The Twins (77-83) end their 2022 schedule tomorrow with a meaningless game in Chicago against the White Sox. It’s an ending to the season many in the fanbase will prefer not to remember, but the Pohlad ownership and club president Dave St. Peter don’t have that option.
The Twins were tied with the Guardians for first place in the AL Central Division on September 4. By September 25 the local boys of summer were 12 games behind. The Guardians, with the youngest team in baseball, will win the division about 13 games ahead of Minnesota.
The Twins held first place for 108 days in a division referred to as the weakest in MLB. They had an impressive spring, particularly in May with an 18-12 record that month and a five-game lead in the division. It looked like the franchise that had been last in the Central in 2021 (73-89 record) might be headed toward a finish at the top.
But a stunning number of injuries and missed games, and underwhelming performances by players including poor fundamentals at times, collapsed those championship and playoff hopes. Sports Headliners asked St. Peter what he and ownership are feeling during the last days of the season.
“The word I’d use is disappointing,” he said. “Largely because of the start we got off to and the work we had done, because we think our club—the opening day lineup and how we opened the season—we were poised to have not just a good season but potentially a great season.”
St. Peter and others in the organization accept their responsibilities to learn from this season. “…I can assure you there’s (going to be) a level of self-examination, self-reflection. No aspect of our operation is immune from being reviewed in terms of how we can get better. We’ve done that every year here, whether we had a good year or bad year but particularly when you have a year like we’ve had.
“We have an obligation to our fan base and to our ownership to do deep dives into (things) organizationally. Are there things that we can do to be better? I’m not ready to identify really what those things are yet but I’m optimistic there will be learnings from this, and we’ll get better and we’ll move forward.”
The club will enter the offseason with the same baseball department leadership (front office executives Derek Falvey and Thad Levine) but changes deeper in the organization could be in play. “Derek Falvey is coming back as our president of baseball operations. Thad Levine is coming back as our general manager,” St. Peter said. “We believe in those guys. When you look at the entirety of their body of work, I think they’ve done a great job here.
“They certainly are well respected across our game. I know that based on the conversations I have with other people, other owners, club presidents—and just the sheer number of people that have been plucked from our organization the last five to six years suggests that we’re doing a lot of things right.
“So, I’m optimistic that we have the right leadership in place. But yeah, to answer your question, there will be some changes. I suspect there will be every year…and some of those things are going to be visible to the public; others won’t be, but ultimately…it’s kind of TBD and what those changes will be.”
Falvey announced awhile ago that manager Rocco Baldelli will return next season. St. Peter is also supportive of Baldelli (2019 AL Manager of the Year) but he added that evaluation of the manager’s staff is ongoing.
The Twins’ lost pitching coach Wes Johnson during the season when he decided to return to college coaching. Bullpen pitching coach Pete Maki was elevated to Johnson’s spot. “I think Pete Maki has done a really good job in a really difficult circumstance being thrust into that role midseason,” St. Peter said.
With the season all but over, Spotrac.com reports the Twins have placed an American League-high 32 players on the injured list and have a AL-high 2,344 days missed. How can the Twins be more fortunate in the future? “Yeah, I’ve spent a lot of time in church praying,” St. Peter joked.
No doubt bad luck played a role in sidelining pitchers and position players for short and long durations. But scrutiny will come this offseason with input sought from not only the baseball department but also medical, strength and conditioning experts.
“So, you know that’s something you take a look at,” St. Peter said. “Some of that’s (bad) luck but I don’t think anybody here is suggesting that there aren’t some things we can figure out a way to do better, and ultimately I am confident that will happen.”
The Twins have studied how to keep their players healthy in the past, too. St. Peter points out the 2019 Central Division champion Twins were in large part a healthy group that rolled through the season. Still, he wants to know if in late 2022 management can take even more of a holistic approach to identify ways to prevent injuries, treat ailments more effectively and shorten recovery time while recognizing that every player and circumstance is different.
St. Peter also discussed under performance by the team while declining to identify specific players. He acknowledged the often-maligned bullpen woes fans know cost the team too many wins. Then he talked about the dry spells in scoring runs. For the season the Twins have outscored opponents by eight runs.
“I think offensively we underperformed a lot of the year, and clearly not having your core lineup on the field, particularly over the second half (of the season) had a huge impact on that,” St. Peter said. “Offensively, we need to find ways to generate more runs, and I think that will be a focus of the offseason, whether it’s the incumbent guys coming back, or changes made to our roster aimed at delivering more offense.”
The core that St. Peter refers to includes three rookies who made outstanding MLB debuts. Starting pitcher Joe Ryan, closer Jhoan Duran and first baseman-third baseman-DH Jose Miranda. “I think those three guys have helped us immensely. I can’t imagine where we would be without them.”
Those three are under Twins control for next season, as are other important players such as position players Luis Arraez, Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco and starting pitcher Kenta Maeda, but a contract decision looms with star shortstop Carlos Correa who can choose this fall to opt for free agency. St. Peter believes Correa, who the Twins acquired last March, likes the organization and community.
The Twins value how gifted a talent Correa is in the field, at the plate and as a leader in the clubhouse. “He knows how we feel about him, and we’ll see where it goes,” St. Peter said.
St. Peter mentioned three players who could see time at shortstop next season if the opportunity is there. Royce Lewis, Austin Martin and Brooks Lee are high on potential but collectively only Lewis has limited MLB experience.
“Those would be the three guys after Correa,” St. Peter said. “Now it’s also possible we would choose to go to the free agent market and sign somebody. The hope here is that Carlos Correa is playing shortstop for the Twins.”
While Correa is special, Buxton, 28, is the heart and soul of a relatively young team that could become a playoff contender if a lot of things break right next year. Buxton, the often-injured slugger (led the team in home runs with 28) and a superb center fielder, played in only 92 games this season and just once in his eight-year career has he topped that total.
St. Peter is hopeful, though, Buxton can play in 30 or so more games in 2023. St. Peter’s optimistic outlook for next year is also buoyed by the depth he sees among position players and starting pitching. Collectively he calls it deeper than the Twins have had in a long time.
St. Peter foresees an ongoing commitment from ownership to win. He said the payroll of $140 million this year was the biggest in franchise history and he doesn’t see the Pohlads backing off their willingness to spend money.
It will be an active offseason for Falvey and Levine, both of whom St. Peter believes don’t get enough credit for what he describes as their creativity and aggressiveness in making deals, and willingness to take risks.
“It’s easy to criticize those things that don’t work out at the end of the day, but we were criticized for years for being too passive, for not signing free agents, for not making trades, and Derek and Thad have done everything but that. They view every year as an opportunity and I think they’ll be aggressive going into the offseason, uncovering every rock and stone just to make sure they’re doing everything they can to put us in the best possible position to win.”
The offseason St. Peter can envision has potential trades and free agent signings, and combined with the existing core of players and high potential prospects in the system, will shape a Minnesota team that goes into spring training “very capable of winning the American League Central, (and) hopefully advancing to the postseason and doing some damage there.”
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