The Twins' pursuit of free agent pitchers under Derek Falvey has yet to be particularly fruitful in any sense of the word. On the one hand, they have yet to sign any high-end names, even when they've tried to be aggressive. Second (and probably related), those cheaper free agents they've signed haven't been good.
(It's worth calling out the exceptions: Michael Pineda. That's it. That's the list.)
The thin line they have walked is thinner this year because they already have a rotation in-house that qualifies as decent with Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Chris Paddack , and Louie Varland. The Twins don't need to sign a lower-end-of-rotation starter like J.A. Happ or Dylan Bundy or Homer Bailey or Chris Archer or Matt Shoemaker or oh my gawd make it stop.....
But they do have to sign someone if they want their rotation to be a strength again because they're losing both Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda to free agency. The current rotation looks good enough to compete in the AL Central, but if the Twins want to make noise in the postseason again, having another playoff-caliber starter is a requirement.
So let's divide the acceptable free agent pitchers into the three groups Goldilocks did: too hot, too cold, and just right.
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