Minnesota Twins 2021 Season

[Monster]

Twins get another win against the Blue Jays behind another good pitching performance and a slugging Nick Gordon. Garver had a nice day at the plate too. I'm starting to believe in Gordon a bit more. The last couple weeks he has been hot and has 3 HRs in his last 15 games. He also has 10 steals and it's nice to have a utility guy that's a real threat to steal bases. This season's experience could be quite valuable to him and the Twins if he can become a quality bench player.

[FNG]

Twins get another win against the Blue Jays behind another good pitching performance and a slugging Nick Gordon. Garver had a nice day at the plate too. I'm starting to believe in Gordon a bit more. The last couple weeks he has been hot and has 3 HRs in his last 15 games. He also has 10 steals and it's nice to have a utility guy that's a real threat to steal bases. This season's experience could be quite valuable to him and the Twins if he can become a quality bench player.

And a really easy guy to cheer for, don't you think Monster. He's had to overcome so much physical adversity, and he still seems to have such a joyful approach. And for such a little guy, his homers are not cheap...that was a rocket last night!

I just got a couple tickets to watch phenom Joe Ryan next tuesday night...hope the weather holds up.

[bleedspeed177 [enjin:6603232]]

Bleed maybe you were thinking of Kyle Gibson. He has not been as good with the Phillies after the trade.

Actually I was thinking how JB always seemed to struggle after the all-star break. I was wondering if it was happening again this year.

[bleedspeed177 [enjin:6603232]]

Twins get another win against the Blue Jays behind another good pitching performance and a slugging Nick Gordon. Garver had a nice day at the plate too. I'm starting to believe in Gordon a bit more. The last couple weeks he has been hot and has 3 HRs in his last 15 games. He also has 10 steals and it's nice to have a utility guy that's a real threat to steal bases. This season's experience could be quite valuable to him and the Twins if he can become a quality bench player.

And a really easy guy to cheer for, don't you think Monster. He's had to overcome so much physical adversity, and he still seems to have such a joyful approach. And for such a little guy, his homers are not cheap...that was a rocket last night!

I just got a couple tickets to watch phenom Joe Ryan next tuesday night...hope the weather holds up.

Agree on all fronts. How good would it be for this franchise to have Joe Ryan develop into a true ace?

[Monster]

Bleed maybe you were thinking of Kyle Gibson. He has not been as good with the Phillies after the trade.

Actually I was thinking how JB always seemed to struggle after the all-star break. I was wondering if it was happening again this year.

I know I was just kinda joking mentioning Gibson partly because there was some frustration how well he was pitching earlier in the season when our rotation was such a disaster. I don't remember why but I noticed a couple weeks ago he was struggling after the trade.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

It's astonishing that this team really went into the season thinking J.A. Happ, Matt Shoemaker, and Randy Dobnak were going to keep them in the playoff hunt. It didn't help that Kenta Maeda got injured and was ineffective for the start the season, but I can give them a pass for that. Relying on two/three bums to start every fifth game just can't happen again. Hopefully they learned their lesson so this doesn't happen again in 2023. Next year is already washed.

[Monster]

It's astonishing that this team really went into the season thinking J.A. Happ, Matt Shoemaker, and Randy Dobnak were going to keep them in the playoff hunt. It didn't help that Kenta Maeda got injured and was ineffective for the start the season, but I can give them a pass for that. Relying on two/three bums to start every fifth game just can't happen again. Hopefully they learned their lesson so this doesn't happen again in 2023. Next year is already washed.

I get what you are saying but I think they saw Happ as being a solid rotation guy at worst. They paid Shoemaker like a lottery ticket that he would stay healthy...he stayed healthy but was horrendous. Meanwhile Dobnak didn't stay healthy Smeltzer got hurt too and so did Thorpe. There were some other top prospects that would have had a chance of coming up to help but weren't an option all season. Pretty much every backup plan got injured plus Pineda and Maeda had injuries too early on. You are probably right they should have signed another more legit starter but I'm not sure that would have saved the season either. Honestly I have no idea what they will or should do for next year's rotation. They should bring back Pineda because he will be cheap enough even if he only makes X amount of starts it will be worth signing him. Past that and maybe Joe Ryan...yikes.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

It's astonishing that this team really went into the season thinking J.A. Happ, Matt Shoemaker, and Randy Dobnak were going to keep them in the playoff hunt. It didn't help that Kenta Maeda got injured and was ineffective for the start the season, but I can give them a pass for that. Relying on two/three bums to start every fifth game just can't happen again. Hopefully they learned their lesson so this doesn't happen again in 2023. Next year is already washed.

I get what you are saying but I think they saw Happ as being a solid rotation guy at worst. They paid Shoemaker like a lottery ticket that he would stay healthy...he stayed healthy but was horrendous. Meanwhile Dobnak didn't stay healthy Smeltzer got hurt too and so did Thorpe. There were some other top prospects that would have had a chance of coming up to help but weren't an option all season. Pretty much every backup plan got injured plus Pineda and Maeda had injuries too early on. You are probably right they should have signed another more legit starter but I'm not sure that would have saved the season either. Honestly I have no idea what they will or should do for next year's rotation. They should bring back Pineda because he will be cheap enough even if he only makes X amount of starts it will be worth signing him. Past that and maybe Joe Ryan...yikes.

This is a list of impending free agent pitchers. I've bolded those pitchers that I think will be good to great value signings this winter. There are other names on here that I would be very interested in, and those have a strikethrough their names, but I think they will all cash in on major deals that the Twins should probably stay away from. Minnesota should be making moves with 2023 in mind since next year will almost certainly be a development year.

[s]Kevin Gausman (31)[/s]
Max Scherzer (37)
Clayton Kershaw (34)
Charlie Morton (38)
Adam Wainwright (40)
[s]Carlos Rodón (29)[/s]
[s]Trevor Bauer (31) -- can opt out[/s]
Zack Greinke (38)
Merrill Kelly (32) -- club option
Wade Miley (35) -- club option
Alex Cobb (34)
Eduardo Rodriguez (29)
[s]Marcus Stroman (30)[/s]
Tyler Anderson (32)
Jon Gray (30)
Andrew Heaney (31)
[s]Robbie Ray (30)[/s]
Danny Duffy (33)
Michael Pineda (33)
Johnny Cueto (36) -- club option
Anthony DeSclafani (32)
Dylan Bundy (29)
Kwang Hyun Kim (33)
Alex Wood (31)
Yusei Kikuchi (31) -- club option/player option
Zach Davies (29)
Drew Smyly (33)
Brett Anderson (34)
Rich Hill (42)
Garrett Richards (34) -- club option
Steven Matz (31)
Corey Kluber (36)
Martín Pérez (31) -- club option
Matt Harvey (33)
Trevor Cahill (33)
J.A. Happ (39)
Vince Velasquez (30)
José Quintana (33)
Tommy Milone (35)
Michael Wacha (30)
Aaron Sanchez (29)
James Paxton (33)
Jon Lester (38)
Carlos Martínez (30) -- club option
Mike Fiers (37)
Chris Archer (33)
Wily Peralta (33)
José Ureña (30)
Cole Hamels (38)
Justin Verlander (39)
Mike Montgomery (32)
Wade LeBlanc (37)
Ervin Santana (39)
Jhoulys Chacín (34)
Matt Moore (33)
Ivan Nova (35)
Jake Arrieta (36)
Jordan Lyles (31)
Chase Anderson (34)
Tanner Roark (35)
Matt Shoemaker (35)
Julio Teheran (31)
Félix Hernández (36)

[Monster]

It's astonishing that this team really went into the season thinking J.A. Happ, Matt Shoemaker, and Randy Dobnak were going to keep them in the playoff hunt. It didn't help that Kenta Maeda got injured and was ineffective for the start the season, but I can give them a pass for that. Relying on two/three bums to start every fifth game just can't happen again. Hopefully they learned their lesson so this doesn't happen again in 2023. Next year is already washed.

I get what you are saying but I think they saw Happ as being a solid rotation guy at worst. They paid Shoemaker like a lottery ticket that he would stay healthy...he stayed healthy but was horrendous. Meanwhile Dobnak didn't stay healthy Smeltzer got hurt too and so did Thorpe. There were some other top prospects that would have had a chance of coming up to help but weren't an option all season. Pretty much every backup plan got injured plus Pineda and Maeda had injuries too early on. You are probably right they should have signed another more legit starter but I'm not sure that would have saved the season either. Honestly I have no idea what they will or should do for next year's rotation. They should bring back Pineda because he will be cheap enough even if he only makes X amount of starts it will be worth signing him. Past that and maybe Joe Ryan...yikes.

This is a list of impending free agent pitchers. I've bolded those pitchers that I think will be good to great value signings this winter. There are other names on here that I would be very interested in, and those have a strikethrough their names, but I think they will all cash in on major deals that the Twins should probably stay away from. Minnesota should be making moves with 2023 in mind since next year will almost certainly be a development year.

[s]Kevin Gausman (31)[/s]
Max Scherzer (37)
Clayton Kershaw (34)
Charlie Morton (38)
Adam Wainwright (40)
[s]Carlos Rodón (29)[/s]
[s]Trevor Bauer (31) -- can opt out[/s]
Zack Greinke (38)
Merrill Kelly (32) -- club option
Wade Miley (35) -- club option
Alex Cobb (34)
Eduardo Rodriguez (29)
[s]Marcus Stroman (30)[/s]
Tyler Anderson (32)
Jon Gray (30)
Andrew Heaney (31)
[s]Robbie Ray (30)[/s]
Danny Duffy (33)
Michael Pineda (33)
Johnny Cueto (36) -- club option
Anthony DeSclafani (32)
Dylan Bundy (29)
Kwang Hyun Kim (33)
Alex Wood (31)
Yusei Kikuchi (31) -- club option/player option
Zach Davies (29)
Drew Smyly (33)
Brett Anderson (34)
Rich Hill (42)
Garrett Richards (34) -- club option
Steven Matz (31)
Corey Kluber (36)
Martín Pérez (31) -- club option
Matt Harvey (33)
Trevor Cahill (33)
J.A. Happ (39)
Vince Velasquez (30)
José Quintana (33)
Tommy Milone (35)
Michael Wacha (30)
Aaron Sanchez (29)
James Paxton (33)
Jon Lester (38)
Carlos Martínez (30) -- club option
Mike Fiers (37)
Chris Archer (33)
Wily Peralta (33)
José Ureña (30)
Cole Hamels (38)
Justin Verlander (39)
Mike Montgomery (32)
Wade LeBlanc (37)
Ervin Santana (39)
Jhoulys Chacín (34)
Matt Moore (33)
Ivan Nova (35)
Jake Arrieta (36)
Jordan Lyles (31)
Chase Anderson (34)
Tanner Roark (35)
Matt Shoemaker (35)
Julio Teheran (31)
Félix Hernández (36)

Thanks for posting Cam. There are some worthwhile names on that list I like the ones you bolded.

One of the names on there I had to look up to see how he has done afte that big trade to the Pirates was Chris Archer. Unfortunately he has struggled with injuries the past couple years and even after being signed with Tampa he could only start 5 games.

[Jester1534]

It's astonishing that this team really went into the season thinking J.A. Happ, Matt Shoemaker, and Randy Dobnak were going to keep them in the playoff hunt. It didn't help that Kenta Maeda got injured and was ineffective for the start the season, but I can give them a pass for that. Relying on two/three bums to start every fifth game just can't happen again. Hopefully they learned their lesson so this doesn't happen again in 2023. Next year is already washed.

Think about the pitching staff

Berrios gone traded
Maeda Tommy John
Pineda out for majority of year
Dobnak out for most of the year
Happ and shoemaker were atrocious
Smeltzer out most of the year
Thorpe can't throw a fastball anymore
Duran was shutdown

Literally there top 8 options going into the year all went down this year or were traded.

At least it looks like Joe Ryan will be an answer for awhile and Ober looks like he will be able to be in the back end of the rotation.

I like to see them sign Gray and bring back Pineda and see if they can get Verlander on a 1 year deal but that's a pipe dream.