5 offseason moves the Minnesota Twins need to make

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 04: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) Nelson Cruz #23 of the Minnesota Twins follows through on a third inning home run against the New York Yankees in game one of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium on October 04, 2019 in New York City. The Yankees defeated the Twins 10-4. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

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2. Make a good faith effort to bring back Jake Odorizzi

In the pursuit of starting pitching, the Twins have Odorizzi as a looming internal free agent. He earned his first career All-Star nod this year, as he won a career-high 15 games with a 3.51 ERA (3.36 FIP) and a career-best 10.0 K/9 over 30 starts.

The Twins could extend a qualifying offer to Odorizzi. If he declined it, he would then be tied to draft pick compensation for any other team that signed him and that would naturally dampen his market. But the Twins should not play that qualifying offer game. As arguably their most stable starting pitcher, they should just reward Odorizzi for a good season with a multi-year deal to keep him in the fold. If the Twins won’t, someone else surely will if he’s allowed to hit the market untied to a qualifying offer.

I’d easily give Odorizzi a two or three-year deal (maybe with the third year as some sort of option if the Twins wanted to reduce risk) at somewhere in the $12-$15 million per year range. Time will tell if the Twins front office agrees about that being a viable investment. But an effort to bring Odorizzi back as the No. 2 or No. 3 starter, without levying a qualifying offer and putting him in that dance, has to be coming.

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