It’s been a quiet winter for the Minnesota Twins, just like last year. After their September collapse last season, the fanbase is looking for something, anything, to generate some buzz for the club going into a new season. Ownership’s payroll limitations haven’t helped the front office nor boosted fan morale.
The Twins have made some smaller moves. They took Eiberson Castellano in the Rule 5 Draft and some minor league free agent deals and traded for a reclamation project like catcher Diego Cartaya from the Los Angeles Dodgers. But no substantial move has appeared.
However, late Wednesday night, Dan Hayes of The Athletic gave Twins fans their first real lead to a potential roster shakeup. The scoop wasn’t just shedding the $10 million remaining from catcher Christian Vázquez. It also mentioned that the Twins were interested in starting pitcher Dylan Cease.
According to Hayes’ report, talks have lost some steam recently, so a trade for Cease isn’t imminent. Still, an all-in push to add another high-end talent to the starting rotation would be one of the best ways the team can capitalize on an offseason with limited ammo.
Cease is coming off a season where he put up a 3.47 ERA in an MLB-leading 33 starts over 189.1 innings while allowing just a 0.86 HR/9. According to Baseball Savant, his 32.4 percent whiff rate is well above the 25 percent league average, and his slider was +19 in run value. He also posted a 29.4 strikeout percentage and a career-best 8.5 percent walk rate. Cease earned Cy Young votes again, finishing fourth in the National League race for the top pitcher.
He’s been a sought-after name this winter with his roughly $13 million salary in 2025. Hayes notes that Twins have some flexibility to add additional salary but not much. Cease is expected to hit free agency after this season.
That hasn’t stopped the Twins before, like when they traded for Sonny Gray in 2022, knowing he likely wouldn’t sign an extension. Like Gray, the Twins could pair Cease with Pablo López, their scheduled 2025 Opening Day starting pitcher, to anchor one of the league’s better one-two punches.
Assuming the Twins keep their top three starters, Cease would slot into a Twins rotation that already boasts López, Joe Ryan, and Bailey Ober. The final spot in the rotation would be a competition between Chris Paddack, Zebby Matthews, Simeon Woods Richardson, David Festa, and others like top pitching prospect Marco Raya (No. 5, according to MLB.com).
Even if the Twins package some of those players competing for the No. 5 starting spot in the Vázquez trade, there is still ample depth to supplement the team in the event of an injury from that top group.
Ryan’s injury last August spelled the beginning of the end for the Twins. The team went 17-32 after Ryan pitched his last game of the 2024 season. More factors played into that collapse. However, a healthy Ryan could have still managed to sneak the Twins into the postseason. Instead, they had to rely on multiple young starters late in the season. Adding Cease is an extra hedge against that type of situation happening again.
The Twins can add depth to the bullpen by adding high-end starting pitching. It would likely mean they can convert a starter like Paddack into a reliever. They could also put another young arm in the bullpen for a limited postseason-type run or permanently move them to a reliever. Even without a long-term move to the bullpen, it can add some short-term help that it always needs to navigate through the grind of a 162-game season.
Of course, using most of the offseason resources to add to an already-perceived strength doesn’t sound like the sound roster strategy. The Twins have some needs in other areas, like middle relief and finding a right-handed hitting corner outfielder or an established first baseman. But certain strengths can be strong enough to cover some roster-building weaknesses.
Ownership’s impending transfer will add an interesting wrinkle to all of this. New bosses won’t likely be able to add any more to the Opening Day payroll, but they could certainly help the franchise at the trade deadline if the team is still in contention in August. That can be the time to address the other areas of the team better. Adding an extra bullpen arm or platoon bat is much easier to pull off in July than adding a high-end starter like Cease.
The Cleveland Guardians have recently maximized this approach of leaning hard into their strengths. They’re never great offensively, ranking 22nd in runs scored since the start of the 2021 season. However, their 3.84 ERA in that same span is top nine in baseball. It’s an imperfect way to build a roster. Still, what’s wrong with pushing to be a top starting rotation in the league?
Minnesota’s lineup has established stars like Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton and young top prospects like Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee. Adding help around the edges is important, and the team should still find a way to address multiple areas. However, landing Cease would be more valuable than almost any bat they could realistically add to the lineup in the offseason.
The Minnesota Twins have limited ways to improve this offseason. They have multiple potential young pieces and stars that aren’t going anywhere locked into this roster. They also have limited payroll until an ownership transition is complete. With limited resources to strengthen the team and reach the postseason again in 2025, they might as well go all-in on a top starter like Cease, have an elite starting rotation, and figure the rest out later.
