Can the Twins Regain Momentum This Spring?

With spring training action underway in Fort Myers, the Twins will start a slate of games to prepare for the 2024 regular season. They enter the year as favorites to win the American League Central Division, and there is plenty of hope that they can again make a run during the postseason. Those realities exist, but they may be lost on fans after how ownership has handled the winter.

Running a pair of recent polls on X, both a grade for the offseason and excitement heading into the year, has fans responding lukewarm at best. Following multiple offseasons of record spending and acquisitions of names like Carlos Correa and Pablo Lopez, this incoming class could not be less thrilling. The bullpen has been added to, and that could be among the best groups in baseball, but $5.25 million for Carlos Santana and the insertion of Anthony DeSclafani into the rotation do little to move the needle.

It’s fair to suggest that this team is roughly as good as last year, but that relies heavily upon internal options carrying a much heavier load. With Sonny Gray, Kenta Maeda, and Tyler Mahle gone from the rotation, that group looks worse from a quality and depth standpoint. That can be mitigated by steps forward from Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober or Correa and Byron Buxton remaining healthy, but plenty of things need to go right.

When the offseason began, the Twins set the tone with a message that funds wouldn’t be there to supplement the roster. Derek Falvey and Thad Levine had their jobs made more difficult by ownership, and it was that message put out as what seemed to be a public relations misstep that caused a cloud to hang over everything that followed.

Grading the offseason in terms of moves is mainly subjective. What Minnesota did will, without question, help them to compete in 2024. However, none of the moves on their own deserve better than a “C” grade. If you are to include anything unrelated to the roster, it’s understandable why the “activity” takes a hit.

There’s no reason that the start of the 2024 Minnesota Twins season shouldn’t be met with unbridled excitement. Following how last year’s team finished and the emergence of Royce Lewis, there couldn’t be more for fans to get behind. Brooks Lee should be coming this year, and Edouard Julien looks like a legitimate regular. A case can be made that Pablo Lopez could win the Cy Young, and Correa being healthy, may earn MVP votes. Even with all of that being true, fans were split, and indifference reared its head.

Plenty of eyeballs around Twins Territory are still unable to watch the games, which may be the greatest downer. Even though ownership backed off supporting the on-field product, the easiest way to spread excitement is by making the product consumable. With the franchise publicly stating that removing blackouts and finding a new home was their goal, only to reverse course, it’s understandable why plenty would be chafed.

Overall, the offseason problems can largely be swept under the rug when actual games start being played, and seeing home runs hit and strikeouts thrown from Hammond Stadium should bring joy to the faces of many. How much momentum can be created over the next month is something that the franchise should be looking to capitalize on. Turning the page from the doldrums of winter is a must, mainly because the Twins did so little to keep what they had rolling.