Minnesota Twins: One Lesson to learn From Each Minnesota Sports Team

Lesson from the Timberwolves: The Minnesota Twins shouldn’t be afraid to let players go, especially if they don’t fit

While the Minnesota Timberwolves may not be the best team in the Western Conference, they do have young talent that they can build around for the future. Karl Anthony-Towns is an All-Star so far and Anthony Edwards is looking like he is going to be a star in the league for years to come.

Looking at Andrew Wiggins who was drafted in 2014 and traded to the Wolves before ever playing a game, it would have been a great core to have. However, Wiggins just never really settled in to who he was supposed to be. In 6 seasons he averaged almost 20 PPG but he could never take that next step to really lead the team.

The team identified that KAT would be a better block to build around as dominant big men are much harder to come by in today’s NBA and they sent Wiggins (and some picks) to the Golden State Warriors.

The Minnesota Twins did just that when they traded starting pitcher Jose Berrios to the Toronto Blue Jays for two of the top prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays system (Austin Martin and Simeon Woods-Richardson). They seem to be picking up these lessons well.

While the Twins could have tried to work out a big extension for Berrios, they realized they were not in a position to win right away and the best move was to move on before he became a free agent and try to get some talent for the future.