Minnesota Twins: The biggest losers if there’s no 2020 season

While a lost season undoubtedly hurts everyone involved, the magnitude of a wasted year will impact the Minnesota Twins more than any other team.

Of all the teams that stand to potentially suffer from zero games this season, perhaps it’s worse for 2019’s American League Central champs, the Minnesota Twins. For a team set up nicely for the 2020 season, the Twins are an aging roster that can’t afford any lost time right now; not after what they accomplished last season (almost out of nowhere).

Allow me to explain…

Of the eight big league free-agent contracts the Twins handed out this past offseason, three were players currently 35-years-old and above and two were 32 or older (not counting pitcher Kenta Maeda, acquired via trade from the Los Angeles Dodgers). That’s not too unordinary by itself, but when considering how crucial those six veteran players are to the Twins’ 2020 season, it becomes quite concerning; and that, of course, goes without mentioning 40-year-old slugger Nelson Cruz, whose 2020 option Minnesota picked up for $14 million back in November.

2020 FA Additions (32-years-old+)

*length of current contract

• 3B, Josh Donaldson (32-years-old) — 4 years
• SP, Rich Hill (40) — 1 year
• SP, Homer Bailey (34) — 1 year
• RP, Tyler Clippard (35) — 1 year
• RP, Sergio Romo (37) — 1 year
• SP/RP, Kenta Maeda (32) — 4 years

More from Call to the Pen

• Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
• Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
• Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
• Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
• 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals

Even worse regarding the aging additions Minnesota made this past winter (plus… Cruz’s option of course), all but two of them were signed for one sole purpose: to go deep in 2020.

Hill is currently outside of the starting rotation (according to MLB.com’s depth charts), though the Minnesota Twins were counting on one more solid year by the 40-year-old, who made 13 starts and posted a 2.45 ERA for the Dodgers in 2019, despite being hindered by calf and knee injuries.

Bailey, on the other hand, was set to fill in as Minnesota’s 4th starter, and after two strong outings in Spring Training a few months ago he had the Twins excited about the upcoming season. “You look at what he did at the end of the season with Oakland, and talking with him — I don’t want to give into all the secrets, so to speak, but I really think he’s figured some things out,” Twins pitching coach West Johnson told The Athletic back in late February.

And while the two seasoned relievers were brought in for mostly lower leverage duties, it’s not as if Clippard and Romo were brought in as simply extra bodies. Clippard finished 2019 with the Cleveland Indians and the AL’s 11th-best ERA among qualified relievers (2.38), while Romo’s 3.43 ERA in 65 games with the Miami Marlins and Twins amounted to a 1-WAR season last year.

And then there’s the aforementioned Cruz, owner of the major’s most home runs overall since 2014 (244). Last season the Twins’ DH once again slugged 40 homers, giving him 40+ dingers in four or his last six seasons (as well as four of six years with 100+ RBI).

Despite posting the second-best wRC+ of his career in 2019 (a 163 mark as a 39-year-old), Cruz is already popping up on potential retirement lists. His power and yes… veteran presence will very much be missed, especially if the Twins are forced to say goodbye a year too early.

The same idea goes for Minnesota’s only two players currently locked up for the next four seasons (Donaldson and Maeda). Sure, neither are on their way out the door after this season, but neither are presently in their prime either.

FanGraphs has already noted how crucial the first two years of Donaldson’s contract are, as Craig Edwards investigated the third baseman’s potential future back in November. And Maeda, well… he’s a 32-year-old pitcher that has never came close to 200 innings-pitched in a single season, as the Dodgers have always made sure to monitor the righty’s workload (sometimes even to the team’s detriment).

Both players are on the back-end of their respective careers, therefore, each new season is that much more valuable than before.

So, sure, the entire league has a lot riding on the 2020 season; and we haven’t even gotten into the specifics yet regarding more potential salary cuts for players (which would almost certainly out-weight any potential losses for billionaire team owners). But from a team perspective, the Minnesota Twins were supposed to be an even more exciting team than 2019 — when they won 101 games (the most since 1965 — set to build off a magical campaign that featured a division title. If there’s no season at all, I’m afraid last year could be nothing more than simply a one-hit-wonder.