Minnesota Twins sign former Cy Young winner to minor league deal

The Minnesota Twins have inked a former Cy Young winning pitcher to a low-risk minor league deal, with the hope that he turns out to be a lottery ticket that pays off big.

Boston Red Sox v Minnesota Twins
Boston Red Sox v Minnesota Twins | David Berding/GettyImages

While the theatrics of a walk-off win on Wednesday night were a sight for sore eyes, things remain pretty grim for the Minnesota Twins.

Despite a hot start to the season, the Twins have sunk below .500 and are clinging to first place in the league's worst division. The offense is wildly inconsistent, the bullpen seems to be sliding back into the poor form it showed last season, and the starting rotation is beginning to regress back to the mean.

Minnesota has seemingly squandered an otherwise impressive start and history feels like it's repeating itself. Not only is that being felt in the performance on the field, but the front office is leaning on old tricks to try and find a fix.

Minnesota Twins sign former Cy Young winner to minor league deal

According to Jon Heyman from the New York Post, the Twins have agreed to a minor league deal with Dallas Keuchel.

This feels like a classic low-risk deal the Twins have made in the past with pitchers like Keuchel. Minnesota has been cycling through pitchers thanks to a combination of injuries and poor performance, and Keuchel is a lottery ticket that will no doubt get played at some point in the future.

Keuchel won the Cy Young back in 2015 while helping give birth to the Houston Astros dynasty, but he's pretty far removed from that peak.

It's a bit of an AL Central reunion for Keuchel, who pitched for the Chicago White Sox from 2020 until 2022. Hopefully, for both Keuchel and the Twins, things go better than they did during his stint on the Southside.

While he's a former Cy Young winning pitcher, Keuchel posted a 6.35 ERA in 222 2/3 innings over the last three seasons. That's right on brand for the type of upside the Twins buy on pitchers like Keuchel, who were once great but are now seemingly well past their prime.

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