The World Series is over. Teams have extended qualifying offers to their upcoming free agents, who must determine whether to accept a one-year, $18.4 million contract and remain with their most recent club, or to decline and seek other opportunities on the open market. The deadline for those decisions is Wednesday, 17 November.
The Twins have a lot of work to do to turn around a disastrous year in which they plummeted down the elevator shaft from roof to basement, traded away key players, and Let (Some of) the Kids Play (Until Some of the Kids Got Hurt). Rather than celebrating the 30th anniversary of the 1991 World Series Champions with a deep run into the postseason, the Twins are in the position to ponder the success of the Twins’ front office over the 1990–1991 offseason. Will the current front office attempt a similar worst-to-first turnaround, or do they see a return to sustainable contention taking a season (or more) to develop? The futures of several key Twins regulars are up in the air until their approach becomes clear.
We’ll know their answer in due time. For now, we can posit our own.
A few handy, non-paywalled reference materials:
- Twins Depth Chart [FanGraphs]
- Twins Payroll [FanGraphs]
- How Can The Twins Rebound From A Disastrous 2021 Season? [MLB Trade Rumors]
- 2021–2022 MLB Free Agent List [MLB Trade Rumors]
- Top 50 Free Agents [FanGraphs]
- 2021–22 Top 50 Free Agents with Predictions [MLB Trade Rumors]
- Early Qualifying Offer Decisions [MLB Trade Rumors]
- Which Draft Picks Each Team Would Forfeit by Signing a Qualified Free Agent [MLB Trade Rumors]
- Free Agent Tracker [FanGraphs]
- Trade Simulator [Baseball Trade Values]