In the Twins' second home game of this season, a victory that was part of a 10-4 start that has helped sustain their first-place status in the AL Central for almost the entire season, starting pitcher Joe Ryan pitched six effective innings and struck out 10 batters. After the Astros tried to rally in the ninth, closer Jhoan Duran entered the game and whiffed the final batter, who represented the tying run.
Both pitchers have been roughed up a little in recent outings, but both not only have been instrumental to the 2023 Twins' relative success but also figure to be pitching staff mainstays for years to come — with both of them under team control through 2027.
They are also probably the best examples of how down years can prove fruitful for teams' futures. Duran was acquired in 2018 as part of a trade deadline deal with Arizona for impending free agent Eduardo Escobar, while Ryan came over in 2021 in a similar move with Tampa Bay for Nelson Cruz.
Both of those Twins teams were going nowhere, but smart deals at the deadline set the Twins up to perhaps go somewhere in a future that has arrived. When the Twins have been "buyers" at the deadline, though, the story has been far worse — something I talked about on Tuesday's Daily Delivery podcast ahead of the 5 p.m. MLB trade deadline.
In years the Twins have been poised to contend, Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine have largely swung and missed — if they swung at all.
They were aggressive in 2022 with the AL Central title within reach, but their signature moves have been disasters: dealing prospects Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand to the Reds for starting pitcher Tyler Mahle and another ill-fated trade for Jorge Lopez with Baltimore.
Steer is having a very good year for the Reds and is exactly the sort of young right-handed hitter the Twins lack. Encarnacion-Strand dominated Class AAA and already earned a call-up at age 23. Mahle, meanwhile, was injured last year and injured again this season. He likely will never pitch again for the Twins.
That and the Lopez deal — in which they dealt prospects and reliever Yennier Cano, who became an All-Star this year for the Orioles — are outcome-based judgments. Both moves seemed reasonable at the time but now look terrible.
In 2019, by contrast, the Twins did very little to supplement a 101-win Bomba Squad — adding disastrous reliever Sam Dyson and decent veteran Sergio Romo. And in the 2020 shortened season, the front office made no moves at the pushed-back deadline. The Twins were swept out of the playoffs both years.
The 2023 Twins are perhaps most akin to the 2017 team, which hovered around .500 but with a real chance to make the postseason. Only after eventually deciding to be sellers — trading closer Brandon Kintzler and starter Jaime Garcia after adding him just a week before — the Twins took off and claimed the Wild Card spot.
Given all that, maybe it's not the worst thing in the world if Falvey and Levine hide their phones on Tuesday.
Here are four more things to know today:
*As the resident Vikings offensive line alarmist, let me just say that if they manage to sign guard Dalton Risner — who would be an upgrade over Ed Ingram — they will have their best offensive line in more than a decade.
*Let's save the hand-wringing about the U.S. Women's National Team for later. They did advance, after all.
*Randy Johnson talked on Daily Delivery today and wrote about P.J. Fleck pumping Poison songs into his team. I guess Every Rose (Bowl) Has Its Thorn.
*As someone who wore No. 3 his entire baseball career (because of Dale Murphy), I can respect Anthony Edwards switching to No. 5 and feeling good about it.
