The Minnesota Twins pursuit of impact pitching this winter has gone about as well as their approach at the plate in the ALDS last October.
With the Twins front office whiffing just as much as the Bomba Squad did against the New York Yankees’ pitching staff, both results have been met with extreme disappointment from Twins fans.
The latest swing-and-miss from the Twins came on Sunday night when the Toronto Blue Jays agreed with right-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu on a four-year deal worth $80 million. The deal was first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
BREAKING: Left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu and the Toronto Blue Jays are in agreement on a four-year, $80 million contract, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 23, 2019
After the Twins also missed out on Dallas Keuchel over the weekend (the left-hander agreed to a deal with the Chicago White Sox), the lost opportunity to sign another impact arm seems like a death blow for their offseason.
However, they may have dodged a bullet considering Ryu’s injury history and advancing age (33).
Still, the Twins need to find a way to add an arm and at this point, it’s almost obvious that a trade is the only way to do that.
While most of the trades have centered around two trade rumors involving the Miami Marlins, there are rumblings that a bigger move could be on the horizon. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale threw out one potential name on Sunday night as the Boston Red Sox appear to be shopping David Price to two teams in the American League Central.
The #Redsox continue to shop David Price to teams, including two from the AL Central, but #BlueJays should be out now
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 23, 2019
As Cleveland already traded Corey Kluber to the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers are in full rebuild mode, common logic suggests that the Twins and White Sox are the two teams in the bidding for Price’s services.
Even if the Twins are engaged in another big name, they’ll need to actually pull it off before 2020’s pitching staff suffers the same fate as 2019’s did.
