Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa 'having pretty close to a perfect offseason'

August 17 is the day that the 2024 Minnesota Twins began plummeting to their death. They were 70-53 and wound up losing 27 of 39 games to finish the season and limp into the offseason. Two big reasons for the collapse were the absences of Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton.

Buxton missed a month from mid-August to mid-September and Correa missed all but the final 11 games of the second half of the season. The word from manager Rocco Baldelli this winter is that Buxton and Correa are healthy as can be ahead of spring training next month.

"Perfect isn't a word we use often in our game, but they're having pretty close to a perfect offseason. It was music to my ears every time I get on the phone or get an email from Nick Paparesta, our head trainer. This is the first time Byron Buxton's had a clean, smooth, normal offseason. Because most every offseason he's rehabbed something," Baldelli told WCCO Radio's Chad Hartman on Wednesday. "He's just able to go do baseball stuff. He's able to go work out like every other player deserves to do. You would think everyone does this, but he's had to work twice as hard as any other guy every other offseason. This year, he's good."

Same goes for Correa, whose last two seasons have been derailed by plantar fasciitis in both feet.

"The plantar fasciitis has resolved. He's in a good spot. He's been in normal workouts for a while now," Baldelii said, noting that Correa's struggles with plantar fasciitis have shown up "out of the blue."

Less swinging for the fences in 2025

Baldelli said he's spent the offseason trying to figure out how to prevent another late-season collapse from happening. One solution will be emphasizing better at-bats, which in Baldelli's mind means less swinging for the fences.

"We were winning games by, truly, whacking the ball all around the park. We weren't doing it with tons of speed and athleticism and stealing bases, we were doing it by hitting the ball hard. We had big, strong guys up and down the lineup and we were hitting homers and doubles. We were slugging our way to success. That can be effective, but I think we need to have more clubs in our bag," Baldelli said.

"We did make some staff changes. We have a new hitting department that we're going to unleash with our players in spring training," he continued. "The goals heading into spring training for our team, are to talk about approach and to talk about how to win games when you don't hit two home runs."

It's been a dull offseason from a roster acquisition standpoint, but there's no denying that the Twins had the horses to compete for a division title in 2024 and running it back in 2025 could produce a playoff appearance so long as key players can stay on the field.