Twins

Who is going to help move the needle for the Twins rotation? We know it won't be Shohei Ohtani. It probably won't be Phil Hughes.

There are plenty of other options out there to be explored, and I assume they will be. But when I opined it was a myth that the Twins absolutely must add an impact starter, it was for this reason:

The Rochester rotation is overflowing with potential reinforcements. And I don't mean the types of Quadruple-A journeymen that have often occupied the Red Wings ranks in recent years. We're talking legitimate prospects, ready to help.

Who do we think will win the World Series and which players will take home some special hardware?

Who could push their way into a job or up prospect lists?

While Wednesday wasn't a day of huge contracts at the 2020 winter meetings, it was one of huge rumors. Let's dig in.

While we’ve waited on baseball to return, an enhanced focus has been placed on many important cultural causes and discussions. Although the negatives for baseball have taken place at the bargaining table, it’s within the game itself that this topic derives.

While we often find ourselves enamored with the incredible athletic ability of players within the parameters of their sport, we tend to forget other pursuits still exist. The Minnesota Twins employ some really good baseball players, and they are all really interesting people as well. Enter Trevor May and the side hustle that has become a brand.

While we hear nothing but trade deadline silence coming out of the Twins camp, other teams have been eating us alive.

The little bit of cushion we once had in the wild card chase has almost gone away. We had a larger lead a couple of innings... umm... weeks ago but that lead is shrinking... I got the innings... weeks thing mixed up because the end of July is starting to feel like our bullpen.

Hey... Here come the Mariners to town for a 4 game series and we need to right the ship. Get it back on course.

Here are some things to think about:

While we don’t presently have baseball, this sport is one of previous analysis anyways. Without the opportunity to dissect the action currently taking place, it seemed there may be no better time to look back. Some guys are great, and others are great sometimes. Here’s a look at some of the greatest outlier seasons in recent Twins history.

While Tyler Duffey’s velocity concerns appear to be resolved, the prospect of a diminished Duffey shined a light on how fragile a bullpen can be. The Twins could still use one more arm to shore up the bullpen, and there’s a World Series champion waiting for a call.

While toiling in obscurity for eight years since their most recent division title, the Minnesota Twins have had their share of issues, covering all sizes, shapes and forms. But the one persistent flaw plaguing these teams is poor pitching.

Minnesota's new hires at pitching coach and bullpen coach, which came to light on Thursday, illustrate just how creative – and daring – they are becoming in the quest to finally overcome their perennial run-prevention problems

While they initially appeared to have emerged as front-runners, and still may be, things have been quiet on the Paul Molitor and Doug Mientkiewicz fronts. That's because the Twins, true to their word, have expanded the scope of their manager search substantially, with numerous outside names entering the mix over the past couple weeks.

Let's run through the latest developments as the search moves on and picks up:

While they differ in methodology, the major projection systems -- Marcel, OLIVER, PECOTA, Steamer, ZiPS et al. -- all abide by one central rule: Projections are not predictions. This mantra should be a source of comfort to Twins fans, since most experts are willing to predict that the team will be interesting and has at least some chance of making the playoffs they barely missed out on last year.