The Minnesota Twins have had a mostly motionless offseason, outside of two signings they announced on Wednesday, (1B) Carlos Santana and (RP) Jay Jackson, along with a semi-blockbuster trade that sent Jorge Polanco to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for a top-100 prospect, (OF) Gabriel Gonzalez, a dominant relief arm in (RHP) Justin Topa and a tweener MLB rotation piece in Anthony DeSclafani.
But all of those moves happened within the last seven or eight days. Prior to the above flurry of activity, president of baseball operations, Derek Falvey, and the Twins front office did mostly nothing. Which begs to question, with only a couple of weeks until Spring Training… what’s next?
Are the Twins done making changes? Is this the team we can expect on Opening Day, assuming they are not ravaged by February/March injuries? Their PoBO says we should still be on the lookout for more…
Minnesota Twins not done making moves just yet?
Of course, this could be easy lip service that can be explained away a month from now with standard Spring Training transactions, so I’m not taking Falvey’s words as a promise that the Twins are going to sign Blake Snell and shock the baseball world.
On a Mackey & Judd podcast appearance Tuesday, Darren Wolfson (whose tweet is embedded above) reported that fans shouldn’t expect the team’s renewed deal with Bally Sports North to increase offseason spending on player salaries, even though that’s what they blamed for why they were cutting player salaries in the first place.
Nonetheless, I refuse to fully give up on the Minnesota Twins’ 2023-24 offseason. We’ve seen way too many significant February/March signings and trades during the Falvine era that it would be foolish to assume they’re done. If nothing else, this regime has proven a willingness to be flexible when opportunities arise.
I’m pretty convinced the Twins have no idea how the next month will unfold. I think they’d be fine bringing their roster, as is, into Opening Day; even if a large chuck of fans and media members would (rightfully) be disappointed if that ends up being reality.
On the other hand, should a trade offer or free agent land in their lap by surprise, like Carlos Correa did the last two offseasons or the Chris Paddack trade two offseasons ago, the Josh Donaldson trade before that, etc. It’s ‘wait and see’ for everybody involved, including those running the franchise.
Twins add new players to 40-man, DFA Jordan Balazovic among others
The Twins added Santana, Jackson and Zach Weiss, another relief pitcher they claimed off waivers from Boston, to the 40-man roster on Wednesday. To make room for the additions, they designated (RHP) Daniel Duarte, (LF) Bubba Thompson and former top prospect (RHP) Jordan Balazovic for release or assignment.
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