In 2022, the Twins were in a position to win the AL Central and return to the postseason. However, a lack of depth in pitching and fielding, plus injuries and struggling offense, caused a September that ripped Minnesota out of contention with a pitiful 78-84 record.
So far this offseason the Twins have addressed many of those needs and made the massive move to re-sign Carlos Correa. What Minnesota has done is bought itself at least six or seven tries to contend with a healthy Byron Buxton and Correa in the same lineup, but other things need to click into place for success to happen.
Even Buxton and Correa have question marks around them as the Twins enter this new era, and the pressure is officially on.
While there is a mix of players that the Twins have that are returning from injuries last year, and ones that they resigned, there are five players on this current roster that will play a big role in the Twins 2023 season and need to step up for this new era to be properly ushered in.
This one is a bit obvious. After a crazy offseason, the Twins were able to resign Carlos Correa for a six-year, $280 million deal -- the largest in franchise history. Correa didn't have the greatest season last year but the reason why the Twins re-signed him is because of the effect he has on this team.
While Carlos Correa struggled on offense, his defense was always there. The star shortstop had a .983 fielding percentage and he helped tally 51 double plays.
Correa wasn't offensively efficient last season, at least not compared to his normal standards. That was mainly due to the slow start he had. When he was able to break out of an early slump and ended up hitting .291 with a .366 OBP. Most of the damage that Correa made was in September. In the first 13 games of that month, Correa had a .373 batting average.
Carlos Correa has stressed all year how important it will be to play well in September. @TeamCJCorrea in 13 September games:
— Dustin Morse (@morsecode) September 16, 2022
.373 AVG
4 doubles
6 home runs
13 RBI
.429 OBP
.804 SLG
1.232 OPS
.394 BABIP#MNTwins sweep the Royals and head to Cleveland for 5 games. pic.twitter.com/YTZKV51z1p
Correa is the key to this season, with his defense, bat, and leadership that he brings. The Twins paid him the big bucks because of those characteristics and now they need to get more of what they saw from Correa in September.