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The 2022 MLB Hall of Fame results are in and a former Minnesota Twin has been elected to Cooperstown. Here are the four Ex-Twins who have a shot at making the ballot for 2023. Torii Hunter Resumé - 19 Seasons - 353 Home Runs - 5x All-Star - 9x Gold Glove - 2x Silver Slugger After receiving 5.3% of the vote share in the 2022 voting, former Minnesota Twins center fielder, Torii Hunter, clinched a spot on the 2023 Hall of Fame ballot as a holdover. Hunter had an extremely successful career in the Majors, as evidenced by his 19 seasons in the Big Leagues. Thanks to the multiple all-star appearances and nine Gold Glove awards, Hunter earned enough votes to stay on the ballot. While he certainly won’t make it to Cooperstown, he has the potential to add to his vote share in 2023 with big names such as David Ortiz, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens falling off the ballot. Glen Perkins Resumé - 12 Seasons - 3.88 ERA - 3x All-Star - 120 Saves Now that five years have passed since his retirement, Glen Perkins will finally have a shot at making the Hall of Fame ballot for 2023. Perkins provided the rare accomplishment of completing a double-digit year career with the same team as he played all 12 of his MLB seasons with the Minnesota Twins. After struggling mightily as a starting pitcher, the Twins moved Glen Perkins to the bullpen full time in August of 2010 where he thrived. In his career as a reliever, Perkins amassed a 3.09 ERA with 120 saves and three all-star appearances. Perkins certainly won’t stay on the ballot for any period of time, but a ballot appearance is possible. R.A. Dickey Resumé - 15 Seasons - 4.04 ERA - 2012 NL Cy Young - 1x All-Star - 1x Gold Glove While Dickey reached impressive heights, highlighted by a Cy Young Award, many forget that he once played for the Minnesota Twins. Dickey pitched for the Minnesota Twins in 2009 after the Twins signed Dickey to a Minor League contract that offseason. Dickey appeared in 35 games for the Twins, mostly as a reliever, posting a 4.62 ERA in 64 1/3 innings. Dickey was then plucked away from the Twins via the Rule 5 draft in 2010 where he would ultimately end up in New York with the Mets where he used his knuckleball to thrive as a starter, winning the previously mentioned Cy Young in 2012. Although he won the top award for an MLB pitcher, Dickey doesn’t figure to get much run on the 2023 Hall of Fame ballot. J.J. Hardy Resumé - 13 Seasons - 1,488 Hits - 188 Home Runs - 2x All-Star - 3x Gold Glove - 1x Silver Slugger After acquiring J.J. Hardy in exchange for Carlos Goméz ahead of the 2010 season, Hardy played one season in Minnesota where he posted a .268 average with six home runs. Hardy provided excellent defense for the Twins at the shortstop position and was a constant presence in their lineup during their inaugural season at Target Field, after which he was ultimately traded away. Playing 13 seasons in the big leagues at the shortstop position is certainly impressive and might be enough to put him on the Hall of Fame ballot, however similar to the other players, he doesn’t figure to stay on the ballot for long. Do you think any of the above players have a chance to last on the Hall of Fame ballot? What memories do you have of these ex-Twins during their time in Minnesota? Leave a comment below and start the conversation! View full article

We’ve established the rules for post-July 31 trades. Now we should take a look at who the Twins might target, right? It’s pretty easy to isolate three areas where the Twins can use some help: Starting pitching Relief pitching Batters who can hit left-handed pitching The pitching woes are hard to miss. Only the Rangers (6.4) have gotten fewer strikeouts per nine innings from starting pitchers than the Twins (6.9), and just four teams have posted higher ERA from their rotations than the Twins (4.89). Similarly, only five teams have a higher bullpen ERA than the Twins (4.53), and no team has a bullpen fanning fewer batters per nine than Minnesota (7.6). With that said, the Twins bullpen has been quite a bit better of late. Only seven teams have a lower ERA over the past 30 days than the Twins (3.53) out of the bullpen, and that comes with 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings, 2.0 walks per nine and a groundball rate of 47.4 percent. When it comes to making bullpen additions, it’s not just adding that player to a bullpen, though. It’s also swapping out the worst player on the other side of the bullpen. And while that’s a bit tougher to do now than it was a couple months ago, subtracting a Buddy Boshers or an Alan Busenitz now is a bit tougher of a decision than Matt Belisle or Craig Breslow would have been two months ago. Still, there’s room to improve. As an offense, the Twins aren’t far from the middle of the pack. They have a collected wRC+ of 97 — tied for 13th with the Cubs and Reds — and have been around there most of the season. Against righties, they have a 99 wRC+, which is 13th in MLB. Against lefties though, it’s just 89 — 21st in MLB. So the Twins could use some help against lefties, and that’s easy to see with the struggles of Max Kepler, Joe Mauer and others against southpaws this season. So let’s take a look at some pieces that might be made available over the next couple weeks to see who might be a good fit for the Twins: SP Marco Estrada – Toronto Blue Jays Estrada is probably atop every general manager’s list this month as far as teams seeking starting pitching help. His ERA is unsightly (4.85), but it’s backed by a 4.35 FIP, more than a strikeout per inning and a strong recent run. He’s got a 2.08 ERA over his last four starts, which includes pitching the Jays to wins over the Yankees and Astros — the AL’s two best offenses. This deal might take time to get done, as the Jays are just four games out of the second Wild Card and maybe haven’t quite packed it in yet. Please click through to Zone Coverage here to see the rest of this story.