I know we’re used to Minnesota Twins fans being calm and collected with all of their hot takes, but one angle that seems to get many pretty irate in a hurry is the idea that the organization can’t develop the starting pitching pipeline that fans were promised when Twins hired Derek Falvey as the team’s President of Baseball Operations.
To his credit, Falvey helped to build a formidable starting rotation in Cleveland when they made it to Game 7 of the 2016 World Series when they lost to the Chicago Cubs. That resume boost helped him land the big seat in Minnesota, so fans assumed he could do the same with the Twins in short order. Now, they’re upset that the club’s farm system can’t pump out MLB-caliber starters at the drop of a hat.
But there are a few major fallacies with this line of thinking.
First, Minnesota’s starting rotation has been among the best in the game over the past two seasons, even if they acquired them mainly through trade. Second, that’s exactly how Cleveland built their standout 2016 rotation – they acquired all five via trade. Third, some notable starting pitching prospects are finally breaking out now that more time has passed since the weirdness of the COVID-19 pandemic, where minor league seasons were stunted, and data from amateur prospects in the high school and college ranks were skewed, to say the least.
