It has been reported all offseason that the Minnesota Twins could be looking to for a new middle infielder. If they were to make a change, the new guy would, more than likely, be a shortstop.

The plethora of MLB-ready young talent at Falvine’s disposal has other front offices blowing their phones off the hook, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. He specifically mentions Luis Arraez as a guy teams covet, who the Twins would be willing to unload.

What kind of shortstop are Thad Levine and Derek Falvey looking for, you ask? Have you heard of two major leaguers named, Francisco Lindor or Trevor Story?

Might Twins make a move at short?

The Twins, like all teams deep in young talent, are drawing trade interest in their upper-level prospects and major leaguers under long-term control. The potential to deal one of those major leaguers, second baseman Luis Arraez, creates an interesting scenario in which the Twins could move shortstop Jorge Polanco to second and either sign a free-agent shortstop or trade for a 2021-22 free agent at the position — say, the Indians’ Francisco Lindor or Rockies’ Trevor Story.

Ken Rosenthal – The Athletic

Rosenthal doesn’t just throw out big names like that without steam behind them. The best part? The Twins’ front office doesn’t have to do anything. They can sit back and watch the offers role in. They are in the ultimate power position on any trade talks.

Short-term Upgrade

Both Trevor Story and Francisco Lindor have just one year left on their contracts so they’d be short-term solutions. But as Rosenthal mentions, that’s not a negative thing for the Twins. They have a future shortstop nearly ready for the MLB, in Royce Lewis.

Would the Twins be willing to pay top dollar for one year of Lindor or Story? I can promise you this. They’re much more likely to pay 1-year, $20 million, than they are to pay 5-years, $100 million.

We’ve discussed the more than adequate amount of money the Twins still have in their budget for the 2021 season. The lack of time under contract means less the Twins have to give back in a trade too. This really could be the perfect storm for a big move.

But Ken Rosenthal didn’t stop there.

Even if the Twins can’t rope in Lindor or Story, he mentions them as major players in the top shortstop free agents too, including Marcus Semian and Didi Gregorious.

The answer to both questions might very well be no, so from the Twins’ perspective, a two-year deal for Marcus Semien might make sense. Semien and Didi Gregorius, the other top free-agent shortstop, are in almost a Catch-22 position. They probably do not want to sign for one year and then compete with Lindor, Story and company in the open market next offseason. But teams likely will be unwilling to give them multi-year commitments if they are interested in the younger, flashier members of next year’s shortstop class.

Ken Rosenthal – The Athletic

It’s fun to think about, isn’t it? Josh Donaldson and Francisco Lindor playing the left side of your infield would be truly elite on both offense and defense.

I’m not sure who will be playing shortstop for the Minnesota Twins on opening day, but I would bet it’s not Jorge Polanco.

Cooper Carlson | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Athletic released a predictions piece earlier today where all of their senior writers and editors filled out their MLB playoff brackets and shared them with the world… or the ones who are willing to pay the monthly subscription. One thing became clear, as I thumbed down the page…. these writers really like the Minnesota Twins.

At the top of The Athletic’s list of established media talents, is Ken Rosenthal. When Ken isn’t writing, he’s doing TV for FOX or MLB Network. He’s a “Jack of all trades” baseball legend. He’s worked for Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News, just for national references. When you open the article, the 5-time Maryland Sportswriter of the Year’s 2020 Playoff projections are the first to slap you across the eyeballs.

Queue the goosebumps…

*heart-rate increases… pic.twitter.com/ibmkP7IGpw

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) September 28, 2020

Ken Isn’t the Only Senior Athletic Writer Who Likes the Twins

The love for the Minnesota Twins, in this article, doesn’t stop with Ken Rosenthal. In fact, out of TEN editors and senior writers who participated in this piece, NINE picked the Twins to beat the Houston Astros in their best-of-3 series that starts tomorrow and move onto the ALDS bubble in California.

FOUR more go onto pick the Twins to advance to the American League Championship, Keith Law being one of them, and then Rosenthal is one of TWO who pick Minnesota to advance to the World Series. Unfortunately, nobody (man or woman) has the balls to pick a Minnesota Twins World Series winner.

ESPN Also Likes the Twins a Little Too Much…

The self-proclaimed “Worldwide Leader in Sports” did a predictions article that hit a little different. I kind of like it. Instead of having a couple handfuls of writers post their postseason bracket, they held a vote and posted the results of each round in a very clean way.

Here is how the ESPN voting broke down. The bottom table only included the SIX teams who got votes to win the American League Championship. A couple voters even projected the impossible…

At the least, most writers expect the Twins to make an appearance in the American League Championship Series. Could you imagine? That would be a full October of baseball bubble fun. The two AL Champion favorites, according to ESPN, are both coming out of the same top-side of the bracket (TB and CLE).

The Dodgers got, by far, the most World Series winning votes, with 16. The Twins, however, finished with 3rd-most World Series Champion votes out of all playoff teams, with 2. The Rays finished 2nd, with 6 WS title votes.

World Series Champion Twins?

Why did you pick the Twins to bust up their postseason jinx and take home the title?

Avoiding the Yankees until the League Championship Series — if such a matchup happens at all — shouldn’t be a big deal, but I think it’s a very big deal, considering how much the Yankees seem to be in the Twins’ heads for the past decade-plus. Instead, the Twins draw perhaps the most advantageous Wild Card Series matchup, and their roster is well balanced between offense, defense and pitching, with the latter particularly important in a postseason that doesn’t provide midseries days off. Kenta Maeda is probably the postseason’s most underrated staff ace, and how great a story would it be if the guy who couldn’t crack the Dodgers’ rotation in postseasons past tosses a pair of gems against them as a starter in the World Series?

Tristan Cockcroft – ESPN

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan