During the 2015 season, the Minnesota Twins underwent a youth movement. Exciting prospects such as Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton, & Eddie Rosario all received big league call-ups and—combined with a now-established Brian Dozier superstardom—helped the ’15 squad compete for the postseason right down to the wire.
With the next wave of success seemingly positioned to come from within, GM Terry Ryan did more unloading than acquiring in the ‘15/’16 offseason—aside from one big splash and a search for a catcher.
The departures:
- Mike Pelfrey (0.9 WAR in three MN seasons—yikes)
- Brian Duensing (at age 32 and swingman status, MN did not re-up with The Dunce)
- Torii Hunter (after his 1-year return & invigoration of the franchise, Torii hung up the cleats)
- Longtime OF enigma Aaron Hicks was traded to the New York Yankees for C John Ryan Murphy. With Joe Mauer now permanently entrenched at the first sack and Kurt Suzuki not necessarily viewed as the long-term C plan, the Twins pulled the plug on Hicks for the promise of Murphy. Thoughts were mixed on this deal at the time, though not by me (see below). I was not a Hicks fan.
The additions:
- Further catching depth in free agents Josmil Pinto & Juan Centeno
- Bullpen shore-ups Brandon Kintzler & Fernando Abad
Then, of course, the big one:
The Twins won the rights to negotiate with Korean Baseball Organization superstar Byung-ho Park, ending up signing him to a 4-year, $12 million contract. In the KBO, Park was as legitimate of a power threat as they came: 52 home runs with the Nexen Heroes in 2014, then 53 more and a league-record 146 RBI in 2015. Not just a bomber, Park also regularly posted batting averages north of .300. The Twins hoped he could anchor the middle of the lineup amidst the young guns.
It had been some time in Twins Territory since a season would be approached with such optimism as 2016!
