Opening Day is less than a month away. Baseball's lockout is over, replaced by a condensed, bound-to-be-wild free agency period, an open window for trades and a shortened spring training.
What to expect? Derek Falvey, Twins president of baseball operations, isn't quite sure.
"Do you think it'll be that active? Do you think it'll be a little slow? Is everyone going to wait to see how guys are coming in? I think all of that is in play. Every team is going to operate a little differently," Falvey said Thursday evening on a video call from the Twins' spring training facility in Fort Myers, Fla. "We're going to try to get a sense of where players are. We haven't seen a lot of these guys through the course of the offseason, and we want to see the other teams' players versions of that, too, because they haven't seen them, either. To the extent that trades happen, it's possible you could lay a lot of groundwork in the early going and really not see anything come together. I could be wrong about that. We'll be prepped in the event it goes faster than that."
Falvey has his questions. Fans have more. Here is a look at the top questions surrounding the Twins in their one-month sprint to Opening Day on April 7:
Who are the starting pitchers?
The Twins' pitching woes have been well-documented, and the abysmal 2021 season might have been a new low. Jose Berrios, J.A. Happ and Matt Shoemaker were either traded at the deadline or demoted in disgrace. Kenta Maeda had Tommy John surgery and isn't likely to return until late this season, if at all. And his short reign as the Twins' ace was rocky, compiling a 4.66 ERA and a 6-5 record during an injury-riddled second season in Minnesota.
By the end of the year, the Twins had turned to rookies such as Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober, who produced solidly in the waning months of the losing season. Michael Pineda is a free agent who could re-sign after finishing 2021 with a 3.62 ERA and 9-8 record. And the Twins did sign free agent Dylan Bundy before the lockout as a potential Opening Day starter after meh stints with the Orioles and the Angels. Some free-agent pitchers remain unclaimed, but the Twins might need to trade to fill out their rotation.
Will the bullpen find reinforcements?
The bullpen wasn't much more reliable than the starters in 2021, posting a collective 4.29 ERA to rank 20th of 30 MLB teams. The Twins turned down Alexander Colome's option and added Jharel Cotton off waivers from Texas back in November. Tyler Duffey and Caleb Thielbar are back on one-year contracts. Taylor Rogers will also return after he ended last season early with a finger injury; Falvey said he spoke to Rogers and heard the pitcher had been throwing bullpens. Randy Dobnak also ended 2021 early with a finger injury, and this was after he flopped during his chance in the starting rotation early in the season.
"We made no secret that's a focus and an area we need to spend some time, and we're going to," Falvey said of the pitching situation. "We've talked about trade market and free-agent market. We're excited about some of the young guys that are coming."