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And, surely, this isn’t an unexpected reaction; the team had been linked everywhere as they sought the few additions clearly needed to round out the team. A left fielder. A relief arm. A time machine to reverse last year’s deadline moves. A cannon to fire Joey Gallo out of. They needed at least two—preferably all four—before the clock struck 5 PM. Instead we got nothing, and all that was left was overthinking the Dylan Floro trade and rankled opinion pieces.
I’m not here to argue that this was the correct choice for the team this season; the 2023 Twins are a muddled mess; striking out entirely too often; failing to crush lefties; running the bases like a Molina brother; turning Reese Olson into prime Pedro Martinez. These are the common characteristics of a mediocre ballclub—one ill-suited for a healthy shot at postseason glory—but fixing them would require time and a hard reboot to the system—two things that the trade deadline does not offer.
At the moment, the Twins’ offense ranks 17th in runs scored, 14th in wRC+, and 14th in fWAR from position players. The strikeouts—aesthetically abhorrent and brutally hazardous—are exactly where you already know them to be: dead last. The end product is an ok offense. Deadly by itself, the issue strains itself further as Minnesota has failed to budge from acceptable since COVID hit; that’s two full seasons and plenty of change for no results to speak of. The 2019 season may as well have been an eon ago.
That speaks, then, to a philosophical issue within the organization; the team has prioritized power at the expense of contact for years now, and even one of their younger bright spots, Matt Wallner, is built precisely in this image. We know the advantages of extra-base hits, but the league blew by the Twins in strategy, and their current whiff-heavy approach needs to be re-examined and corrected. It can only take them so far.
And—critically—it’s not something that can change overnight. Telling developed major leaguers to just stop missing the ball is not a real plan of action; coaches needed to be fired and hired as the team looks to franchises like Atlanta and Texas to develop dynamic hitting in the era of robotic pitching.
Could they have done more? Certainly. An extra bat didn’t cost much at the deadline, and the Twins absolutely have the minor-league depth to absorb losing their 26th-ranked or so player. But, taking a step back, how much more would that have accomplished? Is a solid hitter the difference between a forgettable, sufficient offense and one capable of playing deep into the postseason? Are we more annoyed at the lack of an addition, or at the lack of eyewash proving that the team is “doing something” to fix the problems? I believe they tried that last season. I forget how those trades worked out.
The team trusted itself. They learned the painful lessons of 2022 and understood that ballplayers, while sometimes appearing to be static, can be manipulated and taught in unpredictable ways. Minnesota's talented bats and arms alike can breakout old—just ask the Giants and Orioles.
“Complacent?” Perhaps, although I’m sure Derek Falvey and Thad Levine are well aware of what happens to MLB executives lacking in tangible results. I think the realities of the situation were this: Byron Buxton is evidently not healthy enough to man center field, and Carlos Correa suddenly lost any and all ability to hit the ball. Forget the ancillary details—the complimentary players and the fundamentals—and those two points create the foundation from which the rest of the team is supposed to work from. Without them, there’s nothing. It would be like building a house on sand.
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