If you’ve spent much time watching the Minnesota Twins over the past decade, you’ve likely noticed a lack of a staff ace. Long gone are the days of Johan Santana winning multiple Cy Young awards as a member of the Twins.
It seems ever since Minnesota traded the former pitching Triple Crown winner to New York, finding a consistent top-of-the-rotation starter has been impossible in the Twin Cities.
Currently, the team’s top priority heading into the offseason, once again, doesn’t seem to be focused on improving the starting rotation. Which considering all the moves the front office made last season, bringing in Sonny Gray, and Tyler Mahle, along with the emergence of Joe Ryan, the expected return of Kenta Maeda, along with several other developmental arms, adding to the rotation wouldn’t appear to be an urgent need.
Then again, considering how often injuries occur, adding more arms, especially if a frontline starter is available, should never be ruled out.
While the Twins are seemingly focused on trying to bring back Carlos Correa, and why shouldn’t they, there’s also another big-name acquisition Derek Falvey and Thad Levine have looked into.
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Carlos Rodon linked to Minnesota Twins
If Correa ends up signing elsewhere, the Twins will suddenly have a lot more money to spend and definitely will feel more of an urgency to improve their pitching/defense should the Gold Glove shortstop leave town.
In turn, it’s possible they ramp up their efforts to sign former San Francisco Giants ace starting pitcher Carlos Rodon. According to Dan Hayes of The Athletic, the Twins have “definite interest” in signing the two-time All-Star.
He’s one of the top starting pitchers available in free agency, and is coming off a fantastic season, pitching 178 innings (31 more than any other Twin in 2022), leading all of baseball in strikeouts per nine innings (12.0).
- Carlos Rodon stats in 2022: 2.88 ERA, 33.4% strikeout rate, .200 batting average allowed, 1.03 WHIP, 14.1% Swinging Strike rate
Rodon is durable, he misses bats with the best of them and brings a lefty to the starting rotation. He’s still just 29 and could have several strong seasons left on his arm.
Of course, he won’t come cheaply, and he’ll have several other suitors looking to boost their starting rotation too. As usual, the Twins are seen as longshots for one of the more desirable players in MLB free agency, but few expected Correa to land in the Land of 10,000 Lakes either.
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