Twins Wrap-up

After one of the more disappointing seasons for the Minnesota Twins, everyone has thoughts on what needs to be done for 2022; I will offer mine.
First, what were the good signs for the future, developments to build on:
Two rookies emerged as mainstays of the roster, and there is every reason to expect them to continue to develop. Joe Ryan was the Opening Day starter, and unlike every other pitcher he didn’t break down and was going strong at year-end. Jose Miranda came up after the season started and appeared overmatched for about a month. Thereafter he was the Twins’ best clutch hitter, leading the team in RBI. He wasn’t great as a new first baseman, but if the Twins let Gio Urshela go there’s plenty of future for Miranda at third. Reliever Jhoan Duran was the third rookie to provide optimism for the future. In mid-season he seemed dominant, with an unhittable pitch, his “splinker,” to go along with 100 mph fastballs. He slowed down, in effectiveness if not velocity, as the year came to a close; and the jury is out on whether he will be the Twins’ answer as closer.
The next cause for optimism is the potential return of so many players who showed promise but were injured. Alex Kiriloff has long been touted as the Twins’ next pure hitter. Fellow rookie outfielder Trevor Larnach was, for awhile, a doubles machine and looked deserving of taking over Max Kepler’s place before cooling off then being lost for the season. Royce Lewis was briefly exciting as the future at shortstop but won’t see action until next midsummer, at the earliest. Bailey Ober, Tyler Mahle, Chris Paddack, Josh Winder and a returning Kenta Maeda provide potential depth at starting pitcher, behind Ryan and Sonny Gray, but who’s to say the injury bug that struck them all down in 2022 will be any kinder in 2023.
The other clear cause for cheer is the Twins’ cutting ties with strike-out heavy disappointment Miguel Sano and the frustrating one-and-done duo of Chris Archer and Dylan Bundy, who were incapable of pitching more than five innings an outing.
This leads us to causes of concern. Number One, as usual, is Byron Buxton. He was AL Player of the Month in May then a .200 hitter the rest of the year when he wasn’t hurt. Each year the Twins build the team around him; each year he is injured and misses much of the season, leaving the Twins with a patchwork of centerfielders. How many more years of his multi-year contract will he be this black hole in the lineup?
The other “core” members of the squad–Jorge Polanco, Max Kepler and Ryan Jeffers–play well enough most of the time to provide hope, but the hope never materializes into the required impact. Maybe one of last year’s rookies can move Kepler out of the lineup, but with Lewis injured and Carlos Correa gone to free agency, Polanco will have to hold down an infield spot while reminding us of his potential. The Twins don’t even have a backup to Jeffers, so there’s little chance they will get much from the catcher position.
Scanning the infield I realize I have omitted the Twins’ best, most exciting player, Luis Arraez. It may be too much to expect him to lead the league in batting average again, but why not? I quite liked the way he played first base in his first year there, although the Twins may be tempted to sign a more typical power-hitting lug, which will likely only add to their phenomenal strikeout totals.
There’s no point evaluating or predicting the relief corps. A reliever is seldom as good next year as the last, and new arms are constantly being found in the minors or in trades. I do like Caleb Thielbar, though.
My final two thoughts are perhaps the most important. One, there will be rookies I’m not counting on who make the team and surprise everyone. This happens every year. Two, the Cleveland Guardians in the last month raised the level of play in the Twins’ division, and they are young and fast. Even if all goes right for the players discussed above, it may not be enough.