The Minnesota Twins are not expected to be anywhere near contenders this season in a talented American League Central, but general manager Terry Ryan has gone out and made a surprising splash in the free agent market.

The newest Twins are veteran starting pitchers Phil Hughes and Ricky Nolasco. While neither is regarded as a superstar, they both deepen what was arguably baseball’s worst pitching staff in 2013.

In fact, the dismal rotation ranked dead last in baseball in strikeouts, quality starts and batting average against. It was also second-worst (only to the Houston Astros’ staff) in earned run average.

Signing Nolasco and Hughes does not mean that the Twins are in contending mode, but the fan base should be happy that Ryan has been addressing the team’s biggest flaw.

The Twins are in rebuilding mode and have a fairly decent future from an offensive standpoint. Outfielder Byron Buxton and third baseman Miguel Sano are two of the top prospects in baseball and will look to crack the big league roster at some point in the next two years.

Oswaldo Arcia is another highly-touted slugger in the organization. The outfielder made a fairly decent showing in 97 games in 2013, and will be looking to improve his numbers once he is promoted to an everyday starter.

Also, Joe Mauer, known for the better part of the past decade as the best offensive catcher in baseball, has been moved to first base to lower the risk of injury.

Other than Mauer, left fielder Josh Willingham is virtually the only slugger currently in the Twins’ lineup, but do not be surprised if he is shipped off for some prospects in the near future.

While the pool of position player prospects looks good, the Twins do not have many young high-profile pitchers coming up in the organization. This is likely why Ryan made these signings a priority this offseason, and he may not even be done.

By improving the rotation, Minnesota has a foundation to build off of. With Buxton and Sano coming up in the fairly near future and other youngsters maturing, the bats should be fine. The sooner Ryan can improve pitching, the sooner this team can return to where it was in 2010 and before.