Last season, Keuchel started six of the ten games in which he pitched for the Minnesota Twins. His ERA was 5.97 while he was 2-1. He was a player for the Texas Rangers, Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox, and Atlanta Braves prior to joining the Twins.
The 36-year-old’s seven years with the Houston Astros, where he was an All-Star twice (2015) and won a World Series (2017), were the most fruitful period of his career.
After eliminating the Blue Jays from the American League Wild Card round and winning the American League Central, the Twins stopped their record postseason losing skid in 2023. However, they lost an ALDS game to the Astros 3-1.
Following Diamond Sports Group’s bankruptcy filings, fans had hoped that a taste of postseason success would encourage ownership to further invest in the roster. However, the Twins, along with several other clubs, spent the offseason in limbo, unsure of what would happen with their television broadcasts.
Early in the winter, it was evident that the Twins intended to reduce salary. The front office leadership made it clear that they intended to reduce salary from $155 million to between $125 and 140 million this year, according to Dan Hayes of The Athletic.
For a fan base that had just witnessed the Twins establish themselves as significant players in free agency by signing Carlos Correa in back-to-back offseasons, the development was frustrating.
The impending payroll cut not only kept the Twins from adding new players, but it also probably did away with starters Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda before the real offseason ever started.
The 2023 AL Cy Young runner-up, Gray, wisely declined a qualifying offer and, predictably, signed a three-year, $75MM contract with the St.
Louis Rams, earning a salary that was above $50 million. For the Twins, reaching the $50MM threshold was crucial because it guarantees them a compensatory pick in the first round in exchange for losing Gray.
Maeda was apparently interested in staying with Minnesota, but just for a year. Under normal conditions, the Twins might have felt more comfortable matching the respectable two-year, $24MM deal he struck with the Tigers, but he left without paying the team anything.
The Twins knew exactly what they needed going into the summer. The rotation was losing two strong arms (three, if you include Tyler Mahle, who was sidelined for the majority of the season by Tommy John surgery), so they would need to find a way to cover those innings.
Early in November, Derek Falvey, the president of baseball operations, hinted that the team might also be watching first base options.
The Twins, meanwhile, were rumored to be searching for a right-handed hitting outfielder to cover for the frequently injured Byron Buxton in center field as Michael A. Taylor approaches free agency.
The Twins spent the first few months of the winter doing nothing, even if their to-do list was scarcely secretive.
There was reportedly little interest from Minnesota in free players who could meet the team’s needs at both high and low costs. It makes sense that the fan base become frustrated.
However, the Twins have a penchant for making big trades or acquisitions in the late offseason, and they again postponed making any meaningful moves until that point in the winter.
The Twins made their first and biggest trade of the offseason when, following months of scouring the trade market, they struck a favorable deal for veteran baseman Jorge Polanco. The second baseman, 30, had been with the team since he
