Winter Meetings have been a wild ride already, and the Minnesota Twins have watched patiently as several of free agency’s biggest prizes have already found several new homes. Trea Turner landed in Philadelphia. Jacob deGrom is a Texas Ranger. Justin Verlander is a New York Met.
While this flurry of action continued, the Twins inaction has quietly placed them in a very good spot. The Twins never showed interest in Turner, deGrom was never coming to Minnesota, and Verlander desperately wanted the bright lights of the big city. Instead, the free agents the Twins have always had their sights set on seem all the more attainable.
Why a splashy Day 1 of Winter Meetings could be a positive thing for the Minnesota Twins.
The apple of the Twins eye has always been Carlos Correa. After an extremely successful stint here, it’s clear the team wants to reunite:
"I think there's still a real chance that Carlos is a Twin for a very long time."
— MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) December 5, 2022
It's no secret. Rocco Baldelli wants his shortstop back.@Twins | #Twins | #WinterMeetings pic.twitter.com/4lCph6N2xx
Rocco obviously wants Correa back, and at the new jersey and logo reveal Byron Buxton and several teammates reiterated the same sentiment. Unfortunately, a reunion with didn’t seem very likely, with teams like the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs having much more cash to spend. Today offered a first breath of optimism.
Trea Turner signed his megadeal for 11 years and $300 million, placing his AAV at $27.3 million a season. Correa’s deal will likely land him in the $33-35 million AAV range now, topping Turner and Corey Seager’s deals. This is great news though for the Twins, as the team could very easily match that.
They paid Correa that much on the short-term deal, so they could just as easily extend the deal with that amount of money, a no trade clause, and Correa could come back in just as quickly as he exited. For a team that needs a splashy shortstop badly, this would be a great fix.
Also in that video, Rocco mentions that the dinner was also attended by Carlos Rodon, a surefire ace, and Xander Bogaerts, who is noted to be the team’s backup plan for Correa, so it’s great to hear they’re looking for a big swing.
In addition to the Turner-Correa news, Dan Hayes of the Athletic dropped the news that the Twins would consider trading Luis Arraez in return for top-tier pitching. At first glance, this might seem like a disaster to some Twins fans, as Arraez was one of the lone bright spots of 2022, but at second glance, that’s a great plan.
Arraez’s defensive fit isn’t extremely solid in Minnesota. Even though he filled in well at first base, it seems that Alex Kirilloff is the long-term answer there assuming he can get his health issues figured out. Getting a legitimate ace for Arraez and some prospect talent is an excellent deal, so if there’s a real chance to solidify the top of the rotation, they should do it.
In addition to those two major positives, the Minnesota Twins are also seen to be in the hunt for Christian Vazquez, which would be a great way to address one of the team’s biggest needs: catcher. How better to do that than with one of the three best catchers available?
The team may not have added a major player over the first two days of the Winter Meetings, but the Minnesota Twins seem to be headed in an excellent direction this offseason. All that’s left is for the team to close the deal.