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Since we last checked in, the Twins have made news with a number of noteworthy moves: trading third baseman Gio Urshela, acquiring shortstop Kyle Farmer, tendering reliever Emilio Pagan. Let's take a quick look at the details behind each of these decisions, and where they leave the state of the roster as the Winter Meetings fast approach on December 4th. Twins Trade Urshela to Angels Just ahead of the arbitration contract tender deadline on November 18th, the Twins shipped one of their eligible players – the most difficult decision among them – to the Angels in exchange for minor-league pitcher Alejandro Hidalgo. A 19-year-old right-hander who hasn't yet advanced past Low-A ball, Hidalgo is a modestly intriguing young arm, but the return for Urshela was expectedly small. He's a valuable player, but at his projected arbitration cost in the $9 million range, a bit less appealing – especially for a Twins team that hopes to usher Jose Miranda in as regular third baseman next year. For the Angels, Urshela is an odd fit. Like the Twins, they seem to view him as strictly a corner infielder ... but they already have Anthony Rendon and Jared Walsh entrenched at third and first, with Shohei Ohtani typically occupying DH. It is very difficult to understand LA's motivation in making this move from the current view. Hidalgo's your usual big-stuff/bad-control lotto ticket. Certainly a preferable outcome to non-tendering Urshela for nothing in return. Pagan Is Coming Back for Another Year With Urshela shipped out, the Twins tendered contracts to all of their remaining arbitration-eligible players – including, controversially, the embattled Pagan. He'll earn a projected $3.7 million in his final year of team control, coming off a season where he earned the ire of fans with numerous lapses in crucial moments. He was the poster child for a bullpen that helped derail a promising Twins season. Now we'll see if he can become the figurehead for its triumphant turnaround. Amidst all the backlash this decision understandably provoked, I tried to explore the team's reasoning, noting that Pagan saw improved results down the stretch with a pitch mix change under pitching coaches Pete Maki and Colby Suggs. It's hard to give up on stuff of that caliber, and the upside it entails. While many fans struggle to make sense of it, Pagan does seem to be viewed much more highly in baseball circles than from the outside. Dan Hayes of The Athletic reported that the reliever "drew much more interest" than Urshela ahead of the non-tender deadline. Farmer Enters the Fold Not long after parting with some veteran depth in Urshela, the Twins quickly backfilled with the addition of Farmer, acquired from the Reds in exchange for minor-league righty Casey Legumina. This deal was, in many ways, the reverse of the Urshela trade: Farmer is a valuable enough player, but wasn't that valuable to Cincinnati at his arbitration price point, so they sent him to a team that could use the depth in exchange for a pitching flier. In this case, it's much easier to see the fit for Farmer, who could fill a number of different roles depending on what the Twins do elsewhere. For now, he's slotted in as their starting shortstop, and an adequate interim fill-in for Royce Lewis if that is the front office's leaning. In addition to his defensive flexibility, one aspect of Farmer's profile that surely attracted the Twins is his excellence against left-handed pitching. This looks like an effort to offset one of the offense's key weaknesses in 2021, when they slashed .240/.310/.391 against southpaws. Twins Showing Interest in Rodon Hayes wrote in a roster projection column over the weekend that the team has "definite interest" in Carlos Rodon, which comes as no surprise. However, Hayes adds, "his contract is likely to soar to areas it might not feel comfortable paying, perhaps as high as $160 million over five years." In a column unpacking the troubling realities of buying high on free agent pitching, I examined this very conundrum: Rodon is exactly the kind of proven ace that the Twins should be looking to land this offseason. He's a dominant force coming off an excellent season, and his addition would energize the fanbase while fortifying the rotation. But, he's also entering the market at peak value, have pressed a career-high workload upon a shoulder that has endlessly tormented him. With Rodon, you're going to be paying purely for the upside we just saw, and hoping it sustains. And the price tag will be quite high, with the free-spending Dodgers already in the mix as suitors. One Current Opening on the 40-Man Roster As a sum result of all this moving and shaking, along with the additions of prospects Edouard Julien, Brent Headrick, and Matt Canterino to protect them from the Rule 5 draft, Minnesota's 40-man roster currently stands at 39: Should the Twins need to be make room for more additions, the most vulnerable 40-man spots likely belong to Mark Contreras, Cole Sands, and Trevor Megill. Roster and Payroll Projection: v2 In looking at the projected 2023 roster in its current form, you can see how the Twins are setting a floor. They've basically got all they need to field a competent ballclub next year: a rotation with five proven big-league starters, a fairly deep bullpen with back-end power, and a credible – albeit somewhat underwhelming on whole – stable of position players. The only openings are a backup catcher and utility infielder for the bench, easily filled. That is not to say going forward with this group would be acceptable in anyone's eyes. But the point is that the Twins aren't backed into any corners, needing to allocate their funds in any specific way – just how they like it. With nearly $50 million in spending room just to get back to the 2022 payroll baseline, we'll see how opportunistic this front office can be, free from any kind of restraint. If you want to read up on all of the team's many options available at positions across the board, the Offseason Handbook is now available in full to download, with 39 pages covering the Hot Stove landscape from every angle. It's free to all Caretakers! Grab a copy and build your own 2023 blueprint.

Talks of coaxing a high end starting pitcher to Minnesota are swirling as should always be the case when premier pitching is available, but the Twins don’t have an entire rotation to overhaul as they have in recent years. Adding an ace to the group of Sonny Gray, Tyler Mahle, Joe Ryan, Kenta Maeda, and Bailey Ober would be a massively positive move, but with a fair amount of pitching talent and depth in Minnesota, perhaps we should be turning more attention towards getting lineup help. As things stand, Carlos Correa is not currently a Minnesota Twin. Though inept in clutch spots for much of the season, a massive chunk of the Twins offense will be missing should Correa find another home. The Twins set a floor at shortstop with a savvy addition of Kyle Farmer, but the dropoff from a player who was 40% above league average offensively to one that was 9% below in Farmer would be felt on a daily basis. Farmer being the Opening Day shortstop would be far from a disaster, but in order to compete, the Twins would need to massively supplement their position player group elsewhere. Headed into 2023, the Twins have a fun group of young, high upside hitters that have some questions to answer including Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner, and eventually Royce Lewis. It’s a similar position to the one they were in last winter with the pitching staff. Having filled out 40% of the rotation with Dylan Bundy and Chris Archer and another 40% of the rotation with two rookies in Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober, the Twins gambled on contributions from their young pitching which had proven nothing yet. It was an unmitigated disaster aside from Ryan. Top prospects such as Jordan Balazovic cratered in AAA. Josh Winder was ineffective and had recurring shoulder issues. Having done so in just about every season of his career aside from 2021, Bailey Ober once again missed massive amounts of time. They didn’t have the floor they thought they did. The Twins need to avoid gambling on their player development in 2023 as much as possible. They’ve drastically overestimated their ability to produce quality regulars in recent years. And while the most recent bursted bubble was on the pitching side, gambling on unproven, often injured players such as Larnach, Kirilloff, and Lewis to keep an MLB roster afloat simply cannot be the game plan at this point. They also had to trade away several up-and-coming possible impact hitters as a result of their recent miscalculations. Also consider the health of the team. Beyond the young players having missed time in 2022, players such as Jorge Polanco no longer appear to be locks to play 150+ games. Byron Buxton’s injury risk will always be a consideration. They also no longer have Gio Urshela to add production to the fringes of the roster, and unfortunately at this point anyone expecting any kind of offensive competence from players like Max Kepler are likely going to be very disappointed. In short, the Twins lineup isn't a force to be reckoned with. It does appear to have some upside and depth, but the trick is getting said lineup to the threshold of “quality” which likely requires multiple more additions. Perhaps it is adding Correa or one of his fellow free agents such as Xander Boegarts . The heavily left-handed outfield could also use another right-handed option such as Mitch Haniger. Perhaps they’ve even liked what they’ve seen from Jose Abreu across the division enough to bring him in as a veteran RBI machine that can DH and cycle into first base. While several creative moves are certainly on tap for the winter, it may be time to recognize that the current rotation has the possibility of helping a team to a playoff run. It’s hard to say the same about the position player group. For once perhaps fans should pivot off of the “Can he pitch?” replies to every acquisition the Twins make. It’s time to worry about the bats.

Paul Jones is a senior baseball player at Cretin-Derham Hall this year. A solid left-handed first baseman and pitcher, he recently committed to the University of Maryland where he will play some Big 10 baseball. On Friday night, he mentioned on Twitter that his grandfather, Twins great Cesar Tovar was honored at the Luis Aparicio Awards in Venezuela. Because the Twins finally put Tovar into the Twins Hall of Fame in 2022, Tovar was posthumously honorably mentioned at the ceremony. Ronald Acuna was honored as the Comeback Player of the Year. Miguel Cabrera was honored for his 3,000th career hit. Also, umpire Carlos Torres was honored as being the first Venezuelan to umpire in the World Series. The biggest award of the evening was shared. The Luis Aparicio Award was shared between Twins infielder Luis Arraez and Astros second baseman Jose Altuve. The award is for the most outstanding Venezuelan-born players in the big leagues. Arraez received the award for the first time. It was the fourth time Altuve received the award. Twins fans know what a special season 2022 was for Luis Arraez. He was an All-Star for the first time. He won his first batting title. He was a Gold Glove finalist. He won his first Silver Slugger. He even finished 13th in AL MVP voting. But you have to think that the 25-year-old from San Felipe, VZ, has to be proud of this award since it is celebrated in his home country. In 2022, Jose Altuve played in his eighth career All-Star game. He won his sixth Silver Slugger. In 141 games, he hit .300/.387/.533 (.921) with 39 doubles and 28 home runs. He finished fifth in AL MVP voting and helped the Astros to the second World Series championship in the past five years. Luis Aparicio was a 10-time All-Star shortstop during his 18-year MLB career. He played for the White Sox, Red Sox, and Orioles over his career. The 88-year-old was the 1956 American League Rookie of the Year, the first player from Latin America to win that award. He won nine Gold Glove Awards. He led the league in Stolen Bases nine times. Aparicio was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984. He was the first player from Venezuela to earn that honor. He's been placed into several Halls of Fame since then including the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003. 2004 was the first year of the Luis Aparicio Award. It is voted on by Venezuelan sports writers and goes to the Venezuelan-born with the most outstanding performance.

Throughout the majority of his minor league career, Minnesota prospect Jose Miranda has played at third base. When he was eventually promoted to the big leagues in early 2022, it came with the caveat that Derek Falvey and Thad Levine had acquired veteran Gio Urshela to be Rocco Baldelli’s third basemen. When Alex Kirilloff got hurt and Miguel Sano went down, there was some thought that Urshela could slide across the diamond, but instead it was Miranda who saw the bulk of his playing time there. Although the Twins utilized both Miranda and Luis Arraez plenty at first base in 2022, the dealing of Urshela to the Los Angeles Angels suggests that the young Puerto Rican is destined to lock down the hot corner in 2023. How much should fans be worried about that reality? The unfortunate truth for Minnesota is that their infield defense has not been good the past couple of seasons. In 2022, it was particularly bad. Minnesota fared fine as a whole defensively thanks to a strong outfield. They were held together on the dirt by superstar Carlos Correa, but the likes of Urshela, Arraez, Miranda, and Jorge Polanco were often culprits holding the club back. Specifically looking at Miranda, he was what one may call a butcher at first base. Playing nearly 600 innings at first last season, Miranda posted an awful -6 defensive runs saved and Statcast agreed, attributing him a -4 outs above average number. Among 29 players to record at least 550 innings at first base last season, only the Rangers Nathaniel Lowe posted a lower DRS number. OAA had Miranda a bit better, but 20th still placed him in the bottom third of the league. At third base, in a much smaller sample size, Miranda fared better. He recorded just under 250 innings at the hot corner and was neutral by both DRS and OAA on the season. That could be a positive thing, but small samples are also extremely difficult to read into when considering defensive metrics. Now shifting across the diamond, Miranda will look to settle back into a role he grew familiar with on the farm. One caveat to that is he’ll be doing so alongside someone other than Correa (more than likely). Needing to acclimate to a new teammate, and their range, he’ll also be working in a season where the shift is banned for the first time. Positioning as a whole will be an entirely new exercise for Minnesota. The Statcast data for Miranda is largely unhelpful at third base. He never reached the minimum threshold for arm strength calculations, and while he was credited with the greatest negative OAA value going towards third base, it was miniscule at best. We won’t know what Miranda is at third until he has more time to settle in there, but we can hope that the missteps at first base were largely related to learning a new position on the fly. It would be disappointing to see a 24-year-old locked into first base so soon, and seeing him produce defensively at third base would help to calm those notions. Minnesota has options at first, and they are now counting on Miranda to be the guy at third. Here’s to hoping he can rise to the occasion.

As you battle your fellow Minnesotans for the last Rosedale parking spot, hoping the sporting goods store has an XL Byron Buxton Twin Cities jersey you can drop half a paycheck on, you should know that there are many other online and brick-and-mortar outlets showcasing their wares for you, the hardcore Twins fan. Twins Daily has run the numbers, and what follows are the worst consumer options out there. Keep your head on a swivel. 20% off signed copies of “Why Is He So Tiny Now? An Oral History of Bret Boone’s Three Weeks as a Minnesota Twin.” $99 for a six-month premium subscription to My Favorite Blown Calls, Phil Cuzzi’s podcast about his signature umpiring moments. Free first-timer visit to Ken Mauer and Andrelton Simmons’ new holistic medicine outlet, Vitastrong, located in Maplewood’s worst strip mall. No vaccines, no doctors, just nutritional advice from a cooked shortstop and an NBA ref that looks like he wears a leather jacket to Latin Mass. Vitastrong is not responsible for any measles you get during your visit, and you will get measles. Trial subscription to Aaron Gleeman’s new Substack newsletter, Text Messages I Haven’t Responded To. The Twins beat writer shares all the texts he gets from other baseball writers, morning radio hosts with unlikely haircuts, and unwashed bloggers to whom he simply is never going to reply. Use code WOULDYOUJUSTSTOPDANA to receive 40% off. 50% off The Motivational Speeches of Tommy Herr. This 12-cassette collection from the recalcitrant infielder for whom we traded away Tom Brunansky is the perfect gift for the father or uncle you flat-out hate. Craigslist ad for Metrodome urinal trough. It says $40 or best offer, but it’s just a scam. Do not ask which Twins Daily writers have had their credit card information compromised by this too-good-to-be-true deal (OK, so far it’s Stu, Parker, and John).

To start things off, we'd like you to take a look at the products from our friends at FOCO. They make a variety of novelty Twins bobbleheads along with Twins hats, apparel, and other products. Any purchase from FOCO using this link earns Twins Daily store credit, which we use exclusively for gifts for our awesome users. Please consider giving FOCO a look! Is someone you know a Twins Daily user? If so, consider giving them a gift card to be redeemed for either a Gold or Silver Caretaker year-long subscription! Caretakers are offered free publications, Winter Meltdown tickets, and exclusive content alongside ad-free browsing across Twins Daily if you opt for Gold Caretaking! Gift Ideas for Twins Fans (click to jump directly to section): FOCO Products Apparel & Gear Unique Gifts Game Tickets Books Fan Memorabilia FOCO Products Meet your best friend for binge watching this holiday season, Twins fans! FOCO is releasing this Minnesota Twins Reversible Team Color Camo Hoodeez and don’t you worry: It is super soft and the perfect companion gift for those lazy Sundays on the couch. Go grab one for yourselves now. Your hands do a lot for you during those chilly Minnesota nights. They've been there for every wave, game of catch, and celebratory high five or fist bump. This holiday season, and all winter long, let your hands know you love them by putting them in these Minnesota Twins Colored Palm Utility Gloves. What better gift for gift giving season than to keep those cheering hands warm while rooting for your Minnesota Twins at the game or those cold outdoor barbecues! Relax to the max this holiday season! Stay in, hit the couch, and put on the Minnesota Twins game or your favorite binge-watching show while chillaxing in these Minnesota Twins Lazy Day Team Robes! Comfort just got ten times better for the holidays in the form of Twins fanatic fandom so go grab your pair now! Apparel & Gear If you haven't heard of Sota Stick, you're in for a treat. They create custom Minnesota-themed apparel and clothing for all Minnesota sports teams. You won't find team logo-branded merchandise here; every one of their products is lovingly crafted to capture an iconic sports moment, player, often using fun wordplay. If you want apparel with the flavor of something a little different for the Twins fan in your life, you can't go wrong starting with Sota Stick. NEW GEAR! The Twins Pro Shop has released loads of new apparel of all kinds. Some of these designs will be the hottest things going during the 2022 holiday season so check out the new designs by clicking here! If you're looking for more traditional Twins-branded hoodies, shirts, sweatshirts, women's apparel, or jerseys, the MLB Pro Shop is the place to go. They offer an enormous collection of branded apparel and gear that covers the history of the Minnesota Twins. And finally, no list would be complete without a link to the New Era Minnesota Twins collection of hats. Over the past several years, New Era has expanded their line of caps to meet every color preference, shape, and design a Twins fans could ever want. Want to meld your love of both the Twins and Minneapolis' favorite son, Prince? Get out of here, of course you do. If the Twins fan in your life is so hardcore that they're more likely to rock minor league baseball gear than something from the Minneapolis squad, look no further than the pro shops for the Twins minor league affiliates: AAA St Paul Saints, AA Wichita Wind Surge, High A-ball Cedar Rapids Kernels, A-ball Ft Myers Mighty Mussels. Unique Gifts When it comes to unique gifts for a Twins fan, Dugout Mugs is one of the coolest companies you'll find for any gift-giving occasion. They make a line of "glassware" built from baseball bats! They offer a variety of sizes and styles, including this extremely cool "TC"-branded mug. Speaking of custom baseball bat gifts, Pillbox Bat Company is another outstanding gift opportunity if your budget is on the higher side of things. They offer a range of custom carved and/or painted baseball bats, such as the beautiful Minnie & Paul bat pictured below. If you're looking for something unique and exclusive, you won't find anything better than Pillbox Bat Company. Game Tickets What's the point of being a baseball fan if you never catch a live game at lovely downtown Target Field? The 2023 Twins schedule has been released with both single-game tickets and a variety of season ticket packages available at the official Twins ticket store. And if you're up for traveling to get out of the long, dismal Minnesota winter, spring training tickets are also available! Books The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the Minnesota Twins by Aaron Gleeman Aaron is a phenomenal writer, diligent researcher, and lifelong Twins fan, making him the perfect fit to write this expansive journey through the franchise's history. With stat-centric slant, AG counts down the 50 most important players and milestones since the team moved to Minnesota. Minnesota Twins: The Complete Illustrated History by Dennis Brackin, Patrick Reusse I received this as a gift some years ago and I love it. It's the perfect coffee table book: a big glossy hardcover full of colorful photos and nostalgic memories. If you've read his columns in the past or listened to his recent appearance on Gleeman and the Geek, you know how good a storyteller Reusse is. Game Used: My Life in Stitches With the Minnesota Twins by Dick Bremer With help from co-author Jim Bruton, Bremer shares more than 100 anecdotes drawn from a 30-plus year run as Twins TV play-by-play announcer. Dick spoke a little bit about the book during a "Minnesota Made" interview with David Youngs for Twins Daily earlier this year. Minnesota Twins Baseball: Hardball History on the Prairie by Stew Thornley A must-have for any baseball history buff. Thornley is an official scorekeeper for the Twins and also one of the premier Minnesota sports historians around. If your gift recipient is familiar with much of the mainstream Twins history – Killebrew, Carew, Oliva, et al – but interested in learning about some of the lesser-known wrinkles of the franchise's legacy, this is a great choice. Fan Memorabilia No one has you covered like FanHQ when it comes to Minnesota Twins memorabilia. FanHQ has been a long-time friend of Twins Daily and they're the place we go when we need one-off memorabilia you can't find elsewhere. They always have a wide variety of autographed prints, balls, bats, jerseys, and more. They have you covered for memorabilia of Twins players both past and present. Only here can you find something from a Twins Hall of Fame player alongside this lovely set of gold-and-black autographed balls from Twins rookie Jose Miranda. That's all we have for our ultimate Minnesota Twins gift idea guide! This list will be regularly updated and changed as we find new, exciting Twins gift ideas. Is there something missing from this list you believe should make the cut? Comment below and share some of your best Twins gift ideas with the community!

Over the past few seasons we have heard plenty about Royce Lewis, Trevor Larnach, Jose Miranda, and Alex Kirilloff. High-round picks and gaudy draft grades, each of them has developed plenty of fanfare while producing on the farm. Kirilloff was the first of the bunch to reach the big leagues, making his debut in 2020 during the postseason when Josh Donaldson left a void in Rocco Baldelli’s lineup. In the two full seasons since, Kirilloff has done, little playing just 104 games with a career .694 OPS. Is this the season that finally sees it come together? Last year Kirilloff began the season as Minnesota’s Opening Day left fielder. Miguel Sano was still on the roster and had yet to go through his handful of completely ineffective games. Kirilloff was going to figure prominently into the plans at first base, but there was no reason to limit his athleticism until absolutely necessary. We know now that Sano didn’t last long for the Twins in 2022, and Kirilloff spent almost half of his time in the big leagues last year playing first base. Like Sano however, Kirilloff saw his production tail off in dealing with a wrist injury and it was ultimately a combination of Miranda and Luis Arraez that needed to man an abandoned position. With the hope of health in the year ahead, Minnesota is counting on Kirilloff to be who he showed he was on the farm. After a nagging wrist injury sapped Kirilloff’s power in 2021 and caused him to play just 59 games for Minnesota, he underwent offseason surgery to address the problem. The slow start in 2022 eventually led to a demotion to Triple-A St. Paul in hopes of figuring out a way to play through the injury effectively. The former first round pick noted that he had to shut down his offseason program due to discomfort, and he truly never worked his way back to 100% coming into the year. That was a gut-punch knowing what Minnesota needed from him, and led to an entirely unsurprising result when he managed just 45 games in 2022. This offseason Kirilloff will again be coming back from surgery, but this time he’s had a bone in his wrist shaved down in hopes of alleviating pain and providing a more realistic path forward. In over 316 minor league games the former top prospect posted an .895 OPS. While that doesn’t directly correlate to Major League success, the hope has always been that the true production would be somewhat similar. Kirilloff was shut down earlier in 2022 and wound up having surgery in August. With more of a runway to work himself back into baseball activities, the hope would be that Minnesota returns 100% of the player that they counted on when calling him up for the 2020 postseason. Kirilloff too has to be hoping for an ability to regain the form that saw him as the darling of so many prospect lists. A year ago the Minnesota Twins experienced some of the most substantial stays on the injured list across all of baseball. With a new head athletic trainer in the fold, there has to have been some level of communication with expected producers even in the early stages of Nick Paparesta’s time with the club. Connecting with Kirilloff and making sure the plan for the offseason is going smoothly is a must. The Twins can’t get to Spring Training and have uncertainty, and it would be catastrophic to hear initial reports of a shutdown or lack of healing come the regular season for the second year in a row. Now 25-years-old, it’s not as though Kirilloff’s injury history is a death sentence, but it’s becoming increasingly necessary to see a substantial level of performance at the highest level. The Twins are counting on him in the season ahead, and you can bet he’s itching to prove he belongs as well.

Coming off such an uncompetitive 2021 Major League Baseball season, there’s no doubt that Rocco Baldelli and the Twins front office hoped to turn the page in 2022. For a matter of months it looked like they would be the darling of a bad division, but ultimately, injury and poor performance caught up to them. When looking back at the year that was, there was still plenty of things to be excited and thankful for. In no particular order, here’s five things that Twins fans can give thanks for as they cut into their turkey this week: Byron Buxton Got Paid Despite an offseason of uncertainty, and lockout uncertainty, the Minnesota Twins did what they had to and paid Byron Buxton. Sure, he’s injured a whole lot. Sure, you never know when he’s going to miss a boatload of games. There’s also the reality that when he’s on the field he’s among the best players in the entire sport. His 92 games in 2022 were the most he’s played in a season since 2017, and despite injuring his knee early on and having to play through what ultimately required surgery, he was an MVP candidate for much of the campaign. Buxton proved his worth again, and though all parties are hoping he can be on the field more, the front office absolutely did the right thing in getting a dynamic talent at a discount. Carlos Correa Was Fun Knowing that Minnesota had money to spend and replacing Andrelton Simmons at shortstop was a must, there was plenty of late spring excitement regarding Trevor Story. Then in the middle of the night Derek Falvey and Thad Levine struck a deal with Scott Boras client Carlos Correa. It was a three-year deal that was never going to matter beyond year one. Sure, it would be great if the parties came together for a long term pact this offseason, but even if they don’t, we’ll always remember the time that the Twins signed the best free agent available in a given season. Royce Lewis Appeared From the moment that Royce Lewis was the Minnesota Twins number one overall draft pick, there was hope he would become a superstar. He dealt with injuries and a pandemic that set him back while in the minors, but he returned from a torn ACL to light the farm system on fire. When Correa went down, he forced the organization’s hand. He was so good in fact, that the Twins needed to reposition him to keep him in the lineup. A second flukey ACL injury was certainly suboptimal, but we saw the talent that has been anticipated all along. He’ll be back at some point in 2023, and if the rehab goes smoothly, Minnesota certainly has a star in the making. Jose Miranda Cemented His Performance There hasn’t been a minor league season as good as Miranda had in 2021 for Minnesota in quite some time. His .973 OPS between Double and Triple-A was something to behold. Even with that, he didn’t crack the Opening Day roster. Once he was given an opportunity at the big leagues, Miranda was determined not to go back. His 116 OPS+ wasn’t otherworldly in 2022, but the slash line was even gaudier before a late season swoon. The rookie still managed to blast 15 homers in his first 125 Major League games, and he’ll be an integral part of the 2023 roster. Jhoan Duran Lights It Up, Literally You can go back as far as you’d like in Minnesota Twins history, and you won’t find a pitcher throwing triple-digits consistently. Not expected to make the Opening Day roster, Duran not only did that, but also emerged as the best arm in Minnesota’s pen and one of the best across baseball. He certainly could’ve been voted an All-Star as a rookie, and should expect to see more than a few of those games during his career. While the abnormal sprinkler is a pitch that drew plenty of discussion, his ridiculous fastball is what you show up for. He earned his own entrance music at Target Field, and is must-watch baseball every time he steps on the mound. What else would you include in your list? What are you most thankful for as a Twins fan over the past year?