Bronson Arroyo to the Minnesota Twins?

Man I hope so! A couple weeks back, Bronson Arroyo failed to make my top 5 list of free agent pitchers the Twins should target. However, had I known the contracts sought by the likes of Ervin Santana and Matt Garza back then, Arroyo undoubtedly would have made my radar. Hearing a report that the Twins are even coming close to offering a deal to this veteran has me feeling like a kid on Christmas Eve.

Arroyo is arguably THE most consistent starting pitcher in all of baseball, with a thoroughbred, rubber arm. He hasn't started less than 30 games or thrown less than 199 innings in a season since 2005! 57% of his career starts have been Quality Starts, and 69% of his starts were Quality Starts last season. He has a 4.19 ERA, a WHIP of 1.292, and has only walked 2.5 per 9 innings pitched over the course of his career, and yet somehow, at 36 years old seems to be in the prime of his career.

Over the last 2 seasons, Arroyo has thrown 404 innings over 64 starts, to the tune of a 3.76 ERA. He has even further increased his accuracy and done more to keep opponents contact down as well, recording a WHIP of only 1.181, walking only 1.5 per 9 innings, and punching out a solid 5.6 batters per 9 over the same time period!

Arroyo's only real downfall as a pitcher comes in being occasionally susceptible to the long ball. He allowed 32 Homers last season, and as many as 46 a few years ago in 2011. These numbers, however, would likely be kept to a minimum and prove to be a non factor if Arroyo were to pitch half of his games in the pitcher friendly confines of Target Field.

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Josh Willingham's 3 year, $21 million deal before the 2012 season was the largest free agent contract the Minnesota Twins have ever issued. Arroyo is slated to receive roughly a 2 or 3 year deal worth $10 to $13 million per year, and would easily take over that spot in Twins history. A signing of this magnitude would set a tone for the entire Minnesota Twins organization, one that says, "We're in this thing! We're not going to wait around and hope to be a better team in the future. We're making it happen right now!" Arroyo would be an outstanding fit in one of the top 3 slots of Minnesota's 2014 starting rotation and at his price he won't be the only new addition to the pitching staff next season. If even a likely maximum of $13 million is offered to Arroyo, that still leaves roughly $27 million to $37 million to throw at one or two more high quality starting pitchers this offseason, or provides more leverage to sign a quality bat while working the trading block for a pitcher!

I apologize for the excessive use of explanation points in this post, but I couldn't be more excited for the coming weeks, and the 2014 season to follow! Go Twins!