. While the hill looks steep, it could prove unwise to completely overlook an offensive core of Chase Meidroth, Kyle Teel, and Colson Montgomery, now joined by Murakami. 

Detroit Tigers
For much of 2025, Detroit looked like the team to beat in the AL Central. There are still many reasons why they look that way going into 2026. Among all the trade rumors, Tarik Skubal is arguably one of the best starting pitchers in baseball and is still a Tiger. Gleyber Torres is returning to the team to maintain the middle of a formidable lineup, with Kerry Carpenter, Riley Greene, and Spencer Torkelson. 

On the pitching side, the Tigers have made some significant additions to their bullpen. Kenley Jansen is slated to take over the closer's role as he chases 500 career saves. Kyle Finnegan will bring ample setup experience to deepen the Tigers' bullpen. 

Additions:

  • RP Kenley Jansen to a 1-year deal. 2025 fWAR: 0.6
  • RP Kyle Finnegan to a 2-year deal. 2025 fWAR: 1.2
  • 2B Gleyber Torres (accepted qualifying offer). 2025 fWAR: 2.6
  • SP/RP Drew Anderson to a 1-year deal. 2025 fWAR: KBO

Subtractions:

  • RP Chase Lee (traded to Toronto). 2025 fWAR: -0.1
  • SP Randy Dobnak (minor league deal with Seattle) 2025 fWAR: -0.1
  • RP Alex Lange (signed with Kansas City) 2025 fWAR: 0.0
  • RP Jason Foley (signed with San Francisco). 2025 fWAR: DNP

Still on the Board:

While the Tigers are certainly losing a lot of recognizable names, those names did not quite perform as hoped. Jansen and Finnegan bring some name recognition with them as well, and Detroit will hope they bring their 2025 production with them. 

Kansas City Royals
The Royals were initially viewed as a team with limited payroll flexibility heading into the offseason. That hasn’t stopped them from making some trades and deals, and specifically dealing from a place of depth: their pitching staff. Most of Twins Territory didn’t believe the Royals would be competitive last season, even after a series of signings. Unfortunately, they were competitive, and the Royals only seemed to strengthen themselves. Kansas City has added to its roster with the acquisition of lefty Matt Strahm (one of my favorite moves of the offseason) and outfielder Isaac Collins, both acquired via trade. 

Additions:

  • RP Matt Strahm (acquired from Philadelphia). 2025 fWAR: 1.5
  • RP Nick Mears (acquired from Milwaukee). 2025 fWAR: 0.5
  • OF Isaac Collins (acquired from Milwaukee). 2025 fWAR: 2.6
  • OF Lane Thomas to a 1-year deal. 2025 fWAR: -0.5
  • RP Alex Lange to a 1-year deal. 2025 fWAR: 0.0
  • OF Kameron Misner (acquired from Tampa Bay). 2025 fWAR: 0.3
  • SP Mason Black (acquired from San Fransisco). 2025 fWAR: -0.1
  • C Salvador Perez re-signed to 2-year deal. 2025 fWAR: 0.5 

Subtractions:

Still on the Board:

Mike Yastrzemski certainly represented value as a solid MLB regular last season, so losing him shouldn’t be entirely overlooked. At the same time, the Royals look ready to reload in the outfield and should continue to compete for the AL Central. Not to mention, there still seems to be steam around a desire to acquire outfielder Jarren Duran from the Boston Red Sox. 

What do these division moves mean for the Twins?
Clearly, some AL Central foes have strengthened themselves, while the Twins haven’t done much. The AL Central does continue to be the AL Central. With the Twins still having a strong starting pitching core, they should be able to put themselves in a position to compete throughout the season, as none of the division teams have seemed to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. 


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Blyleven2011 Ft Myers Mighty Mussels

Blyleven2011

Verified Member
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Can the twins compete , be competitive  or contend ...

As of now the twins haven't the roster to do any of the above mentioned  , so we'll finish right where we left off in 2025 , unless we have breakout season from players that want to,  as they work through the winter to better themselves ...

I think we can better ourselves over the white Sox but that's the race we will be in as of now unless we add a significant bat or 2 and maybe a reliable relief pitcher , the youngsters are going to get there chance in the bullpen this year ....

Blyleven2011 Ft Myers Mighty Mussels

Blyleven2011

Verified Member
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1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

Thank you.  Continue to review the league.  The competitors actions are as important as the Twins inaction.  I have been wanting this kind of article.

I hope the new year will bring more substantial articles to read ...

It falls on the owners and FO shoulders that there is no excitement as of yet to even be considered in contention ...

I may believe we have decent pitching and can fill some positions in the bullpen but trotting out a lineup that can't score runs with no outs and runners on third and can't even hit a sacrifice fly  ...

The recipe has to change , discipline  , adjustments in situational hitting ...

The mental toughness just isn't there to succeed and the players need to go out and find it .., 

DJL44 St Paul Saints

DJL44

Verified Member
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6 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

I may believe we have decent pitching and can fill some positions in the bullpen but trotting out a lineup that can't score runs with no outs and runners on third and can't even hit a sacrifice fly  ...

The recipe has to change , discipline  , adjustments in situational hitting ...

The mental toughness just isn't there to succeed and the players need to go out and find it .., 

The Twins defense looks even worse than their offense. It's a team full of mediocre DH types.

bean5302 Cedar Rapids Kernels

bean5302

Verified Member
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Impossible to really tell what's up this coming year. AL East looks like a real juggernaut, but they'll be feeding off each other. The Royals are a wildcard in terms of what they might spend. Unlike the Pohlads, the Royals ownership was willing to expand the payroll into the top 1/2 in their window. Today that'd be $165MM-ish.

The Tigers probably have the best baseline of any of the teams, IMHO. Baez's hot start evaporated when his expected metrics luck ran out and Detroit is as weak as the Twins when it comes to SS as a result, but Detroit has the most stable "base/floor" of any team in the division, I'd say.

The Twins players have shown enough that each player on their own could have a monster season, but expecting a whole bunch of them to take a step forward or rebound at the same time is the part which is a 1:100 scenario. I've seen utterly nothing from this ownership shift suggesting it's not just business as usual. Big additions this year seem extremely unlikely. The team has no bullpen, and nothing but questions in the infield.

The Guardians gamblers really messed that team up. They truly do have a tightwad for an owner so replacing important, cost controlled players all of the sudden is not their strength. Not sure how this team performs as well as it does.

White Sox are terrible and are probably going to be terrible again, but their infield lineup is stronger than you'd think. No pitching staff, sketchy outfield.

image.png.f2039fac451294feb89db191a67a84ae.png

ziggy First Round Pick

ziggy

Verified Member
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It's not surprising the Twins are reluctant to dive into the deep end of the free agent pool. 2 of the last 3 big free agent contracts(Donaldson, Correa 1 and Correa 2) kind of blew up in their face and they had to pay someone to take the contract and player off of their hands. And in reality Correa 1 could have ended badly if he stunk and refused the buyouts. Esteury Ruiz would have made a nice pickup. Good speed and defense, just what the Twins lack the most.

DJL44 St Paul Saints

DJL44

Verified Member
Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, ziggy said:

Esteury Ruiz would have made a nice pickup. Good speed and defense, just what the Twins lack the most.

The Twins have Austin Martin for that same role.

bean5302 Cedar Rapids Kernels

bean5302

Verified Member
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4 hours ago, ziggy said:

It's not surprising the Twins are reluctant to dive into the deep end of the free agent pool. 2 of the last 3 big free agent contracts(Donaldson, Correa 1 and Correa 2) kind of blew up in their face and they had to pay someone to take the contract and player off of their hands. And in reality Correa 1 could have ended badly if he stunk and refused the buyouts. Esteury Ruiz would have made a nice pickup. Good speed and defense, just what the Twins lack the most.

Donaldson's contract would have been a bit of an albatross for the team, but they made out pretty well on the long side flipping Mitch Garver and Josh Donaldson into Gio Gonzalez and Gary Sanchez. Donaldson's last year with the Twins was pretty productive.

Correa's first contract was great for Minnesota. It's the second round which got ugly fast.

No team in baseball will develop their entire World Series caliber roster in house. Free agency is a necessary evil from a front office perspective. Burning $20MM on a handful of 0-1 WAR guys is worse than spending $20MM on a higher end, quality player who will still help the team even if they take a step back. I especially, especially believe this when it comes to starting rotation.

My message to the Pohalds, pack up shop and sell to an owner fans will support if you can't be competitive.

LastOnePicked FCL Twins

LastOnePicked

Verified Member
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"With the Twins still having a strong starting pitching core, they should be able to put themselves in a position to compete throughout the season."

I'm confused. Who have they added since last year? And starters only give you 4-6 innings - so having a completely cratered bullpen will hurt no matter how good the starters might be.

Smoke and mirrors. The AL Central competition might not be burning up free agency, but DET and CLE don't have anything to worry about when it comes to the Twins.

Woof Bronzer First Round Pick

Woof Bronzer

Verified Member
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17 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

"With the Twins still having a strong starting pitching core, they should be able to put themselves in a position to compete throughout the season."

I'm confused. Who have they added since last year? And starters only give you 4-6 innings - so having a completely cratered bullpen will hurt no matter how good the starters might be.

This is similar to the talking point I hear about the bullpen.  "The pen can't possibly be as bad in 26 as it was in September."   Okay....how?  They've signed, what, one AAAA guy?  The Twins are drawing from the same pool of talent as they were in September.  If fans want a better bullpen we actually have to build a better bullpen with better players than we had last year.  

It's funny, one of the things Falvey gets credit for is "modernizing" the sabermetrics side and bringing data-based decision making to the baseball ops.  In year 10 Derek is tossing out all the data and just crossing his fingers that the team is better than what all the sabermetrics (and eye tests) indicate.    We've come full circle back to the Terry Ryan era, except the Twins now ignore BOTH sabermetrics and the old school eye test!  It's just delusion all the way down.    

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