MINNESOTA TWINS (59-103), 5TH, AL CENTRAL
uSeason snapshot: The Twins lost their first nine games of the season, and they didn’t get much better. They also endured a 13-game losing streak at the end of August and finished with the franchise’s worst record since the Washington Nationals relocated to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in 1961. The plunge was somewhat surprising considering the Twins contended for a wild-card berth until the final weekend of the 2015 season in
first year as manager. Instead of building on that success, they finished with their fifth losing record in six seasons — dropping at least 92 games in each — following a run of six American League Central titles in nine years from 2002 to 2010. General manager Terry Ryan was fired July 18 and replaced on an interim basis by assistant GM The Twins decided to restructure their front office by creating the position of executive vice president/chief baseball officer and then spent the final weeks of the season interviewing candidates before hiring
33, who had been the Cleveland Indians’ assistant general manager.
uWhat now: The first priority for Falvey is to strengthen a pitching staff that had the worst ERA (5.08) in the league and allowed a whopping .283 average by opposing hitters, last in the majors by a wide margin. Though set the AL single-season record for home runs by a second baseman with 42, it would make sense in many ways to trade the 29-yearold for pitching while his value is at its peak rather than disturb a young core group of potential superstars that includes third baseman center fielder
and right fielder uFree agent focus: Catcher
is the Twins’ only free agent, and he has said that he would like to sign with a team closer to his offseason home in Southern California. The Twins could go with a cost-effective platoon of and next season. uProspects to watch: Right-hander
the Twins’ first-round draft pick in 2013, could give their rotation a boost at some point next year after a season in which the 21-year-old had a combined 12-8 record and 2.88 ERA in 25 starts with high Class A Fort Myers (Fla.) and Class AA Chattanooga (Tenn.). Pitching for the same two clubs, 22-year-old left-hander
was a combined 13-5 with 2.06 ERA in 24 starts.
John Perrotto behind the plate