Twins

It’s hard finding a way to define the Minnesota Twins 2022 season. Expected to compete for the division, but ultimately seen behind the Chicago White Sox, the Twins held first place for much of the year before sputtering at the end. What falls on Rocco Baldelli’s shoulders, and how should we view his future?

No free agents landed a splash contract with the Twins during the Winter Meetings. Is one of those contracts still to come soon for the Twins following the conclusion of the Winter Meetings? 

Topps baseball is celebrating their 70th birthday this year and MLB.com teamed up with them to find some of the best cards during those years. Here are five cards that standout for a variety of reasons.

A first round pick in 2018, Trevor Larnach made his Major League debut last season for the Minnesota Twins. There were shining moments, but the vast majority was marred by nagging injury. Now healthy, Larnach looks like a superstar in the making. Just how high does his ceiling get?

With Zack Wheeler signing with the Philadelphia Phillies for $118 million over five years, Minnesota’s interest turns to Madison Bumgarner. Like Wheeler, Bumgarner is now rumored to sign before winter meetings and the Twins are supposedly making a strong push to sign the left-hander.

The Twins desperately needed a good start this year to generate some enthusiasm following a stretch of four consecutive horrible seasons and a deflating development involving their top free agent acquisition just before Opening Day.

Unfortunately, the first week has played out in the opposite fashion. One could hardly imagine a worse start to this 2015 campaign, as the first week of games has seen the Twins win just one of seven. For the most part, this club hasn't even been competitive.

Some of the struggles are tied up in slumps that seem unlikely to extend much further. But this is a roster that was constructed sub-optimally from the start, as Twins decision-makers opted for veteran mediocrity over youthful upside in almost every possible instance.

With that plan blowing up in the worst way, how long will Terry Ryan, Paul Molitor and Co. stick to their guns? How patient can they be before implementing major shakeups to prevent things from getting out of hand?

“There are three things you can do in a baseball game. You can win, or you can lose, or it can rain” --- Casey Stengel, Hall of Fame Manager

Rain might have been the best thing that could have happened to the Twins on Wednesday night. Twins fans saw Fernando Romero struggle for the first time in his young pitching career as the Royals pounced on him. Minnesota did their best to mount a comeback but it wasn’t in the cards.

Earlier in the day, there was some other bad news. Bryon Buxton was placed on the disabled list and Ervin Santana was pulled off of his rehab stint. It was a rainy day in Twins Territory.

As we approach the trade deadline - What? It’s only a little over two months away - there are a number of moves the Twins could and possibly should consider to help enhance their ability to make a deep run into the playoffs.

But before we jump into those names, let’s examine who (or what?) other teams will be asking about. Let’s assume, too, that the Twins will make top-5 prospect Royce Lewis, top-15 prospect Alex Kirilloff and top pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol off limits.