The 2018 season did not go as planned for the Minnesota Twins, but is there hope for 2019?
As we close out 2018, it’s good to look back at the year that was for many teams, and we’re finishing up our season reviews for teams here at Call to the Pen. Today, we focus on the Minnesota Twins.
2017 success
The Minnesota Twins rode an amazing second half of the season in 2017 to a Wild Card berth, but it really was more than just a second-half surge. The team was at or near the top of the standings throughout much of the first two months of the season before a swoon from mid-June through most of July took the team from the point of obvious midseason trade buyer to trade seller.
That success had plenty of people in Twins Territory excited for the 2018 season!
2017-2018 offseason moves
The Minnesota Twins were very active in the 2017-2018 offseason, using the relatively inexpensive nature of the core of their young team to pursue long-term deals on some of the top free agents before losing out to other locations. Players like Yu Darvish, Jake Arrieta, and Carlos Santana were pursued by the Twins before signing elsewhere.
Lost to free agency
Matt Belisle
Bartolo Colon
Dillon Gee
Chris Gimenez
Niko Goodrum
Dereck Rodriguez
Hector Santiago
Retired
Glen Perkins
Lost to waivers
Buddy Boshers
JT Chargois
Daniel Palka
Randy Rosario
Lost to Rule 5
Nick Burdi
Signed
Willians Astudillo
Zach Duke
Logan Morrison
Michael Pineda
Addison Reed
Fernando Rodney
Anibal Sanchez (released during Spring Training)
Trades
*Traded IF prospect Jermaine Palacios to Tampa Bay for RHP Jake Odorizzi
*Traded RHP prospect Luis Gil to New York Yankees for OF Jake Cave
For any Minnesota Twins fan, that’s a very busy offseason compared to recent history! It’s obvious why fans were excited to see the season begin, but things didn’t go the way they were planned. Let’s start out with the “ugly” portion of the good, bad, and ugly…