This is going to be a momentous offseason for the Twins. Not only will there be questions about the roster after consecutive playoff runs, but the front office is in contract years. Will they be willing to continue in Minnesota, even as the restrictions on payroll increase?
My thought is that they will, for as long as Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa are under contract. That is, they will stay on for another four years, unless they are blown away by some huge offers to take over elsewhere. I think that, yes, the Twins have made some frustrating payroll reductions, but I also believe that their window for being competitive is both wide open, and exactly what Falvey and Levine have been building towards.
I was listening to KFAN last week while in the car, and Dan Barreiro suggested that the Twins might be in trouble because of the issues with Correia, Buxton and Lewis's health, and the inability to get all three of them on the field at the same time. Sure, there are concerns long term, but this year, I think Buxton and Correa are being kept on the shelf to ensure they are at 100% for the post season.
Going forward, I think there is a concern with all players. There is simply a different body type playing Major League Baseball now, and bigger stronger players are going to have a greater tendency for injury. Barreiro reference the Braves as a team with good health and players that play every day, conveniently leaving out the season ending injury to Ronald Acuna and Spencer Strider, and lengthy absences for Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies. It affects all teams, not just the Twins.
But with the Twins in particular, I don't think the team is concerned. Correa was sitting with plantar fasciitis, something that you can play with, but Correa was dissatisfied with his performance playing with it in his other foot last year. As someone who has suffered from the same ailment, I can guess that he is not in the lineup because his fielding is most greatly affected, and he has so much value as a fielder.
I'm not yet concerned about Correa long term, especially given the start to the season he had. With Buxton, most of his injuries came via his incredible effort, which is certainly no reason to excoriate him. Nevertheless, the potential for injury is baked into his contract. Even if you are grousing about it, the Twins are unbothered.
Royce Lewis has the worst, and most unforced injuries of the three. He's also the bulkiest, putting strain on his ligaments, a common concern for athletes of his generation. Fortunately, Lewis is the only bat first player of the three. His bat will likely play, even with ravaged knees as he grows older.
Even if you remain unconvinced, there is still enough there, in my opinion, to continue to go for it with this roster. With the payroll limitations in place, but a fairly young roster, there aren't likely to be many changes in to either payroll or roster for at least the next several years. The rest o the core of the team is still under team control for several years, including Pablo Lopez, Bailey Ober, Joe Ryan, David Festa and Simeon Woods-Richardson, many of whom will get valuable playoff experience this season, should they make it. Despite the risk of a beleaguered core, they should have the makings of a playoff experienced rotation for the next several years.
That seems to be the most important thing to a lot of fans. Watching the Twins flail offensively for weeks, I am not sure I fully agree with that. But the Twins future looks good there too. Not only are the three subjects of this post under contract, but Matt Wallner, Ryan Jeffers, Brooks Lee and Jose Miranda are going to be staples, with Walker Jenkins and one of the best offensive prospects in the game, Emmanuel Rodriguez coming soon as well.
The Twins, barring a complete tear down (which I don't rule out, sadly, because of the ownership and not the front office) are well positioned to be competitive for the next few years. If they can hang on and make the playoffs this year, that will be a big step towards longer term contention.
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