The Twins Showed Interest In Multiple Playoff Caliber Starters This Winter

[Cody Christie]

This winter has felt like a contradiction wrapped in plausible deniability for the Minnesota Twins. On one hand, the organization has preached restraint while trimming payroll and reshuffling leadership. On the other hand, reports keep popping up that suggest the Twins at least poked around on some of the most expensive starting pitching available.

Framber Valdez sits at the top of that list. As his free agency dragged deeper into the offseason, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reported that Minnesota was among the teams involved. That alone raised eyebrows. A Valdez deal would have represented a dramatic shift for an organization that has been cutting costs and just parted ways with president of baseball operations Derek Falvey in a move that landed somewhere between shocking and confusing.

Valdez was not the only surprise. The Twins also reportedly jumped into conversations on Freddy Peralta before Milwaukee ultimately sent him to the Mets. Whether Minnesota was a serious contender or simply checking in is impossible to know. Given the context of this winter, diligence feels like the safer assumption.

Ownership has reduced spending. The front office structure is still settling. Plans for a full rebuild were shelved after minority investors came aboard to help stabilize the franchise financially. All of that has happened while the on-field product desperately needs help.

The Twins lost the second-most games in the American League last season. The winter additions have been modest at best. Victor Caratini adds some flexibility behind the plate. Josh Bell brings a strong bat to an offense that struggled in the second half. Taylor Rogers returns to a bullpen that barely resembles last year’s version. None of that screams urgency.

And yet, the rotation is quietly one of the more stable areas of the roster. Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, and Bailey Ober give Minnesota a legitimate top three. Simeon Woods Richardson showed real progress. Taj Bradley brings upside. Zebby Matthews, David Festa, Mick Abel, Connor Prielipp, Kendry Rojas, Andrew Morris, and Marco Raya round out a group that is deep if not perfectly defined.

Teams never have enough starting pitching, but the Twins might have too many arms for too few rotation spots. Realistically, some of those pitchers will end up in the bullpen, whether by design or necessity. That internal depth is likely a big reason why Minnesota can talk itself out of a major free agent splurge.

There are still high-end starters available, or they were recently available. Zac Gallen headlines that group after declining Arizona’s qualifying offer. Signing him would cost a draft pick, something the Twins rarely treat lightly. Lucas Giolito, Chris Bassitt, and Zack Littell represent solid but less transformative options. None carries the same impact as Gallen, and none feels like an obvious fit for a team trying to balance competitiveness with financial caution.

So where does that leave Minnesota? Interested but not aggressive. Aware but not reckless. The Twins can tell agents and rival teams that they checked in on Valdez and Peralta, and technically, that can be true. It also does not mean they were ever close.

Still, the fact that Minnesota keeps appearing on the periphery of these conversations matters. It suggests a front office that understands the need for impact talent, even if circumstances prevent them from acting on it. For now, browsing might be all they can afford.

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[big dog]

I test-drove an $85,000 pickup once, too, but still driving the Honda that now has 187,000 miles. 

I think this is a very little bit of smoke and zero fire. It's the equivalent of lighting matches and throwing them over your shoulder.

[olerud]

Me too!😁

[olerud]

30 minutes ago, big dog said:

I test-drove an $85,000 pickup once, too, but still driving the Honda that now has 187,000 miles. 

I think this is a very little bit of smoke and zero fire. It's the equivalent of lighting matches and throwing them over your shoulder.

Best comment i think I've ever seen in the comment section!!!!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣

[TopGunn#22]

Did the Twins really show interest in these SP?  Or was it just a perfunctory "yeah, we knocked on the door but then left?"  

The ONLY reason they would have looked at any SP is that they are still considering trading one or two of Ryan, Lopez or Ober.  And even that is a bit of a stretch.  Lopez is an extreme bargain at $21 million to 80% of the teams in baseball right now, much like Buxton at $15 million.  At $6+ million Ryan is the biggest bargain out there for a SP.  Why add a pitcher for $115 million when you have a couple equally talented at a fraction of the cost?  

The fact still remains that the Twins could get a King's ransom for Ryan who in all likelihood will NOT sign an extension with the us.  Jeffers is certainly not signing an extension with free agency in 2027 and Scott Boras as his agent.  The Twins should in all respects be in an earnest rebuild mode with an eye on being formidable in 2028.  They should be capitalizing on the market for both Ryan and Jeffers.  

As "big dog" so eloquently said, test driving an $85,000 pickup with all the bells and whistles but going back the the Honda with nearly 200,000 miles is spot on what the Twins did with Peralta and Valdez.  Maybe a big splash is still coming from the Twins, maybe not.  Even with Falvey out the door, getting any kind of a handle on what the goals and strategy for the Twins are is awfully hard to discern. 

[bean5302]

26 minutes ago, TopGunn#22 said:

...Lopez is an extreme bargain at $21 million to 80% of the teams in baseball right now...

...At $6+ million Ryan is the biggest bargain out there for a SP...

Pablo Lopez is like an $8MM per season bargain, but hardly extreme. He's worth less than Sonny Gray's value when the Twins acquired Gray. Maybe 20% of the league would consider taking on another $22MM in salary at this point in the offseason.

Joe Ryan has one of the higher trade values for pitchers who are speculated as "available" and he's one of the better bargains on an expected production vs. annual salary for the upcoming season. He's not remotely close to the biggest bargain in SP right now. Skenes makes $800k right now and he's twice as good as Ryan in terms of value produced. Hunter Brown is better and cheaper with more team control, Bryan Woo is cheaper with more control, etc. 

In terms of raw value, even a guy like Gavin Crochet is worth more than Joe Ryan in trade value despite Crochet making $28MM per year because of the added team control, and Crochet at $28MM is twice as good of a deal than Lopez at $22MM.

[terrydactyls]

The Twins can tell agents and rival teams that they checked in on Valdez and Peralta, and technically, that can be true. It also does not mean they were ever close.

I think that says it all.  If there are any pennies available to spend, spend them on a relief pitcher (or tell us that Raya, Prielipp, Morris, and Matthews are now members of the bullpen). 

[Doctor Wu]

Sigh, Another meaningless article.

[Russ]

Shouldn't they show interest in any free agent?

[Whitey333]

The idea that the Twins were ever in on Peralta and Valdez is just more of the Twins propaganda machine.  Just bs perhaps to stir some minor interest.  It's always easy to say you were in on them after they sign elsewhere.  We all know they weren't serious about it.  Add me to the list of fans that think they should trade any or all if Buxton, Lopez, Ryan, and Jeffers while they can still get decent, and of course cheap, value in return.  It's been apparent for a long time this team is not interested in being competitive.  They probably figured out that it's more profitable to be a bad team and collect revenue sharing monies than to actually pay major league level players.  Besides why do people just expect them to greatly increase payroll when they just are getting the debt bought down.  It would make no sense financially to just run the debt back up.  Im expecting maybe a 65-70 win year season and at times not noticing the difference between The Twins and St. Paul Saints. Not surprising since the Pohlads own them too.

 

[JADBP]

Love the old truck/new truck analogy. Now, what that says to me is that the Twins have 187,000 on this team.  They probably need new brakes, a timing belt and the tranny slips a little when its cold. Yeah...the old girl just surely not as zippy as that shiny new $85,000 truck, and there is a lot of rust that will never be repaired, but as long as the heater still works, I'll drive it to work every day!  

The beauty of the beater car is that you really don't care about the rust, or getting dinged, or spinning out on a snowy I-694.  You just gather her up and continue on home.  With a smile on your face thinking of all the money you are saving on car payments, insurance, plates, and worry!  You save so much money, its almost like printing  money.  

I guess this is exactly how the Pohlad's feel about the Twins.  Plenty of rust and needs plenty of repairs, the engine is staring to go, and the heater is iffy at best.  But as long as you hang on to it, you just keep printing money.  Eventually it becomes a valuable classic car and you sell it for a boatload of money.  

I get it now!

[Chembry]

I don't think most here listen to MLB reporters like Rosenthall, Pasan, etc...

ESPN reported that the Twins were in on Valdez.  That's a national outlet.  They aren't going to report if the Twins just checked in...Darren Wolfson also said the Twins were "heavily" involved in Framber Valdez.

On the Freddy Peralta front, I don't know how deep the Twin/Brewers got in their discussions.  I did hear (I can't remember where) that the Twins/Brewers were discussing player packages.  That's not just "checking in".  Now we may not have wanted to part with what the Brewers were asking for, but there was genuine interest from the Twins.  

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

When a player remains unsigned, a lot of information comes from the agent looking to create a bidding war or increased interest.

But, this after the fact stuff - it is most likely coming from the Twins - who reports the info is irrelevant. The source matters and in this case, I'd be shocked if the source wasn't someone in the organization. 

The subjectivity is off the charts. They were 'heavily' involved - meaning what exactly. In a lot of high-profile signings, we'll hear about what other teams offered in terms of dollars and years - haven't gotten that level of detail on the Twins pursuit likely because it never got to that point.

Tough to put any stock in these reports because they are counter-intuitive to everything this team has done since July and continues to do.

[HerbieFan]

Do any of them pitch out of the bullpen? :)

[CRF]

"Showing interest" is light years from actually being serious about signing one of them. I'm interested in hitting the lottery, or having Katy Perry show up at my front door...that doesn't mean that it's gonna happen. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Different sport but I think there's a lot of similarities - in 2009, after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired Jon Gruden and cut long-time franchise icons like Derrick Brooks and Warrick Dunn, there was a report from ESPN that the Bucs made an offer to Albert Haynesworth who at the time was the marquee free agent in the NFL - then the story changed and it came out that the Bucs' offer came in AFTER Haynesworth signed with Washington. So teams will use the media for misinformation and furthering narratives - that's all that is happening here. The Twins were 'interested' - of course they were - who wouldn't be interested in that kind of pitcher? Interest doesn't equate to made a legitimate offer.

[nicksaviking]

Why are they showing interest in expensive starting pitching anyway? Finding legit middle of the order bats has been this team's biggest problem since the Bomba Squad days, why aren't they looking for that?

[TheLeviathan]

11 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Why are they showing interest in expensive starting pitching anyway? Finding legit middle of the order bats has been this team's biggest problem since the Bomba Squad days, why aren't they looking for that?

Prank calling a SP agent is worth 5 WAR minimum.

[LastOnePicked]

Oh goody, we're back to the "showed interest in X superstar free agent" years.

But for now, I don't care. I just wanted them to show interest in building a world-class farm system. But they don't have any real interest in that.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

I would have been happy with Nick Martinez. Could have stabilized the bullpen either by being a full time reliever or settling in at the back of the rotation and freeing up another young starter to make the transition to the bullpen. Rays got him for $13M. But, alas, Liam Hendricks, welcome back.

[ashbury]

"Sometimes you just can't get them to take your money." -- Terry Ryan 

[TheLeviathan]

14 minutes ago, ashbury said:

"Sometimes you just can't get them to take your money.". -- Terry Ryan 

I have the same issue sometimes.  Dealership wants 70k and they just refuse to take my spare change for their vehicles.

Buncha jerks.

[ashbury]

14 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

I have the same issue sometimes.  Dealership wants 70k and they just refuse to take my spare change for their vehicles.

Buncha jerks.

I had a great deal of respect for Terry Ryan and still do but it was about the time he uttered those words that I felt the game had passed him by.