With the best record in baseball, the Minnesota Twins might end up being the perfect home for Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel
The best team in baseball might about to get even better.
To the surprise of literally everyone, the Minnesota Twins sit alone atop the standings, having yet to lose 20 games this season as they absolutely torch teams with the league’s best offense. It’s stunning, especially considering the team has a first-year manager and is coming off a season in which it finished 13 games out of first place.
Now, a team that never spends on free agents and is rarely considered a destination appears to be a frontrunner to sign two of the best remaining free agents on the market. According to LaVelle E. Neal from the Star Tribune, the Twins have serious interest in both Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel.
Minnesota’s bullpen leaves a lot to be desired. One of the reasons they’ve been able to post the best record in baseball is because they’ve scored an extraordinary amount of runs. Despite giving up 238 runs this season, Minnesota has a league-best +109 run differential.
Imagine how much better this team could be if the bullpen was just *that* much more secure. To be fair, the Twins relievers have only allowed 99 runs in 180 innings of relief, but adding Kimbrel would go a long way in making sure there’s confidence in late-inning situations.
Keuchel still being available is criminal, full stop. He’s only four years removed from being a Cy Young winner and went to the All-Star Game two years ago. A tough 2018 campaign raised concern about where the next few years of his career might go but nothing happened to raise the type of alarm we’re dealing with.
The kicker for Minnesota — and any team looking to sign either player — is that there won’t be any draft pick compensation forfeited for making a deal. That deadline, which was seen as an excuse for teams to stay away from Keuchel and Kimbrel, has passed and the expectation is a contender will be making a deal with one or both in the near future.
Minnesota owning the best record in baseball makes it a perfect, if not wholly surprising, landing spot.