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One of the first moves the Twins front office made under the Derek Falvey and Thad Levine regime was signing former Houston Astros catcher Jason Castro to a three-year $24.5 million deal. That was a move that paid off well for the Twins over the past three seasons. In 2017, Castro was the Twins primary catcher, and he put up a respectable 2.1 fWAR in 110 games played that season. After missing nearly all of 2018 with a knee injury, Castro had another strong 2019 campaign in a catching role he split 50/50 with Mitch Garver.Though Jason Castro wasn’t near the offensive threat that Mitch Garver has been behind the plate, he is no defensive-only catcher a la Drew Butera. In 2019, Castro posted a 103 wRC+, which ranked 15th out of the 36 catchers with at least 250 plate appearances. Factor that in with Castro’s above average pitch framing ability, and solid all-around defense behind the plate, and you have yourselves a pretty good catcher. Now, at the age of 32, Castro is entering free agency and the Twins suddenly find themselves in need of a catcher to back up Mitch Garver. Let’s take a look at some of the options the Twins have. Free Agency Perhaps the most obvious place the Twins could look to find the replacement for Jason Castro is on the free agent market. While there won’t be any big-time catchers available in free agency, that is perfectly fine with the Twins as all they need is someone who can be their number two behind Mitch Garver. Some of the names the Twins could be interested in are Robinson Chirinos, Travis d’Arnaud, Alex Avila and Jason Castro himself. Personally, Jason Castro makes the most sense to bring back among this group. The Twins will be looking to replicate the success they had at the catcher position this year, and what better way to do so than by using the same players? While this move would certainly make sense for the Twins, especially on a one- or two- year deal, it is hard to say if it would make a lot of sense for Castro. It is entirely possible that Castro is looking for an opportunity somewhere he could be the primary catching option, and who could blame him? He certainly has the ability to be the primary catcher for roughly half of the organizations in major league baseball, and if he were to return to the Twins, at best he will split time with Garver 50/50, barring an injury. Trade Market Another option the Twins could turn to in on the trade market. One team the Twins could reach out to is the Seattle Mariners, and their always-very-eager- to- make-a-trade GM Jerry Dipoto. The Mariners have two quality young catchers in Tom Murphy and Omar Narvaez. Murphy has one year remaining before he becomes arbitration eligible in 2021, while Narvaez is eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter. With a few years of team control remaining for each player, the Mariners could have one of two viewpoints. Either, A, hold onto them as part of the future of the organization, or B, cash them in while they can still return good value, and continue to build up their strong farm system. If the answer is B, I think the Twins could make an excellent trade partner for them, given the sheer depth of the Twins farm system, and value that either one of these two catchers would bring to the team. Internal Options If the Twins don’t find anything they like in either free agency or on the trading block, they could always turn internally. Perhaps the most likely option, if this were the case, would be to give Willians Astudillo extended playing time as a catcher. While this would certainly be a fan favorite choice, it is still a little dicey trusting Astudillo behind the plate that often, especially with his offensive struggles mitigating his ability to make up for his poor defense. After Astudillo, their top two catching prospects within the organization are Ryan Jeffers and Ben Rortvedt. While both are solid catching options, they each have only played partial seasons at AA with zero experience at the AAA level. Turning to one of these two to start the season would require a big jump that they might not be quite ready for. A fourth option would be Tomas Telis, who posted an impressive .330/.364/.490 slash line in 82 games for the Rochester Red Wings this season, albeit in the extreme offensive environment that was Triple-A this season. Telis does have brief MLB experience playing for the Texas Rangers and Miami Marlins before he came over to the Twins organization, so he should be ready if the Twins were to call his number. While the Twins main focus will certainly be around addressing the starting rotation, filling the hole left by Jason Castro cannot go overlooked. One thing that needs to be at the forefront of the Twins minds when making this decision is in case of an injury, is this a player we trust to step up as the primary Twins catcher in his absence? If that answer is no, they should probably look to an alternative option, to avoid a replay of the 2018 Twins catching situation. Click here to view the article

With all the excitement surrounding the 2019 Minnesota Twins, it is hard not to get wrapped up in this season, and to be frank, Twins fans should be. Seasons like this don’t come around that often. That being said, at some point, even if the Twins make a run all the way to the World Series, the 2019 season will come to an end, and every team will need to quickly shift into building their rosters for 2020. For the Twins, that focus will be centered around rebuilding the starting rotation, as Jake Odorizzi, Michael Pineda, Kyle Gibson, and Martin Perez ($7.5 million team option) will be free agents at season’s end. So, I thought it would be a good idea to look into who might be some of the big names the Twins could be linked to this winter.The first area of discussion will be whether the Twins should offer Odorizzi, Pineda or Gibson a qualifying offer. Last year, the qualifying offer amount was 1-year and $17.9 million, so we can project that number to be somewhere between $18 million and $19 million this year. Thanks to Kyle Gibson’s poor performance of late, and the 60-game suspension handed down to Michael Pineda for use of a masking agent, the only likely candidate for the Twins to extend a qualifying offer to is Jake Odorizzi. If you want a deeper dive on what might go into that decision for the Twins, Cody Christie wrote an excellent piece on the subject earlier this week. The Twins also have a few options within their organization, like Lewis Thorpe, Devin Smeltzer or Brusdar Graterol, but their best options might come from outside the organization. Luckily for the Twins, they will have plenty of money to spend this winter, as they will have only roughly $90 million on the books entering the offseason. That’s with only losing Jason Castro and Jonathan Schoop from the lineup. So, who are the top pitchers that the Twins could look to spend some money on this winter? Let’s take a look. Gerrit Cole Among the list of upcoming free agent starting pitchers, Gerrit Cole will most definitely be the prize of the class. With Cole just turning 29 on Sunday, he will have a few more prime seasons ahead of him. Cole is practically a lock to receive a qualifying offer from the Houston Astros, but with a pitcher of his caliber, it shouldn’t have much of an impact on teams wanting to sign him like it did for other starting pitchers in recent years... pitchers like Dallas Keuchel and Lance Lynn. So far in 2019, Cole has a 2.81 ERA (2.88 FIP), with 13.58 K/9 and 2.19 BB/9 in 176 1/3 innings pitched, across 28 starts. Hyun-Jin Ryu For much of the 2019 season, Hyun-Jin Ryu was the clear-cut front-runner for the National League Cy Young Award, as he had a 1.27 ERA through his first 15 starts. However, he has seen some regression lately, as he has a 4.31 ERA over his last 11 starts, including giving up 21 earned runs over his last four starts. Despite this, Ryu should still remain a top target for teams looking to add a front-line starting pitcher. For his career, Ryu has a 3.03 ERA (3.35 FIP) in 719 1/3 innings. Madison Bumgarner We all heard plenty about Madison Bumgarner as a potential Twins target before the trade deadline.. Well this winter they will have another shot at the one-time ace, as he will become a free agent. Much like Cole, Bumgarner is a strong candidate for a qualifying offer. However, unlike Cole, there is a real chance this qualifying offer could impact teams’ willingness to pursue him. Despite a slightly higher ERA this season (3.81 in 2019 vs 3.26 in 2018), Bumgarner has done a lot to help his market value in 2019, as his strikeout and walk numbers are greatly improved from where they were a season ago. Additionally, Bumgarner has shown that he is back to full health, as he has already made 30 starts in 2019. Zack Wheeler Much like Madison Bumgarner, Zack Wheeler was linked to the Twins before the trade deadline, and also like Bumgarner, he wasn’t actually moved, as the New York Mets surprised everyone when they decided to be buyers instead of sellers at the deadline. Wheeler is yet another likely candidate to receive a qualifying offer, and if that’s the case, he too could see that impact his signing. Wheeler has had a bit of down year in 2019, has his ERA is a full run higher than it was in 2018. However, many of the underlying metrics suggest he is still the same pitcher he has been over the course of his career. Cole Hamels Despite being well into the latter part of his career, Hamels is still preforming at the top of his game. So far in 2019, Hamels has a 3.69 ERA (3.89 FIP) in 126 2/3 innings. Additionally, Hamels’ strikeout numbers are still around where they were in his 20’s, pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies. It’s hard to say if Hamels will get a qualifying offer, but it would make some sense for the Cubs to do so, as he could easily be worth a higher-priced 1-year deal. Stephen Strasburg Stephen Strasburg’s availability this offseason will rely entirely on what he decides to do with his 4-year $100 million player option that he has at season’s end. If he chooses to opt out, Strasburg will join Cole and Ryu among top starting pitchers available this winter. Despite being overshadowed by Max Scherzer over the past few seasons, Strasburg remains as one of the top starting pitchers in the game. In 2019, Strasburg’s 5.3 fWAR ranks sixth in major league baseball. What happens with Strasburg will undoubtedly be the most intriguing story line as the 2019-2020 offseason gets underway. As we can see, there are plenty of options available for the Twins to target to bolster their starting rotation, and I didn’t even get into the possibility of making a trade. What the Twins actually end up doing is still very much up in the air, but one thing is for sure, Twins Daily will be there every step of the way to cover to Twins, even as we start to hunker down for the winter. What are your thoughts, do you see any of these pitchers sporting a Twins uniform in 2020, and if so, who do you think is is the most likely candidate? Click here to view the article