STARTERS TO CHOOSE FROM
Jose Berrios righthander, 25
• Contract: one year, $4.025 million. Under team control through 2022.
• Opening Day and playoff opener starter last year, when he made his second All-Star team. Slumped badly in August (7.57 ERA) and finished year 14-8 with a 3.68 ERA. Pitched 200 innings for the first time.
Jake Odorizzi righthander, 29
• Contract: one year, $17.8 million. Accepted one-time qualifying offer.
• First-time All-Star parlayed his best season into a big one-year payday instead of heading into free agency. Eight-year veteran was 15-7 with a 3.51 ERA but averaged only 5⅓ innings per start.
Kenta Maeda righthander, 31
• Contract: four years, $3 million base yearly, with incentives (mostly for starts) that could add another $10 million per year.
• Acquired from the Dodgers, where he has pitched in the past four postseasons after coming over from Japan. Is 47-35 with a 3.87 ERA and 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings in his MLB career. Has a nasty slider.
Homer Bailey righthander, 33
• Contract: one year, $7 million.
• Has 243 major league starts and signed as a free agent. The last of his 12 seasons in Cincinnati ended 1-14, and he split last year between the Royals and the Athletics (combined 13-9, 4.57 ERA in 31 starts).
Michael Pineda righthander, 31
• Contract: two years, $20 million. But will lose $2.1 million of his $10 million deal for 2020 after completing suspension.
• Will miss the first 39 games, the remainder of a 60-game penalty for using a banned diuretic. After missing all of 2018 after surgery and an injury, he got better as 2019 went on, going 11-5 with a 4.01 ERA in 26 starts.
Rich Hill lefthander, 39
• Contract: one year, $3 million base, with possible $9.5 million in incentives.
• Had primary revision surgery in October to repair a tear in a left elbow ligament that will delay his Twins debut until at least June. In 68 starts for the Dodgers in the past four seasons had a sparkling 3.16 ERA.
Jhoulys Chacin righthander, 32
• Contract: If added to 40-man roster, it's $1.6M for one year with $1.5M in incentives.
• After a wonderful 2018 season (15-8 with an NL-high 35 starts), he was Milwaukee's Opening Day starter in 2019, beating St. Louis. Everything went wrong after that.
Devin Smeltzer lefthander, 24
• Contract: major league minimum, $583,500
• The feel-good story of last season. Smeltzer was a childhood cancer survivor who made his big-league debut and started six games.
Randy Dobnak righthander, 25
• Contract: major league minimum, $583,500
• Worked his way up last season from Class A to pitch in nine MLB games (1.59 ERA) and start a playoff game at Yankee Stadium.
Lewis Thorpe lefthander, 24
• Contract: major league minimum, $583,500
• Aussie pitched in 12 games for the Twins in 2019 after 19 starts at Class AAA Rochester.
CHRIS MILLER
