I’m perplexed. Confused. Dizzy. My head is spinning right round like Dead or Alive’s 1985 pop rock hit. The Minnesota Twins front office worked the hot stove with the hope of some fire behind all the talk. Instead, all fans got is a slight rise of steam.
The Twins’ big moves were to trade for Kyle Farmer, sign Christian Vázquez, and the big money to date went to venerable strike out monster Joey Gallo. Farmer and Vázquez are decent, but certainly not impactful signings in the infield and at catcher.
Vázquez and Ryan Jeffers will offer a solid 1-2 punch behind the plate, but you will likely not see either on top of the MVP candidate list. Both are slightly rated in the top half of MLB catchers with Vázquez currently topping out as 20th best catcher in fantasy baseball. Kyle Farmer is a solid career utility journeyman, but certainly not the impact player Twins fans were hoping for.
Gallo is a complete head scratcher. The Twins overpaid him by about 80% in my opinion. I just don’t understand it. I could see a prove it deal but $11 million guaranteed just blows my mind for the thrifty spending Minnesota Twins. At best, he’s a B- value signing for the Twins. At worst, he’s a total dud and is released with the Twins holding the bag for his contract.
It almost seemed like bringing back Carlos Correa was a near-OCD level obsession for Falvey and Levine. I will argue until my last breath the Minnesota Twins should have traded him away at the trade deadline when the wheels of the bus were starting to fall off.
Correa and his super agent Scott Boras played the Twins like a cheap tin whistle and used and abused the Twins with false decrees to set a healthy floor of money for other teams to outbid. My contention will always be the Twins after the wrong Carlos, as Carlos Rodon should have been the target that was prized.
I know the Twins had “talks” with Rodon. They did with Correa too. But talk is cheap. The Twins now sit in the same position as usual, scraping through the bargain bin again with their fans’ heads still spinning.