Minnesota Twins Free Agent Profile: Could the Twins actually land Gerrit Cole?
The Minnesota Twins are in the market to acquire “impact pitching” but can they land the biggest prize in the free-agent market this winter?
The secret is out when it comes to the Minnesota Twins’ winter plans. After a season in which the starting rotation took a nosedive after the first couple of months, the Twins will be looking to fill the holes in their starting rotation. Normally, this would just be a matter of replenishing from within as Minnesota has historically has built its farm system around strong starting pitching.
The Twins’ current situation is much different than in year’s past, however. With a World Series caliber lineup already in place, the Twins are looking for someone to get them over their 15 seasons without a playoff win hump.
That led the team to declare a search for “impact pitching” in the days after their latest playoff sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees and what more of an impact could be made by going after the biggest fish in the pond?
That, of course, would be Gerrit Cole, who has been the most dominant pitcher in baseball over the past two seasons. With an American League Cy Young Award likely coming in the next couple of weeks, Cole is hitting free agency at the right time as the 29-year old should draw interest from every team that is even sniffing the playoffs at this point.
So could the Twins pull off a stunner and bring Cole to Minnesota? And what would Cole bring to the table? In the first of a series of pieces, we’ll take a look at what made Cole so good and if the Twins can pull off the shocker of the offseason.
The pros of signing Gerrit Cole
For many reading this article, the thought of “Well, duh.” just went through their minds after reading this header. However, there are plenty of things that Cole can bring to the table or any team looking to add a bonafide ace to their pitching staff.
For starters, Cole is coming off one of the most dominant seasons in the history of the game. Cole’s overall numbers look pretty good with a 20-5 record and 2.50 ERA, but it’s the dominant stretch that he turned in from early May until the end of the year that set him apart.
Through his first 11 starts of the season, Cole was actually struggling and owned a losing record. At 4-5 with a 4.11 ERA, Cole was racking up the strikeouts (100 in 65 2/3 innings) but not seeing the results. After suffering his final loss of the season on May 22, however, Cole turned it on and showed the dominance that will help pad his bank account this winter.
Cole won his final 16 decisions after that loss to the Chicago White Sox and posted an ERA of 1.78. To make matters worse for opposing hitters, they couldn’t even get their bat on the ball as Cole posted a 35% chase rate and somehow became even stronger in the postseason thanks to an increased use in his curveball, which according to Jay Jaffe of FanGraphs, quadrupled his chase rate against lefties.
That’s what’s crazy about Cole’s impending free agency. If he wins the Cy Young Award, he will be just the fourth pitcher in MLB history to hit the market after winning the award. At 29 years old, he’s in the prime of his career compared to most pitchers being ticking time bombs by the point they hit free agency.
If the Twins are serious about landing an impact pitcher, Cole will be the way to go. However, there are a couple of small issues that might keep that from happening.
The cons of signing Gerrit Cole
There aren’t many negatives when it comes to the prospect of signing a pitcher in the prime of his career that just struck out 326 batters and is likely going to win a Cy Young award. When it comes to Cole’s on the field performance, there is nothing to suggest that he wouldn’t be a tremendous addition to a revamped Twins’ pitching rotation.
Where it could get messy is squeezing Cole into the Twins’ offseason plans. According to John Bonnes of Twins Daily, the Twins goal should be to acquire three pitchers at about $70 million this winter. If we use the projection of MLB Trade Rumors’ Tim Dierkes, who predicted that Cole will receive an eight-year, $252 million deal from the Los Angeles Angels, that would knock out $32 million of that cap, leaving less room to sign quality pitchers elsewhere in the rotation.
While baseball doesn’t have a salary cap, the Twins may be restricted in what they could offer Cole. If the number also rises up more toward the $40 million per year number, Cole’s price tag could really be pushed out of the Twins stratosphere.
Could the Twins actually land Gerrit Cole?
If we were playing MLB The Show, the obvious reaction would be to jack the price up until your Playstation tilts and hope for the best to try and lure Cole to Minnesota. In reality, Cole’s reluctance to sign with Minnesota might not just come down to dollars, but also geography.
In a tweet from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, he revealed that Josh Redick believes that Cole would like to move back to the west coast. The thought process behind this would be validated considering that Cole is a native Californian and spent his collegiate days at UCLA.
Those factors would mean that a team such as the Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers or even the San Diego Padres are better suitors for Cole and with a team like the New York Yankees and possibly every other team in Major League Baseball falling over themselves to sign Cole, there’s a good chance that he’ll have much better situations than the one he would walk into in Minnesota.
Next. Twins extend qualifying offer to Jake Odorizzi. dark
If the Twins land Cole, it would have to be considered the upset of the offseason. However, the Twins will likely go all-out to sign him, meaning there could be a Lloyd Christmas chance that Cole is in Minnesota next spring.