Minnesota Twins Free Agent Profile: Could Zack Wheeler be the ace the Twins need?
By Chris Schad
The Minnesota Twins have been speaking with the right-hander’s representatives and he could be the Twins’ top target this winter.
You could say that things are beginning to get serious with the Minnesota Twins and Zack Wheeler. As the hot stove begins to warm up and the annual winter meetings just a couple of months away, the Twins have already begun talking to the right-hander’s representatives back at the MLB general managers’ meetings and may have continued their talks through this week’s owner’s meetings.
The Twins’ interest in Wheeler is no surprise with the team searching for “impact pitching,” but outside of Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg, Wheeler could be considered the top prize in the next tier of free-agent starting pitchers and for good reason.
The 29-year old has been on the upswing after losing two seasons due to his recovery from Tommy John surgery, but a strong 2019 campaign (11-8, 3.96 ERA) with the New York Mets put him in a great situation to cash in this winter as someone who has yet to scratch the surface of his potential.
Hence, Wheeler is drawing interest from several teams already and the Twins seem to be the team that’s pushing hard to bring him to Minnesota. So what is it about Wheeler that makes him so attractive for the Twins and can he be a top-of-the-rotation starter that the franchise has lacked for a majority of this past decade?