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There are plenty of names that Twins fans know are almost entirely out of the payroll desires of the ownership group, making it easy to dismiss that someone like Jacob DeGrom, Justin Verlander, or Carlos Rodón will be in uniform next year. But given this is a long winter, it is never too early to dream up the impossible. This is where I present to you: Minnesota Twins Starting Pitcher and Designated Hitter Shohei Ohtani.
Although Aaron Judge is almost certain to win the American League MVP award, Ohtani’s out-of-this-world performance likely made for some hesitancy on many ballots. After all, Ohtani not only continued to be the phenom two-way player that dazzled in 2021; he was genuinely both a better hitter and a better pitcher.
In 2022, he slashed .273/.356/.519 with 34 dingers for a 142 WRC+, which would have made him the Twins best hitter had he played for them this season. Of course, what makes Ohtani impressive is that he threw 166 innings of 2.33 ERA ball including a 1.01 WHIP. Twins fans are (rightly) falling head over heels for both Joe Ryan and Sonny Gray, but both their ERAs shot over 3.00 and neither made it to 150 innings. By the way, Ohtani spent the druthers of August and September as the Angels fell out of contention inventing new pitches to throw and came close to a no hitter.
If Dave St. Peter wants to complain about falling attendance at the park, what better way to go in on a once-in-a-generation talent? His numbers are already set at a $30 million arbitration, which would be no different than keeping the talents of Carlos Correa. He is Shohei Ohtani.
Of course, the question is how exactly would Ohtani fit into the Twins organization, which is not as simple as slotting into rotations and batting orders might suggest. Under Joe Maddon, the Angels employed a six-person rotation to keep Ohtani’s arm loose, which might not be exactly what the Twins want. That being said, much has been made of the apparent depth of the Twins rotation now with a number of prospects finding their legs. That might work well for Ohtani’s needs with some rookies rotating in every month to help fill a void. It would also mean perhaps one less reliever spot, a choice that could certainly backfire. But Ohtani makes up for that too by going long into games as a pitcher, and no longer requiring strategy of DH management after MLB created a specific rule just for him.
The trickier part for the Twins would be constructing the lineup. The Twins played around quite a bit with their Designated Hitter position in 2021, trying to use it as much for resting players and in particular as Byron Buxton battled through debilitating pain. The Ohtani equation would almost entirely remove that possibility, which means praying for a healthy Buxton to find a place in the field every day or only coming in for the right pinch-hitting opportunity.
The Twins might then also want to pull the trigger on a Gio Urshela trade simply to place Jose Miranda as an everyday third baseman (or have two platoons with Luis Arraez and Alex Kirilloff doing the same over at first). This is perhaps the flaw that made Ohtani so wonderful in Los Angeles while finding himself in a Sisyphean Odyssey of watching batters who might be better fits at DH struggle in the field.
Of course, the big question would be how much is an Ohtani trade worth given the Twins average-ish prospect farm (The Twins placed 18th on Keith Law’s 2022 list). For a possible comparison, look at what the Padres gave up to acquire Juan Soto. In order to get the Ted Williams-esque hitter alongside rental Josh Bell, AJ Preller dealt three of the five top prospects to the Nationals. Soto came with two additional years of arbitration time that the Padres will likely mitigate this off-season with an extension, which meant a higher cost than the one year of service left on Ohtani’s already set arbitration numbers. That might make the trades comparable, but the Padres were giving away players near the Top of Baseball America’s Top 100. The Twins would likely have to say goodbye to both shortstop prospects Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee—and that would just be the start for the pitching-desperate Angels. And at a time in which the Twins are desperate for a shortstop once again, they may find themselves watching magic on the mound while slapping their forehead for every swing and miss they place in another one-year low-cost rental in the spot.
Then again, what would be more fun than watching a legend in the making? Why shouldn't this front office go into Five Blades Modes? If anything, an Ohtani trade is a good place to understand and evaluate the strength of the Falvey-Levine regime; because he can shift the balance of a team in so many ways, you can see how different a team would have to build in order to fully utilize his talents. But before he starts mowing down Twins players in pinstripes, it is still fun to imagine the opposite future being possible.
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