Minnesota Twins: Which players are free agents this offseason?

Jake Odorizzi

2019 stats: 15-7, 3.51 ERA, 178 K, 53 BB, 1.20 WHIP in 159.0 IP (30 GS)

There is no better time than the present for Jake Odorizzi to hit free agency. After an uninspiring first season in Minnesota, the right-hander broke out in a big way under the tutelage of new pitching coach Wes Johnson and the result was the 29-year old being selected for his first All-Star game.

In a way, the Twins might be lucky that Odorizzi didn’t continue his blistering pace through the first three months of the season where he went 10-3 with a 2.73 ERA before going on the injured list with a blister in a July 2 start against Oakland. Since then, Odorizzi couldn’t maintain his ace-like performance, going 5-4 with a 4.42 ERA in his final 14 starts of the season.

Odorizzi did manage to straighten the ship out during his final handful of starts during the regular season and turned in a strong effort against the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the ALDS which put the Twins in position to come away with a victory. However, the Twins need to decide which version of Odorizzi is the one they would get in an extension.

Complicating matters is the potential for the Twins to offer him a qualifying offer at $18 million, which could either be accepted by Odorizzi or require draft pick compensation for him to sign anywhere else. It all depends on what the Twins see here and what they would like to do moving forward.

Jason Castro

2019 stats: .232/.332/.435, 13 HR, 30 RBI, 9 2B, 39 R in 237 AB

Much like Odorizzi, Castro was a major disappointment after signing as a free-agent with the arrival of Falvey and Levine. Coming off a knee injury that ended his 2018 season, many thought Castro might not live up to his contract, but he played well enough to be a solid platoon partner with Mitch Garver, starting primarily against right-handed pitching.

With Castro’s modest output at the plate, the Twins might decide to move on to a cheaper backstop to back up Garver. However, with the Twins penchant of taking care of their catchers and making sure that the wear and tear of the position doesn’t get to them, there’s a good chance that the Twins could try and bring the 32-year old back this winter.

If not, they’ll dive into a market that doesn’t have too many big names out there and may just opt to have Willians Astudillo be their primary backup, which is not ideal considering his lack of defensive prowess.

Kyle Gibson

2019 stats: 13-7, 4.84 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 160 K, 56 BB in 160 IP (34 G, 29 GS)

As someone who is not the biggest fan of Kyle Gibson, the flaws in his game are obvious. While he can constantly get hitters down in the count thanks to swing and miss stuff (career-high 36% chase rate according to FanGraphs), that may be a bit inflated with his unwillingness to throw strikes with a career-low 34.2% strike rate.

If you are on Gibson’s side (and the Twins seem to be), you’ll note that Gibson battled E. coli for most of the season, which eventually turned into ulcerative colitis. The condition saps strength and energy, which may be the cause for some of Gibson’s poor performance down the stretch.

Bottom line is, Gibson was good enough for the first couple months of the season when ineffectiveness (or sickness) took over. With the Twins and Gibson having a mutual respect for each other, there’s a good chance that both sides will reach an agreement to have Gibson at the back of the rotation in 2020.

Jonathan Schoop

2019 stats: .256/.304/.473, 23 HR, 59 RBI, 61 R, 23 2B, 1 3B, 1 SB in 433 AB

Many Twins fans may have cringed when they heard the Twins reached a deal with Jonathan Schoop last winter after a brutal 2018, but he had a respectable bounce-back campaign. While it wasn’t the output of 2016 Brian Dozier, Schoop gave the Twins a quality bat in the middle of the infield and for the most part, he served his purpose.

Of course, his numbers only tell part of the story. In Baseball-Reference’s late and close situations, Schoop hit just .218 with one home run and four RBI. On the other hand, Schoop’s numbers with a margin greater than four runs spiked to .273 with 10 HR and 27 RBI.

His veteran leadership was a key part of why the Twins had such a big turnaround in 2019, but the rise of Luis Arraez behind him may make him a one-and-done in Minnesota. The good news is that he shouldn’t have any problems finding work elsewhere after a nice rebound season.

Michael Pineda

2019 stats: 11-5, 4.01 ERA, 140 K, 28 BB, 1.15 WHIP in 146 IP

Two years ago, the Twins made a gamble on Michael Pineda and through the first couple of months their gamble appeared to finally pay off. After a rough month of April where he was piggy-backing with Martin Perez to get both pitchers innings, Pineda began to take off at the top of the Twins rotation.

Although he needed a couple of stints on the injured list to manage his workload, the big right-hander was stellar for the Twins. This was especially true from May on as Pineda went 9-3 with a 3.46 ERA in his last 20 starts of the 2019 season.

This kind of performance led many to speculate that Pineda could be the Game 1 starter for the Twins in a potential postseason series, but that didn’t work out that way. As Pineda was attempting to slim down, he took a diuretic that contained a banned substance and was suspended for 60 games, which effectively ended his year a month early.

The suspension complicates things as the Twins would have probably been aggressive in bringing him back for 2020 if he continued pitching the way he had. At this point, the Twins have to evaluate trust issues with Pineda and see if bringing him back to a rotation that has four pitchers slated for free agency is worth another risk.

Martin Perez

2019 stats: 10-7, 5.12 ERA, 135 K, 67 BB, 1.51 WHIP in 165 1/3 IP (32 G, 29 GS)

Through the first couple months of the season, the Twins looked like they had struck gold with Martin Perez. After signing with the Twins for a modest salary of $4 million, Perez went nuts after being freed from his piggyback reliever role with Michael Pineda, going 7-1 with a 2.95 ERA in his first eight starts with the Twins.

As the season went on however, the pitch that was helping change his appearance at the plate was becoming his downfall. As hitters got used to Perez’s new cutter, the left-hander didn’t adapt well and still wound up throwing it 30 percent of the time. As a result, Perez went 3-6 with a 6.29 ERA in his final 21 starts.

With opponents teeing off of Perez to the tune of a .838 OPS during that stretch, the Twins would ultimately decide that they had gotten the chips they needed off this gamble by leaving Perez off the ALDS roster. That seems to be writing on the wall for his 2020 option and Minnesota will likely try to find another (perhaps higher floor) reclamation project to fill out their rotation this winter.

Sergio Romo

2019 stats (with Twins): 0-1, 3.18 ERA, 10.7 K/9, 1.6 BB/9, 0.92 WHIP in 22.2 IP (27 G)

For much of 2019, the Twins bullpen was a disaster to the point of designating four different relievers for assignment in the same week. Although the Twins swung and missed with the Sam Dyson trade, Minnesota did get one deal right at the trade deadline by acquiring Sergio Romo from the Miami Marlins.

Romo led a turnaround for the Twins bullpen thanks to his veteran presence in the clubhouse and was also able to pitch well on the mound. By adding him to the fold, the Twins didn’t need to trot Taylor Rogers out for multiple innings to close a game and with several other relievers stepping up, the Minnesota bullpen was much improved down the final stretch.

Although Romo had issues with his balky knee locking up throughout the final weeks of the season, he would be a great piece to bring back to help the bullpen in 2020. The only question for the 36-year old, who seemed to enjoy his time in Minnesota, is whether he wants to find a situation he can close. If that’s not more important to him, there’s a good chance he could be back in a Twins uniform next spring.