Minnesota Twins: We Got the Sizzle, Now How About the Steak?

As a long-time Minnesota Twins fan, I was left in disbelief with the signing of Carlos Correa. I waited for a couple days expecting the other shoe to drop, the Twins leveraging Correra away in another trade deal, but it didn’t come. The Twins just don’t make these type of signings without any type of hidden posturing.

After a couple of days had passed and the contract was signed I went from disbelief to shock: they actually signed a legit superstar! An A+ player is being brought in to solidify a position of need. What a great signing by the Twins brass! This left me wondering: this is some nice sizzle, but where’s the steak? Where’s the starting pitching?

Carlos Correa adds some sizzle for the Minnesota Twins, but where is the steak?

Minnesota did acquire Sonny Gray, but in my opinion, that deal would be the equivalent of quality beef for a BBQ hamburger. He helps to bring some stability and certainly fills in nicely as an upgraded #3 starter for the departed Michael Pineda. Is he a legit #1 or 2 starter?  It’s close, but he’s not quite in the same heights as the also departed Jose Berrios.

Any true baseball fan knows pitching is the name of the game. Unfortunately for the Minnesota Twins, there’s not a lot of meat in the current rotation. Aside from Gray, the Twins are pinning their hopes on the young arms of Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober, a rebound from Dylan Bundy and an undetermined fifth starter while Kenta Maeda is still rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.

Is a true frontline starter on the menu? That would certainly bring the Twins back into the conversation of playoff contention. At this point in time, there’s not much left in the free agent tank. Johnny Cueto and Chris Archer are about all that is left for possible free agent starters and while recognizable, they’re not the front end rotation horses they were 5 years ago.

Any top filet or sirloin steak would have have to come via a trade at this point. Though the Twins have done some wheeling and dealing I don’t see another trade coming until June or July if the Twins are in contention. Perhaps the newly formed Correra, Sanchez, Urshella trio can come in to slug with Sano, Polanco, Kepler and Kirilloff to put them in a spot for a late season surge.

At this point we have a lot of sizzle with our new signees. Is there enough steak in our current rotation? Time will tell but an upgrade to some Grade A top sirloin would be a welcome sight on the Twins menu.