Minnesota Twins: 3 Ways to Fix the Starting Rotation in 2021

The Minnesota Twins are now 32 games in the 162-game season, roughly 20% of the way through the season. If they were to continue on this pace, the team would only win about 60.75 games, which is a truly abysmal number for a team that was expected to be a World Series contender.

Now, the Twins have run into some bad luck. Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, Andrelton Simmons, Luis Arraez, Josh Donaldson, Max Kepler, Kyle Garlick, Caleb Thielbar, and Alex Kirilloff have all missed time with injuries or otherwise. On top of this, their team has been extremely ineffective and defensively terrible.

At this point, we’re looking for ways to fix this. There are so many different aspects that need fixing on this team, so we’ll start with the easiest one to fix: The starting rotation. Out of the rotation, bullpen, lineup, and bench, no group is as strong as the rotation is or requires the least to fix it.

The rotation isn’t the main problem for the Minnesota Twins, but it’s not perfect.

Jose Berrios, Michael Pineda, and J.A. Happ aren’t the problem, with all three pitchers posting ERA numbers under 3.50. Berrios has put together the best season of his career so far, posting a career-low ERA and the best strikeout numbers of his career.

Pineda’s FIP isn’t the best of his career, but his strikeout numbers are right on pace with his career numbers and his ERA is excellent. Happ’s 1.91 ERA is a little bit of a mirage, but you can’t say he’s doing a bad job as a fourth starter.

For Matt Shoemaker and Kenta Maeda, neither pitcher has come close to living up to their potential and because of this, the rotation hasn’t been as good as it could be. We take a look at how this rotation can turn things around before the end of the season.