Ryan is going to get votes, though, which is a feat in and of itself. Only three Twins pitchers have received American League Cy Young votes in recent years. Sonny Gray finished 2nd back in 2023, the same season Pablo Lopez got the 7th most votes.

And in 2020, during the shortened COVID season, a recent trade acquisition via the LA Dodgers jumped out of nowhere to grab second place, Japanese right-hander, Kenta Maeda.

Kenta Maeda is still in the MLB… but he won’t be for long. The 37-year-old, who is teammates with this year’s Cy Young shoe-in, Tarik Skubal, will not be pitching in the big leagues in 2026 though.

Kenta Maeda headed to Japan after 2025 season

Maeda signed a two-year, $24 million deal with the Tigers prior to 2024 and won’t be seeking another contract. Instead, he plans to finish his baseball career with Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball club. He made the announcement on TV Tokyo’s ‘Sports Real Live’ show.

“I told my family to contact me immediately if I became a free agent. Honestly, I didn’t want to go to the minors. I’m not young anymore. I had already decided that this year would be my last in America—not because I got sent to the minors. Even if by some miracle I won 20 games in the majors this year, I had decided this would be my last year in the U.S. That’s why I want to return to Japan next year. (Returning to Japan) depends on receiving an offer, so it’s not something I can decide myself. But I had already made up my mind that this would be my last season in America. That’s why I want to give everything I have here through the end of this year.”

Kenta Maeda

Related: Former MN Twins Gold Glove Winner Lands New Team

The Minnesota Twins had interest in re-signing Kenta Maeda before the 2024 season. Their pitch was a one-year deal, whereas the Detroit Tigers were willing to go two. Minnesota wound up making the smart bet as Maeda has been both bad and hurt since.

After being jettisoned by the Tigers, Maeda has made appearances at Triple-A for both the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees. Detroit used him in relief this year and he posted a 7.88 ERA (6.12 FIP) in eight innings. At Triple-A, across 16 starts, he owns a 6.25 ERA in 76 1/3 innings.

Given Maeda’s ever declining production, it’s probably best for everyone that he returns home to finish out his professional career. At his advanced age, Kenta may not be big league material any longer. Father time is undefeated. Maeda has made over $76 million during his MLB career. American success.

NPB will come for former MN Twins pitcher Kenta Maeda

Kenta Maeda pitched in the Japanese NPB with the Hiroshima Carp for eight seasons, before coming to the Major Leagues. Maeda has a 2.39 ERA in 1,509 2/3 innings with the Carp.

It’s his production in Japan that landed him the deal with the Dodgers in the first place. Unfortunately for Maeda, he’ll wrap up his time in the big leagues with exactly nine years of service time. One additional year would have landed him MLB’s maximum pension and health care benefits for life.

Related: New Milestone for MN Twins Star, Top Pitcher Joining Soon

That final Hiroshima team Maeda played on, in 2015, included current Cubs star Seiya Suzuki (20). They also employed 40-year-old Hiroki Kuroda. That one-time Dodgers hurler also returned home after seven major league seasons. The Carp would be a great landing spot for Maeda to wrap up his professional career.

Prior to Wednesday’s sweep clinching victory over the Baltimore Orioles, the Twins’ postseason chances sat at 36.9%, nearly 50% lower than the Tigers, at 84.4%.

The Minnesota Twins weren’t very active last offseason, but no matter how cheap they decided to be, one player they weren’t going to bring back was Manuel Margot, who was acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers before the 2024 season, as insurance for Byron Buxton.

Detroit Tigers release Kenta Maeda, outright Manuel Margot

But on Wednesday night, Detroit cut loose two former Minnesota Twins from their 40-man roster, outrighting Margot and unconditionally releasing RHP Kenta Maeda.

OF Manuel Margot has been returned from rehab, activated off of the 10-day injured list and assigned outright to Triple-A Toledo.

Detroit’s 40-man roster now stands at 38 players.

Additionally, RHP Kenta Maeda has been placed on unconditional release waivers.

— Tigers PR (@DetroitTigersPR) May 7, 2025

Manuel Margot had been out of the Tigers’ lineup since mid-April with a knee tendon issue. After he went 4-for-16 during his five game rehab assignment with Triple-A Toledo, instead of activating him back to the big leagues, the Tigers told him to stay where he is, and outrighted him off the 40-man roster.

Manuel Margot was not good for the MN Twins

Unfortunately, Margot posted a terrible .238/.289/.337 slash line across 129 games, and became most well-known for his pinch-hitting ineptitude, going an unbelievable 0-for-32 in pinch hitting appearances in 2024..

That’s why it was somewhat surprising Manuel Margot found a job at all for 2025. In the end, however, he played in just six games for the Tigers, going an impressive 6-for-19, before Detroit expunged him from their 40-man roster. Don’t feel too bad for Margot. He’ll make $200K down on the Tigers’ farm.

Manuel Margot TIES IT IN THE 9TH pic.twitter.com/P11cjj2q6f

— Barstool Baseball (@StoolBaseball) March 29, 2025

Related: Former MLB GM Urges MN Twins to Sell Now, Starting with Shocking Trade

Given the service time Margot has, it is possible he could reject his assignment to Triple-A and elect free agency instead. A minimum major league salary pays over $700,000. Would Margot be able to find a big league suitor, though? That’s the question.

Kenta Maeda hits free agency

On the flip side, Kenta Maeda was simply set packing. The former Minnesota Twins starter was in the final year of a two-year contract paying him a total of $24 million. He was someone the Twins had a relative amount of interest in retaining prior to 2024, but they had no intentions of giving him a two year deal like what he got in Detroit.

It quickly proved wise for Minnesota to move on. Maeda made just 17 starts (29 appearances) last season and was pushed to the bullpen while owning a 6.09 ERA (4.96 FIP). This season all seven of his games came out of the bullpen and he owned an even worse 7.88 ERA (6.08 FIP).

Kenta Maeda with a two pitch sequence he for sure wants to forget 😓 pic.twitter.com/PUhdsNkp3m

— Pitcherclips (@pitcherclips) April 30, 2025

There were indicators that Maeda’s stuff was tailing off as he aged. He also missed the 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery. Now 37 years old and without an uptick out of the bullpen, he could be facing the end of the line.

Minnesota Twins still chasing Detroit Tigers

Through one series the Twins are 1-2 against Detroit but the two teams were separated by just a single run. Minnesota has seen the Tigers develop under the watch of World Series winning manager A.J. Hinch.

The two teams don’t face each other for quite some time as their next scheduled game comes on June 27th in Detroit. Minnesota will hope to be in a substantially better position than their current 16-20 record by then.

If the Twins haven’t closed the gap by the next time they see Detroit, then they’ll likely be looking a month ahead as to how they can move assets as deadline sellers.

Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda sign elsewhere

On Sunday night, Kenta Maeda signed a 2-year, $24 million ($12M/YR) with AL Central rivals, the Detroit Tigers. They made an effort to bring Maeda back, but ultimately failed. Then on Monday morning, Sonny Gray jumped leagues but stayed in the Central, signing a 3-year, $75 million ($25M/YR) deal with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Free-agent RHP Sonny Gray finalizing three-year, $75M contract with Cardinals, source tells @TheAthletic. First with expected agreement: @JonHeyman.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 27, 2023

The Twins will get a 1st round comp pick (around #33 overall) for losing Gray, after making him a ‘qualifying offer’ that he turned down, in favor of free agency. That’s a pretty good consolation prize for an organization openly cutting player payroll in 2024.

Related: Twins and Bally Sports North are Done; Wolves and Wild are Next

Losing really good players from good teams has been a thing in high-level professional sports for decades. Still, it’s frustrating when it happens to your team, especially when it’s one of your best players at a position you’ve struggled to successfully field in years past.

We do not know who will fill the void for Kenta or Sonny. But one thing is almost guaranteed, their replacements won’t live up to the bar they set. The Twins won’t be able to replace Gray’s talent and consistency at the front of the rotation, nor will they be able to replace the flexibility and postseason acumen of Maeda in the back of it.

Sonny Gray Statistics w/Twins

Kenta Maeda Statistics w/Twins

Twins vs Tigers for Kenta Maeda

One of the names the Twins are targeting, according to Jon Heyman (New York Post) is Kenta Maeda.

Kenta Maeda is drawing interest from the Tigers and his old Twins.

Jon Heyman – NY Post

Coming off his fourth season with the Twins (missing all of 2022 because of injury), he posted a 6-8 record over 20 starts, with a 4.23 ERA in a year that saw his lowest total innings pitched (104.1) in his career, besides the shortened 2020 season, a season in which he finished second in Cy Young voting.

Kenta Maeda, Wicked Splitters. 🤢 pic.twitter.com/CBQnTZ9rEO

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 15, 2023

Related: Twins and Bally Sports North are Done; Wolves and Wild are Next

What does Kenta Maeda bring to Twins, others?

The Twins will have to compete in the division to retain Maeda, as the Tigers have shown interest in the 33-year-old righty. The Tigers have a young rotation, and a veteran like Maeda would add a stabilizing presence to that staff.

The baseball-rabid Japanese fanbase is worth noting here too. While the Tigers and Twins probably aren’t in the running for Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the presence of another Japanese star opens up marketing opportunities abroad that other teams do not possess.

After Pablo Lopez, the Twins rotation will have some questions to answer. Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober have shown promise but they are far from staff aces. Obviously, neither is Maeda, but bringing him back would keep a consistent veteran in a rotation and add depth the Twins might need.

Twins shutting down Kenta Maeda and Tyler Mahle

This isn’t a huge surprise, given that both pitchers had their previous starts cut short due to injuries. For Kenta Maeda, “shutting down” seems to mean something a bit more serious than what Mahle is dealing with.

According to the Twins’ certified athletic trainer, Kenta has a tricep strain and he’ll miss at least one start, possibly more. Mahle, on the other hand, has what the Twins are calling an “elbow impingement”. They’re hopeful he will respond well to anti-inflammatories over the next few days and won’t rule him out for his next appearance quite yet.

Triceps strain for Kenta Maeda. Shut down for 3-7 days til symptoms resolve. #MNTwins

Paparesta: "There's nothing that we've found that has any issues to do w/ his previous Tommy John ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction surgery. So we treat it just like a muscle strain."

— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) April 28, 2023

Tyler Mahle did not undergo imaging yesterday and met with Dr. Chris Camp, the team physician. They're calling it an impingement to the back of his elbow.

TBD on if it'll impact his next start. They'll get him on anti-inflammatories and see how it responds over 48-72 hours.

— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) April 28, 2023

Bailey Ober has already been called up to pitch on Saturday, in place of Maeda. Louie Varland’s place in the St. Paul AAA rotation happens to be in line with Mahle’s for the Twins. If he can’t go next week, I’d expect Varland to take his place.

Kirilloff Update

Alex Kirilloff will attempt to play back-to-back 9-inning games on Friday night, for the first time since starting his minor league rehab stint a few weeks ago. Should things go well, his return to the Twins lineup feels imminent.

The Twins trainer said as much on Friday, telling reporters that Kirilloff is pretty much cleared to play medically. That, soon enough, his return will be more about baseball than it will his health. And the baseball side of things is going pretty well. Alex is hitting .391 with 3 home runs and a 1.326 OPS in 6 games with the Saints.

Today is a big milestone for Alex Kirilloff, who will play the full nine innings on consecutive days for the first time in St. Paul.

Paparesta says with this, they've done what they've needed to do from a medical standpoint, and it just becomes a baseball decision soon.

— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) April 28, 2023

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The last time Kenta Maeda was on the mound, he finished runner-up for the AL Cy Young award. The options continue from there with Tyler Mahle, who might have the best stuff of anyone on the staff.

Pablo Lopez named Twins’ Opening Day starter

But on Friday, Rocco Baldelli named the Twins official Opening Day starter and none of those names came out of his mouth. Instead, he announced the newly acquired former Marlin, Pablo Lopez, as their official #1, when they start their 2023 season on March 30 in Kansas City.

#MNTwins will make Pablo López their Opening Day starting pitcher.

— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) March 24, 2023

The Twins traded away fan favorite, Luis Arraez, to land the 26-year-old Lopez, who finished his career in Miami with a 3.94 ERA, 1.186 WHIP, 3.77 FIP and 8.6 SO/9 in 510 IP over 5 seasons.

If you’ve read The Athletic or ESPN in the last 12 hours, you likely agree with this decision. Pablo was the only Minnesota pitcher listed by the former as a possible ace and by the latter as a top-100 player in the MLB. Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton were the only other two Twins listed on ESPN’s top-100.

According to Dan Hayes (The Athletic), Sonny Gray will start game 2, which lines him up to take the mound at Target Field for the Twins’ home opener on April 6 vs the Houston Astros. Joe Ryan will start game 3. Slotting Lopez in as the #1 also lines him up to pitch Minnesota’s second series finale of the season, vs his former team, the Miami Marlins.

Jose Miranda moving back to 3rd base

Another announcement of note from Friday came with good news surrounding the injury status of Jose Miranda, who has spent all of his playing time so far this spring as a DH or 1st baseman, due to a shoulder injury that has limited his throwing early on. Miranda will play at 3rd base, for the first time, on Saturday. In all likelihood, that’s the position he will take on Opening Day, as well.

Jose Miranda said he'll play third base on Saturday for the #MNTwins. He's the club's first baseman today.

— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) March 24, 2023

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

But there’s good news. They have injured list reinforcements on the way and most should make immediate impacts upon return. The list starts with Byron Buxton, who Rocco Baldelli said will not travel to Chicago for the upcoming road trip vs the White Sox, but who could fly there mid-series to join the team, if he’s feeling up to it. Buck is eligible to come off the IL on Friday.

Byron Buxton isn’t expected to travel on the upcoming road trip so he can continue to rehab at home. But were he to improve enough, #MNTwins would fly him to join the team.

— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) August 29, 2022

Pitching Reinforcements a Plenty

Next on the list of priority returnees is newly acquired starting pitcher, Tyler Mahle, who was shut down after his last start for shoulder fatigue. His fastball velocity had dropped under 90 MPH so the Twins put him on the IL, got his shoulder checked out and gave Tyler some much-needed rest. Now, he’s feeling fresh and ready to go. The hope is that Mahle will pitch vs the White Sox over the weekend.

Tyler Mahle (shoulder) threw a second, 30-pitch bullpen session today and said it went well. Velocity was back up, no pain, threw all pitches.

Assuming he feels fine tomorrow, Mahle could be in line to return from the injured list this weekend vs. the White Sox.

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) August 29, 2022

But Tyler Mahle isn’t the only Minnesota Twins pitcher who is ready to pitch-in on a playoff run. Josh Winder is starting a rehab stint in St. Paul and, should things go well, he’ll be up with the big club sooner, rather than later.

Randy Dobnak, too, is on his way back. He has already thrown four times out of minor league bullpens. Though his first appearance in St. Paul did not go well, surrendering 4 hits and 3 runs, in just two innings. Bailey Ober, too, has been throwing live bullpen sessions and will start a rehab stint in Fort Myers on Thursday.

Trevor Larnach Also on His Way

But there’s one more bat, who could really help the Minnesota Twins in September, should he be healthy and get into his groove at the right time. Trevor Larnach, who has been out with a core muscle injury since June, is starting a rehab stint that is expected to last one to two weeks. He could be a huge addition to an injury riddled outfield.

Trevor Larnach is tracking towards beginning a rehab assignment with Fort Myers as the DH on Thursday. It sounds like he'll probably be the next to return to health after Josh Winder.

— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) August 29, 2022

Maeda Giving Up on 2022 Return

There was some bad news that came along with all of these injury updates. Kenta Maeda, who the Twins hoped could be a late edition to the bullpen after undergoing Tommy John surgery a year ago, will not be ready in time to help this season. His rehab continues and is reportedly going well, but they’re officially giving up hope on his chances to play in 2022.

#MNTwins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey indicated that Kenta Maeda (elbow) is unlikely to return before the end of the season.

Maeda continues to progress well in his recovery from Tommy John surgery, but the Twins aren't going to push him with time running short.

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) August 30, 2022

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Minnesota Twins will enter Tuesday’s matchup vs the New York Yankees on a two-game winning streak. But that’s not all the good news. We just found out, via communications director Dustin Morse on Twitter, that Byron Buxton and Kenta Maeda are close to returning and will start rehab assignments with the St. Paul Saints on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

Byron Buxton (@OfficialBuck103) is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment on Tuesday with the @StPaulSaints.

Additionally, Kenta Maeda (@maeken1988) is scheduled to make a rehab start for the Saints on Wednesday. #MNTwins

— Dustin Morse (@morsecode) June 7, 2021

Is it too little, too late?

Yes, it is too little, too late. The Minnesota Twins aren’t coming back and claiming a playoff spot. Your mental health will survive the 2021 Major League Baseball season in better shape if you kill that dream now. But hey, for masochists who still watch this team play baseball on a nightly basis or people who are paid for it, meaningless games should be less awful to watch if Byron Buxton is playing in them, right?

For everyone else, Vikings training camp is only 50 days away (July 27).

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Minnesota Twins lost both ends of a doubleheader Wednesday vs the Boston Red Sox, putting them behind 0-3 in the four-game series and winless in their last six games. Now 5-7, the Twins have fallen to last place in the American League Central and fans are starting to get dry mouth, if they’re not already in full fledged panic mode.

Byron Buxton missed both games today with “right hamstring tightness” and Miguel Sano couldn’t hit a beach ball with a 2 x 4 if you underhanded it to him. On top of that, Jose Berrios and Kenta Maeda were the losing pitchers, meaning the hurlers will only get worse before they get better.

So, panic is probably the right emotion….

#MNTwins pic.twitter.com/x3Siu1P7Uw

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) April 14, 2021

But wait…

But let’s take a deeper look before we start selling all of our assets for future hope. There’s plenty of that “H” word to hold onto for the current club. Like, Byron Buxton. Sure, he didn’t play today and that sucks. But, if sitting Buxton for two losses today means that he plays more games throughout the year, I’m happy to make the sacrifice.

Especially when Buxton is finally blossoming into the great player he was once touted to be. Entering Wednesday, Buxton was leading the league in WAR, slugging %, OPS, and offensive win %. He was also 2nd in batting average and 5th in on-base %. If Byron plays 120 games this season he might win MVP.

Donaldson is Back too

We also got to see Josh Donaldson again today. He went 1 for 2 and immediately stretched out his hamstring, running from 1st to 3rd on a base hit and then tagging home for a run scored. It was good to see him open things up a little bit and still stand up looking healthy. That’s a victory in my book.

DONALDSON WENT FROM FIRST TO THIRD AND HE’S OK pic.twitter.com/BOJRZvxZ4F

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) April 14, 2021

Hopefully we get all three of Buxton (.469 AVG), Donaldson (.667 AVG) and Cruz (.438 AVG) in the middle of the Twins lineup tomorrow. The more often we can put those three together, the more likely we are to pile up wins. At the end of the season, 2021’s success will be dictated by the health of Donaldson and Buxton. So far, neither guy has had any severe injuries BUT they’ve obviously left us plenty to be concerned about.

Sano Will Be Fine

Stop worrying about Miguel Sano. He’s always been a slow starter and maybe he always will be. Keep giving him at-bats and let him hit himself out of his slump. Sano is a big league hitter and pitchers are still afraid of him. He’ll turn it around and he’ll be a huge contributor at points throughout this season. When he does, he’ll be our best and most dangerous hitter. And that’s saying something.

As long as the Minnesota Twins stay mostly healthy, we’ll only be concerned with playoff victories at the end of the season. So far, we still have a full team in-tact and a lot of season left to play. So until something changes on the injury front, I’ll be over here unconcerned.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Minnesota Twins Opening Day starting lineup is out and Luis Arraez, after limited playing time in the outfield this spring, will get the nod in left field and bat leadoff. Rocco Baldelli wants to get 400-500 at-bats for Arraez this summer and he’ll try for his first four or five in game one this afternoon. Unfortunately, Nelson Cruz is on pinch hit duty because the Milwaukee Brewers play in the National League, which did NOT add a designated hitter for 2021. If you like watching pitchers hit, enjoy the NL this season because it’s expected to be the last.

We have our first #MNTwins lineup of the year, and it’s Luis Arráez getting the nod in left:

1. Arráez LF
2. Donaldson 3B
3. Polanco 2B
4. Sanó 1B
5. Kepler RF
6. Buxton CF
7. Garver C
8. Simmons SS
9. Maeda RHP

— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) April 1, 2021

Today’s game starts at 1:10 PM and Brandon Woodruff will take the mound for Milwaukee. Kenta Maeda gave up just one run all of Spring Training but don’t carry spring performances with you into the regular season. Unless you’re also willing to drag along the Grapefruit League’s worst offense, which the Minnesota Twins touted.

Let’s just hit the reset button. That’s what Opening Day is for. I’ll see you all this afternoon. Go Twins.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan