Kenta Maeda is what I refer to as a washbasin – as he will throw the entire kitchen center on you. On Tuesday night, the veteran judge had everything that worked for the Minnesota Twins in their game against the Brewers: fastball, sinker, slider, splitter, blender, waffle iron. Through eight innings, the Brewers looked helpless. Maeda had not given up a hit and had 12 strikeouts. He had caused 26 upheavals and mistakes, an enormous total. Of the 76 individuals without hiters who have been shot since 1990, only seven of them had more than 25 swings and missed. The 26 missions also rank as the second-highest single-game total of 2020, behind Shane Bieber’s 27.
Hawar, on Maeda’s second pitch from the top of the ninth, hit Eric Sogard on what former White Sox announcer Ken Harrelson would have called a duck mustache to center field. The little blooper fell just outside the reach of shortstop Jorge Polanco, who actually overpowered the ball a bit as it turned his way around like Minnesota Fats shooting an impossible billiards ball.
Yet it was a miraculous attempt, the last of an early string of them for Maeda. The field to Sogard was the 115th of Maeda’s nights, the most he’s ever thrown in a single game in the major, so his night ended and he watched as the Brewers ran three runs to ban the score. , which means Maeda did not claim the win in the best start of his premiership career. The Twins finally pulled off the 4-3 victory in 12 innings, when Byron Buxton scored the winning run from second base on two damaged clubs. (Yes kids, sometimes you just have to put the ball in play.)
Maeda is 3-0 in its five starts with a 2.27 ERA and only 14 hits allowed in 31⅔ innings. Among qualified starters, he ranks second in the majors in the lowest allowed handball average, first in OBP and tied as first in OPS.
The Twins bought Maeda from the Dodgers in February in a deal for hard-hitting relief prospect Brusdar Graterol, with two other prospects also switching teams – and the Twins also receive $ 10 million in cash from the Dodgers. (Maeda was originally part of the Mookie Betts deal as part of a three-team deal, but the Red Sox were concerned about Graterol’s drugs and the Twins and Dodgers reworked the Maeda part of the deal.)
It was an amazing bit of maneuvering by the twins’ front-office duo of Derek Falvey and Thad Levine. Maeda has been signed through 2023 and the Dodgers, with Dustin May and Julio Urias ready for rotation points, were basically looking for some salary space for Betts and David Price. Maeda has been a solid performer for the Dodgers in his four seasons with a 3.87 ERA, but he was also the starter who has been pushing the ball the past three postseasons. For the Dodgers, he was out. For the Twins, he’s an important part of their plans to end the unexpectedly long 16-game postseason losing streak that dates back to 2004.
Maeda’s contract is a bit complicated as it has a low base salary of just $ 3 million per season (due to red flags in its medical reports when the Dodgers first signed him when he left Japan), but includes performance bonuses each season based on games started and innings pitched. Those bonuses can raise his salary above $ 10 million per season (in a normal season), but that’s still a decent bargain for a solid starter like him. The twins probably can not get a man in the market for free agents for that money, but they can pay Maeda.
Plus, they need rotation assistance. Despite winning 101 games in 2019, the rotation was a mess by the time the postseason arrived, and unexpected rookie Randy Dobnak, with only five career starts in the major leagues, had to start the second game of the AL Division Series – which the Yankees swept the twins out. The Twins soon signed Jake Odorizzi as a free agent, signed Michael Pineda again and then added veterans Homer Bailey and Rich Hill. Maeda was the last piece and now the Twins have depth behind staff ace Jose Berrios.
Even that depth has not been enough. Pineda still serves the rest of a PED suspension, Bailey and Hill each made one start before landing on the IL, and Odorizzi missed a few starts due to back pain. The twins had to use them to use relievers to fill in as starters. Even with Berrios a slow start, it has worked, mainly because Maeda and Dobnak (4-1, 1.42 ERA) have been so dominant. It’s a nice duo, because Dobnak is a man who relies on a sinker and weak contact. Like Maeda, he shows that you can succeed without raising 95 mph.
The twins need Maeda and Dobnak to step up, as the offense was not as impressive as in 2019, averaging 4.83 runes per game compared to 5.80 last season. Nelson Cruz remains the ageless wonder, but every other hitter underperforms what they did in 2019, with Mitch Garver (.143, one home port) and Miguel Sano (.172) particularly struggling. Josh Donaldson, recipient of the biggest contract for free agents in franchise history, would have to help – once he returns from the injured list.
After the departure of Maeda, I think back to 1991, when the Twins brought another starter, they hoped to bring stability to the rotation. One year of Jack Morris in Minnesota made him a Twins legend. I do not expect Maeda to complete a 10-inning in Game 7 of the World Series, but assuming Berrios unpacks things, and Maeda and Dobnak continue pitching like this, these three could be the Twins’ best rotation trio since Morris be, Kevin Tapani and Scott Erickson set up for those World Series championships.
I would like to see the ninth inning situation settled, as Taylor Rogers and Sergio Romo share the closer duties. The bullpen has actually been pretty good overall (fifth in ERA), with Tyler Duffey after a great start with no runs and a 12-0 strikeout-to-walk ratio in nine innings and Tyler Clippard and Trevor May delivering depth. Assuming the offense is starting to pick up – and it needs to get better, because the team’s BABIP is just .269 compared to .300 last season – I love this team better than the 2019 edition thanks to the improved rotation and bullpen.
The Dodgers did not really give Maeda a chance to start in October. He gets that chance with the Twins.
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