Twins are preparing to make a major mistake with Griffin Jax in 2025

There are a few big questions the Minnesota Twins need to answer this offseason, and it's difficult to determine which is the most pressing. A decent argument can be made that pitching needs to be a priority this winter; a year ago the rotation was the biggest strength of a team that made a deep postseason run but became a total liability this season.

Pablo Lopez regressed, Joe Ryan suffered a season-ending arm injury, and the Twins needed to patchwork the rotation in ways that showed at the worst possible time. Down the stretch of the season, Minnesota was relying on David Festa, Zebby Matthews, and an overtaxed Bailey Ober to carry the team into the playoffs.

That didn't happen, and while the bones of a decent rotation are in place there's a lot of work that needs to be done in order to fully fortify things. Not being able to spend any money in free agency complicates things, with yet another offseason of the Pohlad's undying desire to not pay a penny more than needed on the roster dictating everything.

As is the case most years, it seems the team will rely on in-house talent to fill roster holes, which might lead to yet another critical mistake being made.

Twins are considering using Griffin Jax as a starter in 2025

What made the historic collapse the Twins suffered last season even worse was how far off in the distance fans could see the storm clouds developing. A similar thing seems to be happening with Jax, who was without a doubt Minnesota's best pitcher last season and one of the top relievers in the league.

That's why early murmurs that he might get a look as a starter next season made everyone take pause. As the offseason begins to pick up steam, the Twins frugalness might actually push them to trying Jax out in the rotation next year rather than trying to solve the problem another way.

Yikes.

It makes sense why Jax would be open to this idea. He was the team's best pitcher and moving to the rotation opens a path toward getting paid like a starter and not a reliever. Howver, it makes almost no logical sense for the Twins. Outside of Jax the bullpen was an unreliable disaster last season and removing him from that situation seems to create an even bigger problem than the one in the rotation he'd attempt to solve.

That's ultimately what this comes down to, as Jax has proven to be a better reliever than he is a starter. Minnesota tried him in the rotation back in 2021 and he was mediocre at best, finishing the season with a 4-5 record and a 6.37 ERA.

Last year Jax had a 2.8 WAR alongside a 0.873 WHIP; simply put he was outstanding.

We've seen the Twins try to flip-flop pitchers in roles and the result is usually something like what has happened multiple times with Louie Varland.

Even if things work out better this time around for Jax as a starter, how will the Twins replace him in the bullpen? Let's assume Jax does turn into a solid starter in what would be a pretty great rotation; it might not matter because the Twins would still be in a spot where quality starts are being squandered by subpar relievers and games are being lost as a result.

This is all less about whether or not Jax would be a good addition to the rotation and more about how to make up for subtracting him from the bullpen.

Brock Stewart is expected to return from injury next year but the team would be gambling that he'd bounce back from injury to pitch at the extremely high level he was at in the brief time we saw him. Jhoan Duran is the next best arm but he's often pretty volatile and could end up getting traded this winter.

Jax as a starter fills a need and does so in the frustratingly frugal way the Twins love to operate, but it creates a bigger problem than it solves. We'll see if this ends up actually going anywhere, but there might be a fire behind all of the smoke we continue to see about Jax moving to the rotation.

More Minnesota Twins news and rumors