A Month Later: The Twins Front Office Got it Right

[Ted Schwerzler]

We’re now roughly one month out from the 2022 Major League Baseball trade deadline. The Minnesota Twins front office had one of the most impactful series of additions in franchise history, and it certainly appears they got it right.

 

Derek Falvey knew that a team employing Carlos Correa and leading the American League Central division couldn’t sit idle when given an opportunity to improve. Sure, Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff, and Kyle Garlick were all missing from the lineup. Byron Buxton was playing as a member of the walking wounded, and Ryan Jeffers may not return. Still though, it was the pitching staff, and has always been the pitching staff, that needed the most help.

Rather than allowing Rocco Baldelli to continue rolling the dice on a near-nightly basis, he needed to supplement the relief corps. Jhoan Duran couldn’t continue to shoulder such a massive load as a rookie, and despite the emergence of Griffin Jax, inexperience was going to reign supreme. Sonny Gray has established himself as the ace of the staff, and while Joe Ryan looks the part, they needed help with a group also including Dylan Bundy and Chris Archer.

Coming to Minnesota as an All-Star, Jorge Lopez has been as advertised. Yes, he scuffled early, but he quickly righted that ship. With a neat entrance to the Target Field mound, the former Baltimore Orioles closer owns a 2.45 ERA across 11 innings and 11 appearances. He’s given up more hits, less strikeouts, and a few more walks, but he’s kept the ball in the yard. Lopez will continue to settle in as time goes on, and he pairs nicely at the back end of the unit.

Asking Michael Fulmer to walk across the diamond from the visiting Detroit Tigers clubhouse was probably as good as it gets for the veteran. No longer playing for nothing, he’s now in a divisional race and pitching innings that actually matter. In 11 appearances for the Twins, Fulmer owns a 3.86 ERA with an 13/3 K/BB. He’s given up twice as many dingers (2) in 11 2/3 innings with Minnesota than he did in 39 1/3 with Detroit, so you can imagine he’ll further put the clamps down on his output.

Arguably the best of the bunch, Tyler Mahle is Minnesota’s second big starter from the Cincinnati Reds. Rejoining former teammate Sonny Gray, Mahle has tallied a 2.51 ERA in three starts. Yes he’s now shelved with a shoulder issue, similar to what he experienced earlier this summer, but the expectation is he’ll be back when immediately able and continue to be a driving force towards a Postseason berth. Mahle’s numbers are a bit skewed after a lackluster debut against the Toronto Blue Jays, but Minnesota won the game and he’s battled nicely.

There’s no denying it was a blow to Minnesota when pitching coach Wes Johnson abruptly left earlier this season. The group as a whole was reeling, but they’ve answered the call since being infused with new veteran talent.

By fWAR, the Twins have had the 9th best pitching staff in Major League Baseball since the trade deadline. Their starters check in 18th while the relievers are 6th. Given the state of the bullpen a month ago, that’s a massive shift. Having to use spot arms like Aaron Sanchez along the way, starting talents such as Josh Winder and Bailey Ober returning could only help to push this envelope further.

Give it to Falvey and Thad Levine. The front office saw what this team needed and did everything they could to give them the pieces. From that point onwards, it became entirely on the players in the clubhouse to answer the call.

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[mikelink45]

I will not judge this until the end of the season.  What you have written at the end of the six game losing streak instead of the four game winning streak?  Boston and SF both have worse records than we do.  So for me I am celebrating the streak, but trying of perspective and it is hard to keep day to day.  I do like your enthusiasm and positivity.

[rv78]

Totally agree with mikelink45. Has this team been able to beat a good team consistantly since the additions? No! You say they got everything right yet state the failures by both Lopez and Fulmer. Mahle has been good but is now absent with a questionable timetable for his return. They went out and got backup catcher Sandy Leon, who was in AAA and hasn't hit above .200 since 2017. The Astros went and got catcher Vazquez from Boston who was hitting .282. If Vazquez was available why do they settle for a Leon? Why is Pagan still here? Sorry, I'm not on the "They did everything they could" ship.

[Aerodeliria]

They did more than I expected, so I was satisfied. Even during the losing streak, I wasn't upset about what they got; I was more upset about the way things were managed on the field.

[Whitey333]

This article is absolutely ridiculous.  It's nice to be positive and enthusiastic but not at the expense of common sense.  First I do applaud the FO for these aquisitions.  Even If they don't make the playoffs it should help in the coming couple of years. To me they waited way too long.  They were the ones that assembled the pitching staff in the first place.  They created their own mess that the had to patch up.  The pen has lost 24 games that we can't get back.  If it was only half that we would be in great shape.  Their insistence on keeping Pagan because he and they say his stuff is great is very discouraging.  Have any of those people really checked his results?  He should have been DFA a long time ago.  With the overwhelming positive nature of this article one can assume the writer works for the Twins lol ( tongue in cheek)

[MinnInPa]

i was only following this game on gamecast on MLB..why did Baldelli pinch hit Garlick against a righty for Gordon. Gordon has been hitting very well lately..and Garlick was brought back to hit against lefties????? of course Garlick looked at strike 3. 

[Trov]

5 minutes ago, MinnInPa said:

i was only following this game on gamecast on MLB..why did Baldelli pinch hit Garlick against a righty for Gordon. Gordon has been hitting very well lately..and Garlick was brought back to hit against lefties????? of course Garlick looked at strike 3. 

It was a lefty pitcher Garlick hit against, not a righty.  Game cast must have had that wrong.  

[Peter]

Pieces are in play, once pitching gets healthy, especially with Cleveland coming up as race will go down to last game. have feeling twins steal division on last day and if they make playoffs win series!! 

[MinnInPa]

8 minutes ago, Trov said:

It was a lefty pitcher Garlick hit against, not a righty.  Game cast must have had that wrong.  

thank you ..they had Strahm listed as a righty and i was going nuts on Baldelli. 

[Alex Schieferdecker]

The bullpen is probably now the strongest area of the team. It can be even stronger if Moran sticks in the big leagues and if we can replace Pagan with some combination of Maeda, Peacock, or Sisk.

The first three starters are also very credible. If the hitters get healthy then I'm confident, whatever the schedule says, that the Twins will be able to pull it out and win the division.

[FlyingFinn]

15 minutes ago, Alex Schieferdecker said:

replace Pagan with some combination of Maeda, Peacock, or Sisk.

It won't be Maeda, as reported yesterday. Add Ober and get rid of Pagan is another possibility.

[nicksaviking]

3 hours ago, rv78 said:

 Sorry, I'm not on the "They did everything they could" ship.

They got one of the best (and my opinion since June has been THE best) starting pitcher available and arguably the two best relievers available. Your bar to even give an ounce of credit must be pretty high.

[LA VIkes Fan]

I think were being a little harsh on Ted. He's right; all 3 additions were positive and all 3 have the potential to really help us in the September stretch run. Moreover, prospect cost was not very high. None of the prospects traded profiles as much more than a decent MLB player and most of them will not ever last long on an MLB roster or even get to one. Moreover, all of the acquisitions except Fullmer are controllable for another year and I suspect that the Twins will make real efforts to sign something long-term with Mahle and Lopez, and at least another one-year deal with Fullmer. 

The other criticisms are valid, although a little bit overstated, but that's not the real point of the article. This isn't about the Front Office performance for the year, it's about how they did at the trade deadline. They did well. I do agree that we needed another bat and didn't get one. I would love to have seen us trade for Vazquez instead of Leon but I really wonder if we had enough prospect capital to get that done. It's hard to get decent catchers and you generally have to overpay. The cream of our farm system is frankly sitting on the MLB roster or the injured list so the trade capital was limited. Still would've liked another bat though.

I think you have to give the FO an A or A- for their performance at the trade deadline. Each of us have our own grades for their performance overall for the year. I suspect those grades would be lower.

[bean5302]

Looking for a little bright side (like the Twins' fWAR) isn't wrong, and the trade moves were all very good. The reviews were all glowing around here because it was obvious the moves the front office made were good. It's just a question of whether or not it was enough. 

[Morneau for Gov]

This article declares "Got it Right" only looking at the additions, no word of the cost. Is trading nine prospects a correct decision to reinforce a .500 team?

I like the players acquired. I don't believe the Twins are winning the world series in '22 or '23. I wish they would have made these types of moves in '19 when they were legitimate contenders instead of now.

[roger]

4 hours ago, Alex Schieferdecker said:

The bullpen is probably now the strongest area of the team. It can be even stronger if Moran sticks in the big leagues and if we can replace Pagan with some combination of Maeda, Peacock, or Sisk.

The first three starters are also very credible. If the hitters get healthy then I'm confident, whatever the schedule says, that the Twins will be able to pull it out and win the division.

Read in today's Strib that it is unlikely Maeda will be back.  Maybe in the playoffs, but unlikely.

Moran has been optioned four times this year, as has Smeltzer.  So Moran is up for the duration or at risk of being lost if they option him again.  Expect they were thinking he would be one of the two extras brought up on Sept. 1 and did so a couple days early.  

[gman]

These are good acquisitions for next year as well as this. It would be nice if they can lock up Fulmer for 2 more so we wouldn't have to be concerned about who we can get this winter.

I don't expect to win anything in the playoffs this year, but it would be great to get some of the injured players back to add to their experience levels for an expected playoff run next year.

[Shaitan]

Reported for violation.

I'm pretty sure you aren't allowed to be positive on TD.

/s

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, Morneau for Gov said:

This article declares "Got it Right" only looking at the additions, no word of the cost. Is trading nine prospects a correct decision to reinforce a .500 team?

I like the players acquired. I don't believe the Twins are winning the world series in '22 or '23. I wish they would have made these types of moves in '19 when they were legitimate contenders instead of now.

A lot depends on this post season. If the Twins make it, win a playoff series or especially the World Series, it will be worth it. A playoff series win would be absolutely huge for this franchise. If the Twins miss the postseason, it's going to be very hard to justify the outflow of talent, especially if the top prospects in the minors don't all take major steps forward down the stretch.

[Minny505]

Great write up and yes, all those additions have lived up to, or exceeded, expectations. 

It's unfortunate that, after the trades, both Polanco and Buxton have been playing injured (at a substandard level) or on the IL. I feel like this team would be firmly in first place in the division if they stayed healthy.

That's a lot of production they missed for most of the month between:

• Polanco
• Buxton
• Kirilloff
• Larnach
• Garlick

If we can get all but Kirilloff back and healthy within the next few weeks, this team is going to be dangerous.

[TwinsDr2021]

2 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

They got one of the best (and my opinion since June has been THE best) starting pitcher available and arguably the two best relievers available. Your bar to even give an ounce of credit must be pretty high.

First I would like to say I was very happy with the Twins moves, but Syndergaard has given the Phillies 30 2/3 in 5 starts (not the greatest numbers but innings have to mean something) as opposed to the 14 1/3 from Mahle, and Jordan Montgomery has 30 2/3 innings with 1.76 ERA and I would also say Robertson and Raisel Iglesias have been better than Fulmer or Lopez.

 

 

[MN_ExPat]

36 minutes ago, Shaitan said:

Reported for violation.

I'm pretty sure you aren't allowed to be positive on TD.

/s

[Five minute major]

Appreciate the time you put in the article but you are wrong.   The trade for Mahle was simply ridiculous particularly because they did not address the biggest need which has been offense.  This team can not and will not hit playoff caliber pitching.  We gave up a serious stud in CES who is a legitimate can't miss MLB level stud hitter.   Imagine him and Miranda back to back in the lineup.   We will have to do just that.

[MABB1959]

LOL..headline a little misleading.  Makes it sound like they are WS bound!

[lukeduke1980]

4 hours ago, bean5302 said:

A lot depends on this post season. If the Twins make it, win a playoff series or especially the World Series, it will be worth it. A playoff series win would be absolutely huge for this franchise. If the Twins miss the postseason, it's going to be very hard to justify the outflow of talent, especially if the top prospects in the minors don't all take major steps forward down the stretch.

Winning a playoff game would be huge.  

[Nine of twelve]

10 hours ago, MinnInPa said:

thank you ..they had Strahm listed as a righty and i was going nuts on Baldelli. 

He was designated as LHP on gamecast on the Twins website when I was looking at it. Maybe you misread it, or maybe you were monitoring a poor game viewing site.

[gunnarthor]

8 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

They got one of the best (and my opinion since June has been THE best) starting pitcher available and arguably the two best relievers available. Your bar to even give an ounce of credit must be pretty high.

All three are solid additions but I don't think any were THE best, but it's just semantics. Mahle won't help the Twins this year, the other two look good. They were good moves, maybe enough to win the central, not enough to matter in the playoffs, but one step at a time.

[nicksaviking]

29 minutes ago, gunnarthor said:

All three are solid additions but I don't think any were THE best, but it's just semantics. Mahle won't help the Twins this year, the other two look good. They were good moves, maybe enough to win the central, not enough to matter in the playoffs, but one step at a time.

Why won't Mahle help the Twins this year? He's likely pitching this weekend.

I've thought all year long there was nothing this team could do to do more than compete for the lowly Central title. I'm only taking issue with people who somehow want to rip the front office for the deadline moves, which, even if you're not a fan of the front office, have to admit they did really well. Pretty much everyone around the league agreed that after the Padres, the Twins did the best for themselves at the deadline.

Again, it's not a crime to dislike someone while also acknowledging they did something right. We seem to have a bit of an issue with that around here. People are still allowed to admit they did well at the deadline, but they still want them fired.

[bean5302]

3 hours ago, lukeduke1980 said:

Winning a playoff game would be huge.  

I feel like losing the Wildcard series 2-1 would be like tossing a cracker to a starving person.

[Markdumont25]

Completely agree. Even without being results oriented, these were good moves based on our needs. No matter how the season turns out, the combination of a weak division and the reality that anything is possible in the playoffs made these moves necessary and you got to give credit for them doing what needs to be done.