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The Twins have made smaller-scale acquisitions to fill out their roster and will still count on better health next season. But with plenty of payroll flexibility and the bad taste of a third-place finish still fresh among the fan base, there’s work needed in the trade market to form a stronger push to close the gap between the Twins and the first-place Guardians.
Have the teams around the Twins done comparatively more this winter to increase that separation?
Guardians (1st, 92-70 in 2022)
Significant additions: 1B Josh Bell, C Mike Zunino
The Guardians stripped down their roster ahead of 2022 — but they emerged with a surprise division championship when young hitters like Steven Kwan, Andrés Giménez and Oscar Gonzalez blossomed to complement the always-solid pitching staff.
They’ve since added more pop with Bell and Zunino, which they needed after finishing second to last in MLB in homers. But unlike how the Twins have operated (seeking big impact to force the issue when a young core has established itself), the Guardians look like they’ll be content to patch their roster holes — which will put a heavy reliance on their young hitters not taking a step back.
With that said, Cleveland pitching is always good enough to set a solid floor, and this should be another solid group with a deeper lineup to stick among the contenders.
White Sox (2nd, 81-81)
Significant additions: RHP Mike Clevinger, OF Andrew Benintendi
Sure, the Twins had a tough 2022, but these White Sox also had a tremendously rough go, with championship aspirations (and, at minimum, division title hopes) derailed en route to a .500 season. Jose Abreu is gone to the Astros, and, like the Twins, the White Sox will rely heavily on better health to put their lineup in a better place.
Like the Guardians, the White Sox were also in the Majors’ bottom third in homers, but they’ll add only modest power in Benintendi, who hit only five between his stints with the Royals and Yankees last season. He’ll at least add some left-handed balance and contact ability to a group that could use that presence in the middle of their order.
Still, this is a talented group that was projected to win the division in ‘22 for a reason – and with better health and a new manager in tow, they certainly have the talent to make noise. (But haven’t we said that for several years now?)
Twins (3rd, 78-84)
Significant additions: OF Joey Gallo, INF Kyle Farmer, C Christian Vázquez
As things stand, the lineup loses Correa and gains the above three, with Gallo seeking a bounceback but no steady production in the mix to replace what the Twins are losing in their erstwhile shortstop. They’ll have to rely on Alex Kirilloff, Jorge Polanco and Trevor Larnach to stay healthier — and another step forward from Jose Miranda — to make up that production in aggregate.
Of note, there haven’t been any significant pitching moves — but their biggest need there is to improve their ceiling, not their depth — and even without that, the group is already in better shape than at any point in the past two preseasons.
Tigers (4th, 66-96)
Significant additions: LHP Matthew Boyd, RHP Michael Lorenzen
The rebuild continues in Detroit, where the Tigers just shipped away All-Star closer Gregory Soto and will continue to look for steps forward from Spencer Torkelson, Riley Greene, Matt Manning and Co. to form the prospect push that has been promised for years. But with Casey Mize having undergone Tommy John surgery and Javier Báez struggling, the Tigers will simply have to show that they can hang.
Royals (5th, 65-97)
Significant additions: RHP Jordan Lyles, LHP Ryan Yarbrough
The prospects have started to arrive in the form of Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino and MJ Melendez, but there are still plenty of holes all around the roster, and the Royals need other prospects on both sides of the ball to step up alongside them — and, in particular, see if their young pitching pipeline can pan out in the Majors. It’ll be another year of development in Kansas City.