To say the offseason has gone poorly for the Minnesota Twins would be putting it lightly. Not only are they coming off the failed sale of the team, but the front office has been shaken up. Tom Pohlad is now calling all the shots, and he’s missing many of the ones he has already taken.
Last summer the Pohlads mandated a teardown of the roster. It was a shocking exodus for many established veterans, and rebuilding needed to take place this winter.
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With less than two weeks until pitchers and catchers report, there’s still plenty of uncertainty around what was accomplished. We’ll quickly see how tenable the situation is come Grapefruit League action.
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Former GM trashes Minnesota Twins offseason
Derek Falvey and Thad Levine are now both former Minnesota Twins general managers and it’s hard not to argue they aren’t better off for it. Jim Bowden (The Athletic) is a former general manager as well, and he’s not putting lipstick on the pig that is the Twins offseason.
The Twins have had a dismal offseason. Their only significant moves were signing first baseman Josh Bell, reliever Taylor Rogers and catcher Victor Caratini. Those pick-ups helped their roster depth but likely won’t improve their win-loss record. And now they’ll enter spring training without longtime baseball head Derek Falvey, after announcing on Friday that he and the team were “mutually parting ways.”
Not only did Bowden saddle the Twins with a “D” grade, but also suggested they’ll finish fourth in the AL Central.
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You’d be hard-pressed to believe that anything was mutual regarding Falvey’s decision to step away. He has operated in this penny-pinching structure long enough to understand its intricacies. Just weeks after Tom Pohlad took over, Falvey had seen enough and said I’m out.
While Bowden notes that Minnesota did add some veteran talent, the question to what difference they’ll make is valid. It’s beyond plausible two of those three (Caratini signed a two-year contract) will be sent packing at the upcoming trade deadline.
The Minnesota Twins are banking on the healthy of Byron Buxton, Pablo Lopez, and Joe Ryan. Beyond that, they are praying for significant contributions from prospects or otherwise unproven talent. That’s not a strategy, and depth is something that was exposed a year ago.
Time for MN Twins to add isn’t a good thing
Because tone-deaf statements are something that remain synonymous with the Pohlads, new leader Tom has consistently suggested there is still time to add this offseason. That may be true, but the talent isn’t there. Payroll projects to come in just over $100 million, and frankly he believes it should stop being a talking point.
The time to add impact talent for the Minnesota Twins has come and gone. Frankly, any belief that ownership would actually have interest in doing so left following the 2023 payroll teardown after achieving postseason success not seen in decades.
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If the Twins give general manager Jeremy Zoll the ability to add another reliever for $1 or $2 million, ownership can say they weren’t wrong, but it doesn’t change the outcome. It has still been a dismal offseason in which almost every possible misstep was made.
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