The Twins have new part owners, including Craig Leipold, an owner in the Twin Cities market of another team that is definitely Going For It this season. This has led to some hope of a larger payroll this year. The Twins bullpen is the weakest section of the team, and they could use a right handed bat to round out the offense. Why not put some money towards improving the pen, or grabbing an outfielder?
For an organization that has come out of debt, and has historically been conservative anyways, I can't imagine that they will change their strategy and spend a lot of money on the bullpen. They never have, for one thing, but also, bullpen arms are volatile. A team that is playing it safe won't be investing in a volatile asset, not at significant expense. Using their bumper crop of starting pitcher prospects to fill out the bullpen is a much likelier strategy.
Perhaps there is an opening for one of those right handed outfielders. There aren't any big ticket names out there. Maybe Starling Marte fits the bill? But even then, that wouldn't elevate the payroll dramatically. And might not really change the pulse of the team by a whole lot, either.
The team isn't strong in all areas. They are going to rely on some young players to carry heavy loads. Those players haven't always been consistent, and slow starts to the careers of Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee and Matt Wallner helped drag the team down last year. But they are young, and need to play in order to sort things out, get a rhythm and succeed. Failing that, there are players like Walker Jenkins, Kaelen Culpepper and and Gabriel Gonzalez who will get chances as early as this year. In addition to money, signings would want years, which the Twins won't want to give. They don't want to block playing time for those young up and comers.
While the window is only marginally open, success for some highly regarded prospects will jam the window open a bit wider this year. One of the best farm systems in baseball means that a wide open window can be imagined on the near horizon, and that can be done without a significant near term investment.
The Twins have put themselves in a spot where they have alienated their fan base with cost cutting over the last few years, but in doing so have given themselves enough assets worth exploring that it would be something of a disservice to not give them a chance to prove their pedigrees. With the sale of a share of the team and the excising of their debt, the Twins have a little bit of money to spend, and nowhere good to spend it.
Yet.
Maybe it's the middle aged dad in me, but having this financial flexibility rings more like a good opportunity for the future, rather than a something to burn through right now. The past is in the past, and the players the Twins lost in the last few months aren't coming back. But now, the Twins have the resources to keep some players on the roster now for longer than they might otherwise.
As I've made clear several times now, the Twins have a lot of young talent on the way to the roster. Some of those players are going to be better than others. Some of them won't have similarly scaled players coming behind them in the system. Maybe Luke Keaschall continues what he started last year. Why not sign him to an extension now, with a higher guarantee than he might otherwise get at his age and experience? Why not give Royce Lewis some security now, when his value is probably lower than it will be ever again? I think Joe Ryan is already looking ahead to greener pastures, but with the bumper crop of starters coming up, maybe Pablo Lopez will want to move into a mentorship role? Perhaps Mick Abel or Connor Prielipp make a fantastic impression. Extension, extension, extension.
The payroll flexibility that the Twins have found isn't likely to be used on the market, as much as the fans want it to be. The increased payroll should be used to do what it should have been used for 3 years ago: player retention, and keeping a good team together.
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