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2 questions the Twins have already been answered this season, 1 that still lingers

By Ian Slate |
Toronto Blue Jays v Minnesota Twins
Toronto Blue Jays v Minnesota Twins / Stephen Maturen/GettyImages
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It has been a season full of ups and downs for the Minnesota Twins.

A sluggish start put the team behind the pack out of the gate, but we all watched Minnesota storm back with a vengance. A 12-game winning streak helped get things back on track and the offense started to hit in ways it failed to last summer.

None of that was sustainable, though. For as many games as the Twins won it felt like they came right back down to earth shortly after. It's one of the reasons they're the streakiest team in baseball but it's also why they're in the thick of the AL Central race with a month left to go in the season.

Along the way the Twins answered a few questions that have already been answered that had been lingering in the back of everyone's mind, but still have a pretty big one looming on the horizon.

Can Byron Buxton play centerfield again?

Prior to the 2024 season, the Twins decided that they were done playing scared with Byron Buxton and were going to let him be the centerfielder again. While he has experienced a couple injuries this year, none of them have been serious and the experiment feels like an overall success. 

Buxton has looked like Byron Buxton again. He’s play 90 games (already more than his 2023 total), 82 of these in center. He’s hitting .275 with 16 home runs an .862 OPS compared to his .207, 17, and .731 marks last season.

Quite possibly the most impressive piece of this puzzle is that the defense hasn’t missed a beat. His savant fielding metrics are bright red (not to mention his quality of contact numbers too) with all of them grading above the 80th percentile. He has a respectable 4 outs above average and looks like the Byron Buxton we remember roaming the outfield. 

Buxton’s defense is elite, his bat is improved, and he’s played more games. Returning him to center field has undoubtedly been a success.

Is Carlos Correa starting to regress?

Carlos Correa was a major question mark entering 2024. Are we getting the stud shortstop from 2021 or the aging superstar with Swiss cheese ankles from last season? The answer seems to be the former.

While minor injuries have kept him out of the lineup twice this year, his production has looked like the Correa of old. His .308 batting average is the second highest mark of his career, he’s OPSing nearly .900, and he’s already accumulated 3.6 fWar. 

His savant metrics look great, implying that the health questions that blockaded his mega-deals from the Giants and Mets haven’t slowed down his production just yet. Sure, injuries are always going to be a concern, but Correa’s shown that he isn’t quite done being one of the better shortstops in the game. 

Will money problems hold the Twins back? 

It feels it is, but time will tell when the postseason rolls around. The Bally Sports mess resulted in management saying they will be cutting back on spending and payroll and stay relatively quiet in last year’s offseason. We saw it come out again at the trade deadline, when the front office refused to get a helpful player, instead grabbing Trevor Richards for optics (who has since been DFA’d). 

Regardless of the financial situation, the Twins still have a solid roster with some good position player depth. The bullpen has been solid and the questionable rotation is starting to see a struggling Pablo Lopez return to form. 

Ultimately, playoff success will determine the fans’ frustration regarding money problems. For a team that has struggled to go deep in the postseason since the 90s, winning can cure a lot of wounds. Make a playoff run and the focus is on a strong roster that can bolster some weaknesses and run it back in ‘25; get bounced early and then fingers will be pointing at money problems and cheap ownership. 

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