The Twins Are Teaching MLB Teams How to Avoid a Teardown
A year ago at this time, the writing was already on the wall.
On this date last season, the Twins sat in last place of a mediocre division at 18–29, and in little more than two months’ time, they would part ways with established players José Berríos, Nelson Cruz, J.A. Happ and Hansel Robles in a trade deadline sell-off that preceded Las Vegas Raiders Jerseys a last-place finish. For a small-market team that crapped out from 2011 to ’16—they averaged more than 94 losses per year during that stretch—it seemed to mark the end of an all-too-brief contention window that featured just three playoff appearances and (infamously) zero wins.
AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn
Except here we are, two months into the 2022 campaign, and a team two decades removed from its last...