Although the 70-92 record largely reflects a failure of a season, there was still plenty of positives to take away. Minnesota will highlight those during their offseason Diamond Awards ceremony this winter, but the recipients were revealed on Wednesday.

Diamond Awards winners highlight best of 2025 Minnesota Twins

It should be pretty expected that Bryon Buxton was the Minnesota Twins best player this season. He is going to get down-ballot MVP votes, and will earn contract incentive bonuses because of it. He’s not the only standout though, and the local BBWAA chapter voted on the yearly Diamond Awards that were made public this week.

Of course Byron Buxton was awarded with the team MVP. The results of the vote are not made public, but that should have been unanimous. Across 126 games he batted .264/.327/.551 with a career-high seven triples, 35 homers, and 83 RBI. With any level of help, Buxton would have led the Twins into a deep postseason run.

Buxton’s selection as Defensive Player of the Year likely represents an unwillingness to vote for since-departed players. Harrison Bader was traded to the Phillies, but he was easily Minnesota’s best fielder this season. Buxton as a second choice is hardly a misstep however.

There isn’t much of a surprise anywhere across the totality of these awards. Austin Martin being named the most improved player is a reflection of him capitalizing on late-season opportunity. After dealing with injury early in 2025, he finished with 50 games played and a .282/.374/,365 slash line. That will earn him an Opening Day roster spot in 2026, and he turned the arc of his career around.

Michael Busch, who played in the postseason with the Chicago Cubs, was named the Upper Midwest Player of the Year. The Inver Grove Heights native batted .261/.343/.523 with 34 home runs. Chicago was bounced from the postseason by the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Twins will host the Diamond Awards ceremony on January 23, 2026 at Target Field during TwinsFest Live! The event will be followed by TwinsFest on the 24-25.

Strotman was assigned to St. Paul, where he’s scheduled to make his Saints debut tonight, at home, vs Indianapolis. Ryan, on the other hand, dawned a Team USA uniform this morning at 5 AM CDT and took the mound as the Olympic team’s #1 starter in their 2020/21 debut matchup vs Israel.

If you were able to wake up and actually find the USA vs Israel stream out of Tokyo, since it wasn’t on TV or the much advertised “Peacock” app, Joe Ryan made it worth your time. His only big mistake came to former Twin, Danny Valencia, who took a high fastball deep without any runners on in the 4th inning. Joe got his redemption in the 6th, when he closed his outing on a Danny V strikeout.

Joe Ryan set a ???? standard on the mound for #TeamUSA today.

His final line in our #Olympics opener: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 5K pic.twitter.com/VGq1wpytXS

— USA Baseball (@USABaseball) July 30, 2021

For your morning wood: pic.twitter.com/xZKuF7LSYn

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) July 30, 2021

Easy 1-2-3 6th inning too, including a redemption strikeout vs Danny Valencia.

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) July 30, 2021

Joe Ryan Stan Club

Admittedly, I had some troubles finding where to watch this game, which was only streamed on the NBC Sports App, so I caught on late. But the 2+ innings I did get my eyes on were impressive. Joe works with really good pace and has full control over all of his pitches. He doesn’t hit the top of the velocity charts but his fastball has an up and in rise vs righties that seems to catch guys off guard. And when they start looking for that fastball, like Valencia was, Ryan’s slider becomes impossible to hit.

He could’ve kept going but there wasn’t really a point in doing that. The 6th inning was Joe Ryan’s last. He left the game with a 4-1 lead, when Team USA’s bullpen took over. Both the bats and stellar pitching continued from there and, when the dust settled, it was an 8-1 blowout victory for the Red, White and Blue to kick off the Olympic tournament.

This dude is already a very polished pitcher and it was a lot of fun to watch him work today. Hopefully we get to see Joe a couple more times in Japan before he comes back to the USA and (maybe) slips on a Twins uniform..

Hey ????, we here ????#ForGlory???????? #TeamUSA #Olympics #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/HluzpUwy9E

— USA Baseball (@USABaseball) July 30, 2021

This is a Joe Ryan stan account. #OlympicGames pic.twitter.com/w4zpYXoBlz

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) July 30, 2021

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Expiring contracts on losing teams are as good as liquidated at the MLB trade deadline and that’ll certainly be the case for the Twins too.

Good as Gone

There are five expiring contracts currently on this Twins roster and all of them already feel as good as traded, even if it’s for an extra bag of BP balls. If you bought one of these jerseys before the season, you’re an idiot sell or trade it in now.

• Andrelton Simmons
• Michael Pineda
• J.A. Happ
• Hansel Robles

The fifth guy expiring contract destined to be dealt before the deadline is Nelson Cruz. Even at 41 years old, Cruz is by far the best expiring contract player the Twins have to wave in front of playoff teams who feel they’re one elite bat away from a World Series run.

But, as mentioned, he’s “up there” in age and can’t play the field. That means Cruz’ suitors are narrowed to American League playoff team who need an immediate upgrade at that specific position. Most of the trade steam connected to Boomstick, so far, has come out of Tampa Bay, Oakland and Toronto. Hopefully, competing teams will bid his price up a little bit but I’m not expecting anything major in return for a half-season Cruz rental.

A’s and Jays are among possibilities for All-Star Nelson Cruz. Can you imagine Toronto’s lineup with Cruz? @MLBNetwork

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 8, 2021

Blow it up… or not?

At the end of the day, Minnesota Twins fans are expecting departures from all five of the players we’ve already touched on in this blog. But the trade deadline conversation gets a bit more complicated when you’re finished with the expiring contracts.

Does the Twins front office believe they’re legitimate contenders in the AL Central for next season? If so, trading non-expiring contracts, that could return a nice boatload of prospects, could end those 2022 dreams. But if contending next season feels at all out of reach, then trading the guys below would maximize their value to a degree you might never see post deadline and give you an early start on your rebuild.

• Taylor Rogers (1.5 years left)
• Tyler Duffey (1.5 years left)
• Josh Donaldson (2.5 years left w/team option for 3.5)
• Jose Berrios (1.5 years left)
• Byron Buxton (1.5 years left)

All of the players listed above, minus Josh Donaldson, would bring back very nice trade packages for the Twins. They’re all under team control for at least 1.5 more seasons and all would be productive members of any playoff team. But any trade of Taylor Rogers, Jose Berrios or Byron Buxton would definitely signal a complete rebuild and an admission that 2022 won’t be “our time”.

Tweeners

Josh Donaldson and/or Tyler Duffey being traded away wouldn’t signal the same type of “blow it all up” rebuild that the other three would. It was reported recently that the Twins don’t want a promising prospect(s) in return for Donaldson. They want a team willing to eat the majority of Josh’s remaining $50-ish million in salary over the next 2.5 years. They want as much of their money back as they can collect in an exchange policy.

If they can’t find it, hanging onto Donaldson seems like the better option. Duffey, while a nice complimentary piece to a good bullpen, wouldn’t make or break any future Twins roster but, with a full season left on his contract, he could still be a valuable trade asset.

Other Wildcards

Max Kepler is one guy to keep an eye on. He has two years left on an affordable contract, with a team option for a third. The Twins could have their future corner outfielders in Alex Kirilloff and Trevor Larnach, making Kepler expendable for the right trade offer. If the front office can get the right deal for Kepler or attach him to sweeten a deal they really want to get done, the option is there.

Guys like Jorge Polanco and Luis Arraez could be in this same boat. Don’t ask about Miguel Sano because he isn’t tradeable right now.

(Probably) Keeping the gang together

All whispers around town point to the Minnesota Twins front office doubling down on what they’ve built to this point. Reporters with ears to the ground just don’t see a world where Falvine unloads the likes of Jose Berrios and/or Byron Buxton before the deadline. I’d be surprised to see Rogers dealt, at this point.

Scoggins (Star Tribune): “Odds are, Twins management will convince themselves that this season is more fluke than fact, and that next season will yield different results with largely the same core personnel, which is a risky assumption.”

Wolfson (SKOR North): “I don’t think they’re completely blowing this thing up. I just don’t. He certainly talked about, this being my words not [Falvey’s], but this being a blip on the radar. That he feels they can rebound in a pretty significant way in 2022, that the idea is not to strip this thing down. [Falvey] did allude to [not stripping this thing down] big time on the Scoop Podcast a couple weeks ago.

Yes, there will be changes and we could see guys like Donaldson and Duffey go. But, if you’re hoping for a complete tear-it-down, build-it-back-up strategy, you’ll probably be disappointed. We’ll see if that’s the track they take and whether it ends successfully.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Minnesota Twins Designated Hitter, Nelson Cruz, is still very good at the game of baseball. That much can be confirmed after just three at-bats on Monday afternoon vs the Detroit Tigers. Cruz rifled a 110 MPH shot right at the 3rd baseman in his first at-bat of the season. That must have made him mad because he’s followed with two (possibly three) home runs since.

Boomstick came came up again in the 3rd inning with the bases loaded and bashed a high fastball to the opposite field. It was deep enough and it was high enough… but was it fair? The umpires ruled it a foul ball, even after replay review. But wow, after watching the slow-motion replay it at least 50 times, I’m almost pretty much convinced that this ball hit the pole and should have been fair.

I’m 71% sure Nelson Cruz’ foul ball hit the pole and was a HR. I’m 100% happy it didn’t matter. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/2TTbsqdChX

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) April 5, 2021

Don’t be upset, though. It didn’t matter. When Nelson Cruz decides he’s going to hit a baseball over the fence, there isn’t a pitcher or baseball god who’s going to stop him. I’m starting to doubt Father Time in his battle with Cruz too, who will be 41 this season.

But Nelson Cruz wasn’t done after his 3rd inning grand slam(s). His next time up, Boomstick went deep again. The Twins are running away with this one, leading 11-0 in the 5th inning.

Nothing like just missing a grand slam, only to mash one on the next pitch.

Nelson Cruz with an absolute ???? #MNTwins lead #DetroitRoots 6-0 in the 4th.

pic.twitter.com/p0Lo5cmpK2

— Covers (@Covers) April 5, 2021

Nelson Cruz has done it AGAIN pic.twitter.com/9w3oVLBEYj

— Alex Fast (@AlexFast8) April 5, 2021

Some bad news…

Not everything today is lollipops and rainbows in Minnesota Twins world. They’re looking like a really good baseball team but they’ve been struck by another mid-game injury disappearance from one of their best players. In game one, it was Josh Donaldson leaving for a “tight hamstring” after his first at-bat. Now, he’s on the 10-day injured list. In game three, Byron Buxton left the game with a non-COVID related illness that pushed him out of today’s lineup.

Now today, Luis Arraez left the game after he showed pain in his second at-bat of the day. He stayed in, took a walk and scored later in the inning. But he never re-emerged from the dugout to play defense. We’ll keep you posted.

Luis Arraez is out of the game with an apparent injury after Rocco Baldelli and trainer Michael Salazar came out to look at him last inning. Arraez initially stayed in the game, drawing a walk and coming around to score. But now Willians Astudillo has replaced him at third base.

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) April 5, 2021

???????? Luis Arraez @arraezluis la regadera, fue sacado de manera preventiva del partido de hoy contra los Tigers, debido a dolores en su pecho, fue sustituido por W. Astudillo #luisarraez #arraez #twins #minnesota pic.twitter.com/7J0uU5gVZm

— ElDesignado (@ElDesignado2) April 5, 2021

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Just hours after flirting with Marcell Ozuna, the Minnesota Twins have agreed to a one-year deal with designated hitter Nelson Cruz, worth $13 million. Cruz has been the main bat in this Twins lineup for two years now and he will be returning for one more.

Sources: Nelson Cruz signs one-year deal with the #MNTwins is worth $13 million.

— danhayesmlb (@DanHayesMLB) February 3, 2021

Over the last two seasons in Minnesota, Cruz has been one of the best hitters in baseball. He has played in 173 games and hit .308/.394/.626 (1.020) with 57 homers and 141 RBIs.

Cruz will be 41 years old when the season ends, but he hasn’t shown many signs of slowing down. If he can be 80% as productive as he has been the last couple seasons then this is a great move. Tom Brady is 43 and playing in the Super Bowl this weekend.

Other Details

The Twins reportedly (Darren Wolfson – KSTP) offered Marcell Ozuna yesterday, on top of extending a new offer to Nelson Cruz. It’s hard to believe that wasn’t a negotiating tactic at this point, especially since the offer to Ozuna wasn’t all that competitive.

Dan Hayes (The Athletic), who broke the Cruz signing, reports that the Twins offer to the Dominican slugger had sat no higher than one-year/$11 million, up until two weeks ago when they started to up the ante. If another team would have swooped in with a two-year deal then the Minnesota Twins would have walked away, according to Hayes.

Alex Colome up next?

Nelson Cruz wasn’t all Dan Hayes was scooping late last night. He also reports that the Twins are “interested in the services of right-hander Alex Colome”. I suspect that the relationship between the Twins and Colome is much more than “interesting”, if Hayes is writing it into the bottom of an article breaking the Nelson Cruz contract.

Colome would fill the desperate need Minnesota currently has at the back-end of their bullpen and answer the question on whether they trust Taylor Rogers in the closer role.

UPDATE: Hayes’ report regarding the Twins’ “interest” in Colome is now being confirmed by Jon Heyman.

After getting Cruz back in the fold, #MNTwins focus now is on bullpen, including the back end, and Alex Colome is one of many on their radar. May sign multiple guys for pen.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 3, 2021

How good is Alex Colome?

Alex is 32 and he’s been in the league for five seasons. He started in his first full season in the big leagues but has been much better in the bullpen, where he’s been since 2016. He hit super-saiyan level in 2020.

Eric Strack and Cooper Carlson | Minnesota Sports Fan

Nelson Cruz and the Minnesota Twins have always preferred a 3rd-year reunion for 2021. Still, both sides have been at an impasse for the past few months, mostly due to contract length. The 42-year-old Cruz wanted a two-year commitment from his next employer but Falvine was only willing to commit for one.

While the standoff went on, all sides waited for the MLB and it’s Player’s Association to decide whether or not the National League would have a designated hitter. Would Falvine flinch with a 100% increase in possible suitors, should the NL adopt the DH?

Doesn’t matter

Last week, the NL DH dream died (most likely). Now, not by coincidence, Dan Hayes (The Athletic) is reporting that the Minnesota Twins and Nelson Cruz’ representation are back at the negotiating table. Money is the main topic of conversation now, according to Hayes, because both sides have settled on a one-year term.

‘..discussions between Cruz and the Twins have been rejuvenated with the possibility of a one-year accord now on the table, sources said. Whether common ground on a salary can be found remains to be seen.

Dan Hayes (The Athletic)

I’d take your dad’s subscription to The Athletic and read the entire article. Hayes makes it clear that a Nelson Cruz return to Minnesota is no guarantee. Length might be settled but price clearly isn’t.

Cruz is now a priority but the Minnesota Twins want us to believe that, with or without him, they have a lot of offseason left. I’ll believe their late aggressiveness when I see it. Should they move on Boomstick, Falvine would be awfully close to, if not beyond, their reported $120-ish million self-imposed salary cap for the upcoming season.

The Twins still need to add a playoff-caliber SP and back-end bullpen help to be widely considered World Series contenders.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

It appears as though the National League will go without a designated hitter in 2021. That should have meant the Minnesota Twins are re-signing Nelson Cruz, right? Not so fast.

On a new episode of The Scoop podcast that was released today, Darren Wolfson (KSTP, SKOR North) says the opposite. Apparently, contract talks between Cruz and the Twins are colder than we’ve been lead to believe. Rumors surrounding White Sox’ interest in the DH has been much more relevant the last couple days.

Here is the quote but you can listen yourself, below too. Cruz talk starts at the 1:55 mark, if you go that route.

“Here’s what I would say on Cruz. For the Twins to bring him back, some new talks would have to happen. A new offer would have to happen. That hasn’t happened for a while. So could it change? It could, all it takes is one new call or one new offer but as of now, as of Monday evening, talks have been pretty dead for a stretch here. I don’t know if I see Nellie Cruz back in a Twins uniform here in 2021.”

Darren Wolfson (KSTP, SKOR North)

If not Cruz, then who?

If the Twins don’t bring back Cruz for, let’s say $15 million, then what is the alternative? With the payroll sitting at about $90 million and likely to finish around $125 million, the Twins have money to spend.

It should be expected that we will see three more impactful moves from the Twins. Likely one middle infielder, one starting pitcher, and one relief pitcher. Here are three realistic options for those positions. Pick one player from each group.

• IF: Marcus Semien, Didi Gregorius, Andrelton Simmons (~$15 Million)
• SP: Jake Odorizzi, Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton (~$15 million)
• RP: Tyler Clippard, Joakim Soria, Mark Melancon (~5 million)

Obviously, there will be other moves that round out the roster for cheap, but I expect those three positions to see more significant signings, before we’re said and done this offseason.

If these recent rumors are true and Nelson Cruz doesn’t return, the Twins’ DH slot becomes wide open and would probably be filled by committee. Between, Kirilloff, Donaldson, Sano, Rooker, Polanco and their (hopefully) big middle infield signing, they should be ok.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

It looks like the fate of the 2021 National League designated hitter may have finally been realized. The MLB had sent a proposal to the players’ union that gave the NL a DH in exchange for expanded playoffs. The MLBPA has rejected that proposal.

Jon Heyman (MLB Network) tweeted this after receiving a memo from the Major League Baseball Commissioner’s office.

MLB memo says union rejects deal for DH and expanded playoffs

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 25, 2021

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet tw-align-center”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>MLB offered a universal DH if the union agreed to expanded playoffs. Union rebuffed the deal, which included extra money for players, so at least for now there will be no universal DH.</p>&mdash; Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) <a href=”https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/1353776275245178883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>January 25, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

This news is obviously important to the Minnesota Twins, who are hoping to re-sign Nelson Cruz for a third season. Minnesota is the obvious fit for Cruz on the American League side, but his team was hoping to get a 2-year offer if the DH opened again to NL teams.

Heyman doesn’t go as far as saying this is the end of DH talks for the upcoming season, but conversations are obviously over for the moment. There’s only a month left until the Twins play their first Spring Training game vs the Tampa Bay Rays and a lot of rounding out needs to happen with this 2021 roster..

How much longer can the Minnesota Twins and Nelson Cruz hold their stalemate?

MLB made the offer of a trade — they get expanded playoffs and players get universal DH — before holidays. Union recently rejected the offer. So far no counterproposal from union. Spring training is less than a month away but perhaps an outside chance they figure it out in time?

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 25, 2021

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Chicago White Sox must’ve missed the memo. It’s supposed to be a cheap and quiet MLB offseason but they continue spending money directly under the noses of their divisional rivals.

While Cleveland was trading away Francisco Lindor, successfully closing their championship window, and the Minnesota Twins were frozen in COVID time, the Sox got busy and have been taking advantage of a stagnant free agent market. Now, on paper… they look sizably better than everyone else.

The national media has jumped on the Sox’ bandwagon and I certainly can’t blame them. They’re a fun, young team that has a front office unafraid of going all in when the time is right.

The @WhiteSox are stacked. ???? pic.twitter.com/9rGFKqbsxQ

— MLB (@MLB) January 15, 2021

Blowing by the Twins

The Twins barely outran the Sox during 2020’s 60-game sprint, taking the AL Central by just one game. That was despite a top-6 pitching staff and the South Siders’ clear superiority on offense. Minnesota can hit but Chicago had 4.0 more points of WAR than any other AL team last season.

So what did Chicago do to address their pitching, which most wouldn’t even call a “weakness”? They did what contenders should do. The front office signed Lance Lynn for their starting staff, a top six Cy Young finisher in consecutive seasons; along with Liam Hendriks, the best relief pitcher in baseball (according to MLB Network).

If you look at the two batting lineups side-by-side, it looks even worse. Here are the projected lineups for the Chicago White Sox and Minneosta Twins this season, according to Fangraphs.com.

Remember, the Twins haven’t even had the stones to sign Nelson Cruz back into their DH spot yet.

Which lineup are you taking right now? pic.twitter.com/SGsMIvZQjs

— Cooper (@CoopCarlson) January 17, 2021

Does Minnesota have a clear advantage at any position? Max Kepler in right field over Adam Eaton probably… but even Max is looking to bounce back from a down 2020. Outside of RF, you could argue that Chicago is better at every position.

There are still moves to be made… for both teams.

This offseason is far from over and a fair amount of action is yet to be had. Both the Twins and White Sox will add players and, consequently, the Twins could claw their way back to the top of the AL Central preseason power rankings. But I honestly don’t see that as a likely scenario anymore.

The Twins will probably bring back Nelson Cruz, but I expect the Sox to sign a DH before all is said and done too. Much like the Twins, I expect Chicago to go out and get both another legitimate arm and bat before innings start counting in a couple of months.

Chicago is trying to steal the AL Central crown and the Minnesota Twins front office is just watching it happen. Now I’m concerned this is about to be the White Sox’ division.

Cooper Carlson | Minnesota Sports Fan

There is a lot of uncertainty floating around Major League Baseball this offseason. Executives still don’t know how much money their teams will make in 2021. Because of that, mid-level players are stuck in a 3-month free agency period that might not move for them until March.

There’s still no Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and players union yet either. That has led to roster questions among teams that is suffocating movement too. We still don’t know what roster sizes will be or if the NL will allow designated hitters.

Universal DH Latest

Pretty much everyone, other than the Minnesota Twins, wants the NL to adopt the DH but it still hasn’t happened. Now, according to The Athletic, the MLB sent a memo last week instructing teams to operate under the assumption that NL pitchers will be hitting for themselves in 2021.

MLB instructed clubs in a memo last week to proceed under the assumption the DH will not be used in the NL this year, though few will complain if the league and union reach agreement to the contrary.

Ken Rosenthal – The Athletic

How this is written, you wonder if the MLB used the memo as a bargaining move in CBA negotiations with the MLBPA. If you read about why the universal DH hasn’t been implemented yet, even if most around baseball want it, then a bargaining chip memo sent by the league makes sense.

The MLB owners won’t agree to the universal DH unless they get something back in negotiations (ex.: expanded playoffs, etc), according to The Athletic. We’ll see if their demands are met, but if not, it doesn’t look like the MLB is budging. At least, not according to the above memo.

Here’s how The Athletic laid out the hangup between the MLB and MLBPA, when negotiating the universal DH.

If Commissioner Rob Manfred were to ask all 30 team owners to vote on a universal designated hitter for 2021 and beyond, he would get the necessary 25 votes, according to sources familiar with each organization’s thinking. If Tony Clark, head of the players union, were to ask his players to vote on the same issue, it’s assumed a strong majority would be in favor of the universal DH.

So what’s the hang-up? It’s simple. The clubs feel that if they are going to agree to the universal DH, they want something in return, whether it’s an agreement for expanded playoffs or any other trade-off that makes sense.

The Athletic – Jim Bowden

Good News for Minnesota Twins

As mentioned earlier, one group who was happy to see that memo sent out, was the Minnesota Twins’ front office. Their biggest roster unknown for 2021 is superstar DH, Nelson Cruz. He’s led the team in just about every hitting category, during his two seasons here, but he’s old (41).

He and the Twins have both professed their fondness for each other during the offseason and they have to be the favorite to land him. The sticking point right now, is contract term.

The Twins have a 1-year deal on the negotiating table for Cruz but he wants two seasons. The likelihood of that offer coming from another team, increases greatly if the National League adopts the designated hitter. The change would open 15 new job opportunities for Nellie.

But if there’s no NL DH in 2021, how do Nelson Cruz and his agent counter the Twins’ 1-year offer? Do they drop their 2-year demands down to a 1-year + a team option contract? If so, I bet the Twins excitedly agree and Nelson is back for 2021 (and maybe 2022).

Even if the NL goes without a DH, Cruz could get a two-year offer from another American League team. Getting a 2-year offer elsewhere would force Minnesota into a difficult decision. But whether it’s one or two years, the Twins need to make sure Nelson Cruz comes back. It would be a huge mistake to let him walk.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan