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Minnesota Twins: Remaining moves to complete the offseason

By Nate Palmer

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 25: Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey of the Minnesota Twins looks on as new manager Rocco Baldelli speaks as Baldelli is introduced at a press conference at Target Field on October 25, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 25: Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey of the Minnesota Twins looks on as new manager Rocco Baldelli speaks as Baldelli is introduced at a press conference at Target Field on October 25, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /
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Adding a Veteran Starter

The Twins front office has stated they feel confident with 4/5 of their rotation spots as they look forward to the start of 2019. They are likely referring to Jose Berrios, Kyle Gibson, Jake Odorizzi, and Michael Pineda as he returns from missing 2018 due to Tommy John surgery.

If the Twins do not add any other starters that would leave Stephen Gonsalves, Fernando Romero (if he doesn’t move to a relief role), Adalberto Mejia, and Kohl Stewart among a group of young arms battling for that final rotation spot. That is unless the Twins decided to go out and find a veteran to fill that role and use some of that remaining payroll space.

Dallas Keuchel is the big fish remaining in the free agent starter market. A lot of big spenders and contenders are going after Keuchel at this point in the offseason. There are a lot of things to like about the former Cy-Young award winner as he has plenty of experience, can help keep the ball in the grass with his 53.7% ground ball rate in 2018 and 66.8% in 2017.

Another pitcher the Twins could turn to as a veteran presence in the starting rotation would be Gio Gonzalez. Gonzalez has spent the last several seasons with the Washington Nationals and closed out 2018 with the Milwaukee Brewers. Over the whole of 2018, he logged 171.0 innings with a 4.21 ERA and in his time with Brewers pitched 25.1 innings and a 2.13 ERA through the final part of 2018.

At first blush, Keuchel seems like a clearly better pitcher than Gonzalez. Until I saw this stat from 2018. Gonzalez’s ERA+ was 100 between the Brewers and Nationals. Meanwhile, Keuchel finished 2018 with a 108 ERA+. The divide between Gonzalez and Keuchel may not be as large as it seems, but the price tag certainly will be.

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