Luis Gil still haunts Minnesota Twins

The Minnesota Twins signed Luis Gil as an international free agent back in 2014 as a 16-year-old. He made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League the next year. Just 28 games into his career, none of them coming stateside, Minnesota moved him to the New York Yankees. In 2018, a mediocre Twins team needed outfield help and they settled on Jake Cave. So it was, Gil for Cave, straight up. After two big league cameo’s Gil stuck in New York this season and took home top honors.

Luis Gil edges Colton Cowser for the AL Rookie of the Year Award. Here’s the full vote: pic.twitter.com/sGkvpzf7Va

— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) November 18, 2024

The seemed expected to be between Gil and the Baltimore Orioles Colton Cowser. The outfielder’s 4.0 fWAR was better than Gil’s 2.2 fWAR, but the Yankees starter was a rotation fixture across his 29 outings. It’s hard to suggest either would have been the wrong choice, and the race was arguably decided by a pair of Minnesota BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) members. The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman left Cowser off his ballot entirely, while the Star Tribune’s LaVelle E. Neal had him as the runner-up.

Related: Former Minnesota Twins Closer Makes BBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot

Both Minnesota @officialBBWAA representatives, @AaronGleeman and @LaVelleNeal had the former #MNTwins prospect Luis Gil as their AL ROY pick.

— Ted (@tlschwerz) November 19, 2024

Related: Minnesota Twins Prospects That Still Need to be Added to the 40-Man Roster This Week

Through Gil’s first 12 starts, he owned a season-best 1.82 ERA for the Yankees. He did struggle to keep that pace down the stretch, but pitched in both the American League Championship Series and the World Series. The Los Angeles Dodgers tagged Gil for four runs across five innings en route to a Game 4 victory.

Another stellar start for Luis Gil who improves his ERA to 2.11

6.1IP 1H 0ER 8K (14 swing & misses) #Mariners averaged 83.3 MPH of EV against Gil. #Yankees #Repbx #MLB

(video credits to @PitchingNinja) pic.twitter.com/lXOwm1CPwY

— Coach AZ (@CoachAZ_) May 23, 2024

Gil joins National League Rookie of the Year winner Paul Skenes to make it a sweep for starting pitchers. Next season he will look to build upon the 3.50 ERA from 2024. Meanwhile, Jake Cave last played for the Twins in 2022. He went to the Philadelphia Phillies next and posted an 84 OPS+ with the Colorado Rockies last season. Cave owns a career 88 OPS+ across 523 games and is a free agent this offseason.

Related: Minnesota Twins 2024 Waiver Claim Can’t Find a Job in USA Anymore

It’s beyond unfortunate how this all worked out for Minnesota. Of course, it’s hard to fault Derek Falvey for making the move at the time. No one could have predicted this sort of rise for Gil even if Cave’s ceiling was muted. It would be nice to see the situation work out differently for once though.

Dallas Turner, the #17 pick, is currently the frontrunner to win defensive rookie of the year award. Meanwhile, JJ McCarthy, the #10 overall pick, has the fourth best odds to win offensive rookie of the year.

Dallas Turner Defensive Rookie of the Year Odds

Let’s start with Turner, out of the University of Alabama. The Vikings took Turner shortly after the draft started with 14-straight offensive players being selected.

It was an unexpected turn of events, but the Vikings capitalized, securing one of the top defensive prospects in the draft with their second first-round pick of the draft.

Both FanDuel and DraftKings are tipping Turner as the leading candidate for the defensive rookie of the year, at +450.

Those odds are nearly twice as good as the next defensive rookie behind him, who happens to be Laiatu Latu. Latu got picked 15th by the Colts, two picks before the Vikings selected Dallas Turner.

Related: Mel Kiper Jr Not Impressed by Minnesota Vikings 2024 NFL Draft

Here’s something cool to note: Tyler Nubin, a former Gopher player who was drafted by the New York Giants as the 47th overall pick in the second round, is listed in the top 15 for best odds to win DROY (+3500).

JJ McCarthy Offensive Rookie of the Year Odds

The Vikings shook things up a little bit by trading up in the draft to snag the 10th overall pick. Their target? A potential franchise quarterback who just clinched a national championship with Michigan.

All signs point to McCarthy being a serious contender for the Vikings’ starting QB role and a strong rival to Caleb Williams in the race for offensive rookie of the year.

It’s worth mentioning that McCarthy’s odds of winning the award are higher compared to someone like Drake Maye, who was picked 3rd overall in the draft by the Patriots, just 7 spots before McCarthy.

Related: Will J.J. McCarthy Start Right Away?

The crucial factor here could very well be the supporting cast on offense for each player, as well as the coaching staff. If Maye had landed with the Vikings instead, he might have similar or even better odds than McCarthy currently does.

Minnesota Timberwolves wing and 2020 #1 overall pick, Anthony Edwards, deserved to be the NBA Rookie of the Year but most who follow the league closely knew he wasn’t going to win the award. He plays in Minnesota and his last name isn’t “Ball”. Sometimes, life just isn’t fair and that’s the only logical explanation for why certain things take place in this world.

Still, the stats make the decision look pretty brutal. LaMelo Ball missed half the season (played 20 less games than Ant) and was really bad when he returned from injury.

Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball has been voted the NBA’s Rookie of the Year, sources tell ESPN. Announcement expected soon.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 16, 2021

LaMelo Ball vs. Anthony Edwards this season:

– LaMelo:
15.7 PPG
6.1 APG
5.9 RPG
1.6 SPG
43% FG
35% 3P
51 Games

– Edwards:
19.3 PPG
2.9 APG
4.7 RPG
1.1 SPG
41% FG
32% 3P
72 Games pic.twitter.com/I7EexWZXmt

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) June 16, 2021

LaMelo vs. Anthony Edwards since May 1st-
Melo:
15 PPG (38/24/66) shooting splits
6 RPG
6 APG

Edwards:
27 PPG (52/41/80)
5 RPG
5 APG

May 1st is the date that Melo cameback from his injury. At that date, Anthony Edwards was rookie of the year while Melo was 6th. pic.twitter.com/05FF8rqXnt

— Sai (@LeGoatedOne) June 16, 2021

Anthony Edwards Tweets

I wish we would have recorded Ant’s reaction to Ball receiving the ROY nod over him. Anytime Anthony Edwards is on camera, something good happens. Instead, we got an underwhelming reaction via a “quote tweet” on Twitter. Hopefully his play will do the talking.

Edwards quote tweeted an old coach/mentor of his, Justin Holland, who condemned the Rookie of the Year voters and forewarned the NBA for “poking the [Anthony Edwards] bear”. I would have preferred a social media video of Ant laughing it off and promising the same thing, himself… but this is about what I would have expected.

But, hopefully Ant does see this as bulletin board material for 2021. The Minnesota Timberwolves need him to take another big step next season if they’re going to do the same thing as a franchise.

???????? https://t.co/xz2HNeCAmA

— Anthony Edwards (@theantedwards_) June 16, 2021

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Karl-Anthony Towns got in front of the Zoom camera last night after a Minnesota Timberwolves loss vs the Miami Heat and stood up for his new friend and emerging NBA star, Anthony Edwards. He declared Ant as the 2021 NBA Rookie of the Year and essentially called everyone who doesn’t agree with him, stupid. It is one of my all-time favorite KAT moments.

there's no other rookie like A1.

take it from @KarlTowns. pic.twitter.com/i5g8uBqMZu

— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) May 8, 2021

The sentiment was great but Karl’s declaration has merit too, especially during the back half of this season. In his last 35 games, Anthony Edwards is averaging 23.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game on 44% from the field and 33% from deep.

LaMelo Ball, Edwards’ only competition for ROY, hasn’t even played during most of Ant’s incredible stretch. He was hurt in a game on March 20 and didn’t return to the floor until May 1. When he was first injured, LaMelo was handedly winning the Rookie of the Year race.

Their averages per game for the season are too close to call a winner and LaMelo’s supporters from early-on are stubborn.

Oddsmakers Disagree with KAT (big time)

Ant’s last 35 games have been enough to rope in two-straight Rookie of the Month awards for March and April. According to FanDuel.com, however, his resurgence isn’t going to be enough to surpass LaMelo Ball for NBA Rookie of the Year. In fact, Ant isn’t even expected to come close.

As of Saturday afternoon, May 8, Ball is an easy favorite at (-550) over Edwards (+300) and the rest of the field. For those who don’t gamble, that means to win $100 on a LaMelo ROY, you’d have to bet $550. On the other side of the coin, if you bet $100 on Anthony and he pulls off the upset, you’d win $300.

Current NBA Rookie of the Year odds (via Fanduel) pic.twitter.com/VbocydruuY

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) May 8, 2021

What do the voters say?

The deeper you look into it, the worse you’ll feel about Ant’s ROY chances. Brian Windhorst votes for Rookie of the Year and he makes it seem like LaMelo Ball should just be etched into the trophy right now.

"I'm gonna vote for LaMelo because he has impacted winning since day 1. But Edwards' second half of the season has Wolves fans excited"

—@WindhorstESPN #NBA #NBATwitter #TheJump #RaisedByWolves #AllFly https://t.co/dsvWJaQC4E

— The Jump on ESPN (@NBATheJump) May 6, 2021

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Late Saturday night, LA Chargers rookie Quarterback, Justin Herbert, destroyed Minnesota Vikings wide receiver, Justin Jefferson, in Offensive NFL Rookie of the Year Award voting.

The final tally was 41-9 in favor of Herbert, proving once again that the “NFL Rookie of the Year” award is really just the “NFL Rookie Quarterback of the Year” award.

Offensive Rookie of the Year voting:

Justin Hebrert: 41
Justin Jefferson: 9

— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) February 7, 2021

Jefferson put together a historic rookie campaign, turning himself into a top-5 wide receiver during his first year in the NFL. If his 88 receptions, 1400 yards, 7 TD’s and 15.9 YPR can ‘t get JJ that ROY trophy then you have to wonder what has to be done for a non-quarterback to lift it.

Herbert had an impressive season too, but at the end of the day, Jefferson was better at wide receiver than Herbert was at quarterback.

Justin Herbert was roughly the 15th-best quarterback in the NFL this year. Justin Jefferson was a top-5 wide receiver.

Herbert broke records set two years ago. Jefferson broke records set 20 years ago.

Jefferson not winning OROY after the season he had is absurd.

— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) February 7, 2021

If nothing else, this will hopefully lead to a more motivated Justin Jefferson in year two of his career. If his twitter last night was any indication… then 2021 should be fun.

????????see ya next season

— JJETS✈️ (@JJettas2) February 7, 2021

Cooper Carlson | Minnesota Sports Fan