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A whirlwind offseason saw the Twins give out the largest contract in franchise history in order to retain their shortstop amid a series of other moves aimed at improving the defense and bolstering the depth up and down the roster.
Major League Signings
- Carlos Correa, SS: Six years, $200MM (deal includes four club/vesting options for the 2029-32 seasons)
- Christian Vazquez, C: Three years, $30MM
- Joey Gallo, OF/1B: One year, $11MM
- Donovan Solano, INF: One year, $2MM
2023 spend: $56.33MM
Total spend: $243MM
Option Decisions
- Exercised $12.5MM option on RHP Sonny Gray
- Declined $14MM option on 1B Miguel Sano (paid $2.75MM buyout)
- Declined $11MM option on RHP Dylan Bundy (paid $1MM buyout)
- Declined $9MM option on RHP Chris Archer (paid $750K buyout)
Trades and Waiver Claims
- Acquired RHP Pablo Lopez, SS Jose Salas and OF Byron Chourio from the Marlins in exchange for 1B/2B Luis Arraez
- Acquired SS Kyle Farmer from the Reds in exchange for RHP Casey Legumina
- Acquired OF Michael A. Taylor from the Royals in exchange for LHP Evan Sisk and RHP Steven Cruz
- Traded 3B Gio Urshela to the Angels in exchange for RHP Alejandro Hidalgo
- Traded LHP Danny Coulombe to the Orioles in exchange for cash
- Claimed RHP Oliver Ortega off waivers from the Angels (later outrighted to Triple-A)
- Claimed RHP Dennis Santana off waivers from the Braves (later lost via waivers to the Mets)
Notable Minor League Signings
- Willi Castro (made Opening Day roster), Tony Wolters, Tyler White, Hernan Perez, Jeff Hoffman (opted out this week), Aaron Sanchez, Ryan LaMarre, Andrew Stevenson, Jose De Leon, Dereck Rodriguez, Sean Nolin, Patrick Murphy, Connor Sadzeck
Notable Losses
- Luis Arraez, Gio Urshela, Miguel Sano, Dylan Bundy, Chris Archer, Gary Sanchez, Michael Fulmer, Sandy Leon, Danny Coulombe, Jake Cave
Following a quartet of straightforward option decisions — Sonny Gray’s $12.5MM option was an easy call to pick up, while options on Miguel Sano, Dylan Bundy and Chris Archer were easy in the other direction — the Twins set out to remake their roster, with stockpiling depth at the forefront of most of their dealings. The desire to re-sign Carlos Correa loomed large and would hang over their offseason until his wild free-agent saga drew to a close, but the Twins had other business to attend to in the meantime.
That started with a pair of trades in the run-up to the tender deadline. As they’ve been willing to do in the past, the Twins moved one year of control over a quality player — Gio Urshela — in exchange for some prospect depth and financial flexibility. With Jose Miranda’s arrival on the scene in 2022 and several other options at first base, moving Urshela both shed a sizable arbitration salary and cleared a path for Miranda to slide from first base back over to the hot corner.
The trade of Urshela was followed just hours later by a new acquisition — unsurprisingly, one with multiple years of club control. Kyle Farmer came to Minnesota with two seasons of control and recent experience as the everyday shortstop in Cincinnati. That gave the Twins a safety net in the event that Correa signed elsewhere and a versatile utilityman in the event that they succeeded in either retaining Correa or signing one of the market’s other top shortstops.
Farmer’s career .288/.345/.492 slash against left-handed pitching surely appealed to a Twins front office that saw its club post a collective .240/.310/.392 slash against lefties in 2022 — a middle-of-the-pack output in MLB. Farmer cost the Twins a pitching prospect of comparable value to the one acquired in the Urshela swap and came with a salary roughly half that of Urshela, making the effective swap of infielders generally sensible, even if many Twins fans were understandably upset to see a solid player like Urshela shipped out.
The Twins’ focus thereafter shifted to courting Correa and simultaneously looking to upgrade behind the plate. Minnesota showed some interest in Oakland’s Sean Murphy but presumably found the asking price too steep for their liking, as the decision was instead made to sign the free-agent market’s No. 2 catcher, Christian Vazquez. The Twins reportedly showed minimal interest in top free-agent backstop Willson Contreras, likely preferring a blend of Vazquez’s superior defense and more affordable price tag.
Vazquez’s three-year, $30MM deal fell generally in line with expectations, and he’ll give Minnesota an upgrade over outgoing Gary Sanchez, who somewhat surprisingly remains unsigned. The 32-year-old Vazquez has long graded as a quality receiver and shown a strong arm behind the plate. He’ll slot into a timeshare with incumbent Ryan Jeffers, and while both hit right-handed, Jeffers is a prototypical lefty masher with grisly numbers against right-handers, whereas Vazquez handles same-side opponents reasonably well. It won’t be a conventional platoon setup, but the Twins can maximize matchups against particularly tough opponents and feel good about the gloves behind the plate, as Jeffers is a strong defender himself.
Shortly after the deal with Vazquez, the front office received the news it had been dreading since Correa exercised the opt-out provision in his three-year, $105.1MM deal: a big-market club had put forth a historic offer that Minnesota couldn’t bring itself to match. The Twins reportedly had an offer in the neighborhood of 10 years and $285MM on the table to keep Correa when the Giants, fresh off being spurned by Aaron Judge, came in with a 13-year, $350MM offer that trounced what the Twins had been willing to commit.
Correa accepted what was then slated to be the second-largest free-agent deal in history, and the Twins were left reeling. There’d been interest in Xander Bogaerts as a fallback to Correa, but he shattered expectations by agreeing to an 11-year, $280MM deal with the Padres before Correa even agreed to terms with the Giants. Trea Turner had started the shortstop spending spree with a $300MM deal in Philadelphia. Dansby Swanson agreed to a seven-year deal with the Cubs not long after Correa agreed with San Francisco, and it looked for all intents and purposes like the Twins would head into the 2023 season with Farmer starting at shortstop.
As we all know now, Correa’s deal with San Francisco was only the first in a series of bizarre stops on a stunning path back to Minneapolis. The Giants called off Correa’s introductory press conference just hours before it was scheduled to take place. It eventually came to light that the team had medical concerns — specifically regarding a nearly 10-year old injury that Correa suffered as a 19-year-old in A-ball, when he fractured his tibia on a slide into third base. Surgeons placed a plate in his leg to stabilize the injury, which remains to this day. Both the Giants’ medical staff and a third-party expert voiced concern as to how Correa’s leg would hold up over such a lengthy term.
While Correa has never missed time in the Majors with a leg/ankle injury, he did have a scare late in the 2022 season, telling reporters after a play at second base that he’d been hit “in his plate” and experienced brief numbness and tingling. He walked off the field under his own power and enjoyed a strong finish to the ’22 campaign, however.
As the Giants debated how to proceed, Correa remained unsigned and available to negotiate with other clubs. Mets owner Steve Cohen, who’d previously lamented getting into the Correa market too late, swooped in and made a 12-year, $315MM offer that was also accepted — until the Mets raised similar concerns. A near two-week limbo period followed — partly due to the holiday season — where Correa’s fate remained wholly unclear. The Mets tried to restructure the deal, reportedly aiming to guarantee only half the proposed 12-year guarantee and then subject Correa to a series of conditional options based on the health of his leg.
At this point, the Twins had circled back, showing more confidence in Correa’s health over a six-year term than the Mets were willing to bet on. Minnesota handily topped the Mets’ reported annual salary of $26.25MM, offering Correa $33.33MM per year over a six-year term and including four club/vesting options that Correa can automatically trigger simply by hitting a predetermined number of plate appearances. Those four option years can tack on another $70MM, bringing the new contract to a potential $270MM over ten years and giving Correa a possible $305.1MM maximum over 11 years in Minnesota (including last year’s $35.1MM).
Unlike the scenarios that played out with the Giants and Mets, Correa’s physical was already largely concluded by the time word of his new deal with the Twins had begun to leak out. A day after he reportedly came to terms with the Twins, his new pact was announced, and the Twins improbably had the star shortstop they’d twice almost lost locked in on a contract that was more expensive annually than Correa’s shortstop peers but came with less long-term risk.
At the outset of free agency, a six-year term for Correa seemed implausibly light; there’s more risk to that six-year term than might’ve been expected, but the Twins have a generally clean financial outlook and have ramped payroll up into the $150-160MM range in recent seasons. They can afford the year-to-year gamble, and they’re more familiar with Correa’s recent medicals than any other team. For the second straight offseason, a bizarre series of twists effectively dropped Correa into their laps, and the Twins have to be thrilled to control him for as long as a decade but with “only” six of those seasons guaranteed.
The Correa deal undoubtedly changed the trajectory of the Twins’ offseason. Upon missing out on him, they’d signed Joey Gallo to a one-year upside deal and otherwise remained largely quiet as they regrouped. Were it not for the sudden turn of fortune, it might not have been a surprise to see the Twins retool, focus on development and make a few more value adds with an eye toward 2024 and beyond. Instead, the front office turned its sights to the top remaining need: the starting rotation.
Emboldened by the Correa reunion, the Twins bit the bullet and traded fan favorite infielder Luis Arraez to the Marlins in a deal that netted them two years of control over right-hander Pablo Lopez, plus top shortstop prospect Jose Salas and teenage outfield prospect Byron Chourio. It was a headline-grabbing move due in large part to the fact that Arraez had just won a batting title, albeit only by the slimmest of margins over AL MVP Aaron Judge.
Arraez may have the best best-to-ball skills in baseball, having fanned in just 7.1% of his plate appearances last year while batting .316/.375/.420 in a career-high 603 plate appearances. He’s an undeniably talented pure hitter, but the Twins had concerns about a growing history of leg injuries that have hampered Arraez before he even turned 26 years old. He’s also limited in terms of power and defensive value, with Minnesota shifting him to first base in 2022 even as second baseman Jorge Polanco missed time due to back and knee injuries. Arraez played a strong first base, by measure of most defensive metrics, but the Twins likely saw this as an opportunity to improve the defense and pitching staff simultaneously while also netting a touted shortstop prospect in Salas.
There’s certainly risk, as the Twins surrendered three years of Arraez for just two of Lopez, who is no stranger to injuries himself. Lopez made 32 starts and pitched 180 very strong innings in 2022, but he missed time in each of the 2018, 2019 and 2021 seasons due to shoulder troubles. A healthy Lopez is the Twins’ best starter and one of the better right-handers in the league, but the 2022 season was his first with more than 21 starts or 111 innings pitched.
After acquiring Lopez, the Twins remained active on the trade front, shipping a pair of relief prospects to the Royals for the final year of Michael A. Taylor’s contract. In Taylor, the Twins acquired one of the only outfielders in baseball who can rival Byron Buxton’s defensive wizardry. That’s particularly key early in the season, as the Twins will use Buxton primarily as a designated hitter while he eases back from a knee procedure. Once Buxton is up to full strength, the Twins can boast perhaps the game’s best contingent of outfield defenders; Gallo, who started the opener at first base but will see plenty of time on the grass, has a pair of Gold Gloves in the outfield. Max Kepler, who for much of the offseason looked as though he’d be traded, wound up staying put and has been one of the game’s strongest right fielders for years by measure of metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average.
The Twins saved one final acquisition for the late stages of the offseason. After showing some interest in Yuli Gurriel, Minnesota instead added a more versatile right-handed bat in Donovan Solano. The 35-year-old Solano, like Farmer and (to a lesser extent) Taylor, has a track record of producing against lefties and can handle multiple positions. He gives the Twins a right-handed complement to first baseman Alex Kirilloff (once he’s back from a wrist injury) and can fill in at second base or third base as well. Solano is a contact-oriented hitter who’ll join a deep bench consisting of Farmer, Taylor (once Buxton is back to regular center field work) and utilityman Nick Gordon. That group gives manager Rocco Baldelli a series of quality defenders who can play multiple positions.
Minnesota left the bullpen largely untouched, retaining Emilio Pagan even after last year’s struggles. It’s a bet on the right-hander’s tantalizing raw stuff, but if he goes through similar bouts of homer susceptibility and blown leads, it’ll be rightly questioned. Then again, with last year’s deadline pickup of Jorge Lopez, the return of hard-throwing youngster Jorge Alcala, breakouts from Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax, and the late-2022 emergence of southpaw Jovani Moran, Pagan now looks more like a middle reliever than a late-inning, high-leverage arm. If Lopez rebounds closer to his Baltimore form than his shakier second-half self, the Twins have the potential for a strong bullpen overall.
The rotation, too, looks quite deep. Each of Lopez, Gray, Joe Ryan, Tyler Mahle and Kenta Maeda is at least a solid mid-rotation starter when healthy. The Twins may lack a prototypical ace, but they also don’t have a fungible “No. 5” starter in the mix. All of their top five starters fall somewhere between the “No. 2” and “No. 4” range — though numerical designations of pitchers is inherently subjective — and even sixth starter Bailey Ober makes for an unusually strong top depth option. He’d likely be locked into a rotation spot with many teams throughout the league but instead opens the season in Triple-A.
The Twins might not head into the 2023 season as the on-paper favorite in the AL Central, but this is the deepest roster and probably the best defense they’ve had under the current iteration of the front office. That’ll be extra beneficial if the injury bug again rears its ugly head for a Twins club that had more cumulative injured list days than any team in the American League in 2022. They’ll obviously be hoping for better fortune on that front this season, and if it plays out that way, the Twins will be right in the division mix with the reigning champion Guardians and a White Sox club also hoping for fewer injuries in 2023.
How would you grade the Twins’ offseason?
3768902
Any front office that voluntarily pays Emilio Pagan millions of dollars to take up a roster spot after last season gets an automatic deduction of 2 letter grades.
Samuel
They brought in Gallo that the GM knew from Texas and Willi Castro that the BOPO knew from Cleveland.
The FO is in their 7th year. I don’t think they scout or develop well in the minors or majors.
I don’t think much of the White Sox. But they may have hired a decent manager. I believe the Sox – with all their shortcomings – will be the Guardians primary challengers in the ALC.
dankyank
The Twins took some big risks this offseason and they should be applauded for the effort. I do think most of these moves come with a caveat; they bought high on Lopez and flatly overpaid for Gallo . I also think even six years for Correa is a big risk.
I think this is potentially an A off-season and the AL central is far tighter than Cleveland fans acknowedge. Still, based on what we knew at the time of these transactions, this offseason feels like a C+.
patricktroen
Eduard julien is going to be a very good 2b for the twins. He will be in the 2nd half of the season
DCartrow
I think Correa is the soule of the team and if the Twins find themselves inchon closer to the pennant, I predict Correa to be deemed the chosin one, baby!!
toomanyblacksinbaseball
C+
Need new manager.
HBan22
I really like what the Twins have done over the past year or so. They did a great job building a strong rotation entirely through trades, and getting Correa back at (somewhat) of a bargain rate was huge for them. They also have a lot of depth now, both with their offense and pitching. They probably could have used another solid reliever or two, but I like them as a dark horse type team this season.
Samuel
HBan22;
Have been following MLB for decades. What I’ve seen is that the top teams do it by primarily developing their own young players as a core, and keeping them together as long as they can. Nothing wrong with bringing in a few veterans in trade or FA to get over the top.
However, teams that are sustainable contenders seldom do it building a core by bringing in quality players that were developed by other organizations, and moved in trade or allowed to leave in free agency because their salaries and years of control remining were no longer a positive for their former other team. In short, paying retail and often buying high for older players is a temporary jolt, usually met at then end of each season by: “We would have won if not for the injuries to X and X and X…”.
The point in my comment above is that when the POBO and GM are bringing in players that have been substandard for years for other organizations because they think they know them, it’s pretty much an act of desperation. They should have abundance of quality candidates in their pipeline after running an organization for 6 years.
HBan22
Samuel –
I pretty much agree with the majority of what you said, but the thing with the Twins is that they are developing a lot of good young pitching in the minors. I think they built their current rotation knowing a good chunk of it would be gone in a year or two, in which case they can start plugging in the younger guys. I think their current rotation was to act as a sort of bridge to their young guys coming up and taking some of those rotation spots. The Twins have actually done a really great job developing minor league talent the past few years. They’ve traded away several top prospects and still have a very good system. I expect them to be a pretty good team over the next few years as more of that minor league talent continues to graduate.
YourDreamGM
Samuel has been following MLB for decades but hasn’t learned anything about baseball. Twins have been doing a fine job. When Correa falls in your lap twice you do what it takes to win with him. Lopez was a steal.
SweetBabyRayKingsThickThighs
Solid 86 win team
ohyeadam
The depth they signed is already paying off. They didn’t pay full price for cheaterlos cheaterea. Pagan still on the roster and the hole in my heart of Arraez are the glaring problems. So pretty good offseason overall imo
ajw3953
I think enough attention is not paid to the upgrade of the rotation with the subtraction of Bundy/Archer and additions of Mahle/Lopez/Maeda. This team was in first the majority of the year and as long as the donut have to play an AAA/AA roster in September they should win the division
gorav114
Hard to give them an A grade when they got rid of their best hitter and are paying Pagan and Gallo. I like some of the pitching moves though and they got a steal on Correa so solid B
bigben
He was not our best hitter. Buxton and Correa are more productive.
YourDreamGM
They really really needed Lopez if that was their best hitter. A+ trade. Manfred should have stepped in to protect Miami from that disaster.
lamars
If Arraez was your best player, which he was not, getting Lopez for him was a flat out steal. I’m giving them an A, why? Because they got rid of Sano, added Vazquez behind the plate, added Michael A. Taylor to keep Buxton healthy, added Lopez, Mahle and Maeda. To replace dead weights in Bundy and Archer who both are FA’s at the moment. Losing Arraez was a shock but they got Lopez back and have Farmer and Castro (not saying they are better) to replace Arraez.
YourDreamGM
B. They got Correa 160m less than Giants thought he was worth. Stole Lopez. Gallo I dunno.
twins33
I said a B.
I liked the addition of Vazquez and the other depth that they added. The Twins have been crushed by injuries two years in a row. They kept signing guys this off-season in hopes that they wouldn’t have to go to their 6th minor leaguer at whatever position again. Hopefully that works out.
A full, healthy year from P Lopez and Mahle will be a huge upgrade over Archer/Bundy. So hopefully the “full/healthy” part happens. I know a lot of people aren’t high on Mahle, but I’m hoping getting out of the most hitter friendly park in the majors will help him some. He’s still going to give up HR’s, but should be fewer of them.
Losing Arraez hurts, but he had flaws too as I mentioned in his trade post. I’ll miss the fun he brings. He was a joy to watch hit. I also think losing Urshela hurts. I know defensive metrics don’t like him, but I thought he was at least average. He made some defensive plays that only a few others would and he was also pretty good in big moments at the plate.
I said hope or hopefully a lot. Unfortunately it was on purpose. Lots of hoping that things finally go right. They certainly tried to fix a lot of the issues. That’s why I said B. Only an ace would have made this better, but I have an extremely short list of what I consider an ace (less than 10 in baseball right now) so not surprised they didn’t snag one.
slydevil
I’ll miss hearing urshela’s gospel walk up music at the park
Steve(shs22)
I like essentially swapping out Gio Urshela for Kyle Farmer as well
As Waiting out the Correa aftermath and striking at perfect timing…
Deserve probably A-
But I’m going with B as well
Bc Arraez is the closest thing to Gywnn in the league SINCE Tony Gwynn
martras
Voted a B. I can’t comprehend the Pagan move, but it’s pretty minor so long as Baldelli stops using Pagan in high leverage situations. The Twins’ inability to effectively market Kepler was tough as well. They counted their chickens before their eggs hatched with the Gallo signing before Kepler was moved. The changes to the shift should benefit Kepler as much as any player in baseball so he might fetch more value into the season and at least the Twins have a ton of redundancy to back up Buxton.
I didn’t really like losing Arraez, but in a vacuum, getting an upper/mid rotation arm is a good return. I’d rather have seen the Twins change managers since I don’t think Baldelli’s pitching management could receive a passable grade last year, but we’ll just have to see if he’s taken some steps forward this season. Gallo leadoff and Buxton DH doesn’t do much to instill my confidence in Baldelli’s plans, but if it winds up working, you won’t hear me complaining.
phantomofdb
Pagan is still on the roster, and every offense move they made was a downgrade. Traded away urshela and Arraez and added Taylor and Farmer.
Gallo is coming off a horrendous season
They didn’t upgrade their bad bullpen at ALL and they traded away their next best bullpen prospect for Taylor, who can’t hit.
It’s an F. Easily.