Twins interested in two-time All-Star righty Johnny Cueto

Prior to the lockout, the busiest segment of the free-agent market was starting pitching, with the majority of the top names flying off the shelves before the freeze on transactions in December. The top two remaining starters, Carlos Rodon and Clayton Kershaw, both signed the first full day after the lockout, leaving the top of the market picked clean. Earlier Saturday, the Blue Jays signed Yusei Kikuchi, taking another appealing name off the board.

With many teams still in need of rotation upgrades, they will naturally be turning their attentions to the next tier of available hurlers, with the market for right-hander Johnny Cueto “heating up,” per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. The Twins are one of the clubs interested, according to Darren Wolfson of SKOR North.

The Twins made the playoffs in three out of the four seasons from 2017 to 2020, including back-to-back division titles in 2019 and 2020. But they followed that up with a miserable season in 2021 in which just about everything went wrong. Various players dealt with serious injuries and many others underperformed, leading the club to drop to a record of 73-89 and finish in the basement of the AL Central. Despite that, the club has made it clear it intends to reload and compete again in 2022, and they showed evidence of that earlier today by acquiring Isiah Kiner-Falefa from the Rangers to be their shortstop.

However, the club’s most glaring need is the starting rotation. During last year’s disappointing campaign, they traded away Jose Berrios and J.A. Happ at the deadline. Then they lost Kenta Maeda to Tommy John surgery, who is hoping to be back in September. Also, Michael Pineda reached free agency at the end of the year.

Going into the offseason, the club was left with a rotation of talented but unproven youngsters, with Bailey Ober and Joe Ryan headlining that group. Just before the lockout, they added Dylan Bundy into the mix, but he’s coming off a miserable season of his own, putting up an ERA of 6.06 with the Angels. For a team with designs on competing, they’ll certainly need to look for upgrades.

Cueto is now a few years removed from his peak, but the 36-year-old could still be plenty useful, as MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently explored. Cueto threw 114 2/3 innings last year with an ERA of 4.08. His 20% strikeout rate was a few ticks below league average, but his 6.1% walk rate was quite strong. While he may not be the ace he once was, there are no aces left on the free-agent market, meaning the Twins will have to be looking toward pitchers like Cueto to cobble a rotation together, unless they have enough trade chips remaining to build a rotation that way.