There are four words that diehard baseball fans look forward to each year: pitchers and catchers report.

That day was Wednesday when catchers and pitchers reported for their first official workouts at Hammond Stadium and JetBlue Park in Fort Myers for the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox, respectively.

Both teams have been relatively modest in their offerings this offseason. The Red Sox hope the addition of free agent right-hander Lucas Giolito will help bolster their pitching rotation while the Twins added Anthony DeSclefani in a trade to help make up for the loss of American League Cy Young Award runner-up Sonny Gray and 2020 American League Cy Young runner-up Kenta Maeda.

While it remains to be seen if either team still makes a major move while some big ticket free agents are still out there (such as reigning Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and World Series champion southpaw Jordan Montgomery), they both already have new looks.

Minnesota Twins

For the Twins, an 87-75 season last year brought them the American League Central title and a 2-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays for their first playoff win since 2004. The Twins ultimately lost to the Houston Astros in the American League Division Series.

Minnesota will have a legitimate shot to capture the American League Central again this year if they are about as good as they were last year. The AL Central was not particularly strong last year and doesn’t figure to be as tough this year either.

What is certainly tough about the Twins is their formidable starting pitching with the likes of Pablo Lopez, Bailey Ober, Joe Ryan and the addition of DeSclefani, who was acquired through a trade that sent infielder Jorge Polanco to the Mariners.

Lopez developed into one of the best starters in the American League last year after developing his slider. He went 11-8 with a 3.66 ERA and finished seventh in the American League Cy Young Award voting after coming over from the Marlins in a trade for batting champ Luis Arraez.

Arraez, who won a batting crown with the Twins in 2022, also won a batting title with the Marlins last year.

“Our pitching is the backbone of our team,” Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli said this week. “That’s always going to be the case.”

Baldelli said he had “a lot of confidence” in the rotation. He said he told his pitchers at the start of training camp that it’s a long season and they “have to be pretty resilient.”

Baldelli said he tries not to dwell on the loss of players like Gray and Maeda.

“It’s never easy but it’s part of our reality. We know it’s coming from time to time. I don’t spend time dwelling on players when we don’t bring them back or are unable to bring them back. I focus on just how we are going to continue to get outs, cover innings and build a pitching staff that can go to the playoffs and win the World Series. Obviously you miss the guys when you lose them,” Baldelli said. “Good players like Sonny and Kent, they are not guys that you are just in a singular sense replacing but you have to find ways to still win.”

The loss of Gray will be tough to overcome while Maeda was never able to replicate his historic 2020 form during a COVID-shortened season and battled back from Tommy John surgery. He heads to the Detroit Tigers. Mahle was limited by injuries last year and signed a deal with the Texas Rangers. Gray signed a three-year deal with the Cardinals worth $75 million.

Due to the team’s uncertainty with its television deal, they weren’t able to sign back those pitchers, President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey said.

The Twins had to negotiate a new television deal they announced this week, though it is believed to be be far less than their previous contract.

The Twins signed slugging first baseman and designated hitter Carlos Santana, who replaces the departed Joey Gallo. They traded utilityman Nick Gordon to the Marlins for bullpen help from Steve Okert. They also signed reliever Josh Staumont.

Some of the bright spots for the Twins last year was the emergence of the 2017 top draft pick Royce Lewis. He batted .309 with a .372 on-base percentage and 15 homers in just 58 games.

Another rookie to make an impact was Matt Wallner, who hit .249 with 14 homers in 76 games and carried an impressive .370 on-base percentage.

Veteran Max Kepler had a strong bounce-back year last season with a career-best .260 batting average while slugging 24 homers. Kepler credited being healthy, along with a nutritional and dieting program that he said has helped his mental game. He said he eats a lot of vegetables, proteins and makes sure he is getting enough rest.

“I found a good routine that worked for me. I believed in it. When you are healthy, stuff is a lot easier. Everybody is dealing with some sort of dings,” Kepler said.

In the past he has dealt with knee and hamstring injuries that limited his playing time since hitting a career-high 36 homers in 2019.

Kepler was in camp early beginning last week even though fielders don’t have to report until the coming week.

“I’m always excited to come in a little early,” said the native of Germany who grew up with an American mother and German father learning the game at summer camps when he visited America while attending a bilingual school in Berlin. He looked up to players like Derek Jeter and Josh Hamilton.

Kepler said part of the success of improving his mental game was reminding himself that “It’s just a game. Even when you fail you have to realize it’s just a game.”

The Twins host the University of Minnesota for an exhibition Friday, Feb. 23, at 6:05 p.m. Their first official Spring Training game will be against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Hammond Stadium Saturday, Feb. 24, at 1:05 p.m.

Boston Red Sox

For the Red Sox, the ship never left the ground as the team struggled to a 78-84 record and finished last in the American league East.

The division has only grown stronger in the offseason, with the division-leading Orioles adding Cy Young Award candidate Corbin Burnes to their pitching rotation and the Yankees adding slugger Juan Soto to their lineup.

Giolito is a former All-Star with three seasons in the top 10 of Cy Young Award voting but hasn’t been as consistent the last three years. He played for three teams last season, pitching for the White Sox, Indians and Angels. The Red Sox signed him to a two-year deal worth $38.5 million plus incentives if he can regain his old form. He threw a no-hitter in 2020 and was pulled early during a no-hit bid earlier in the year last season.

The Red Sox hope a career year last year from right-hander Nick Pivetta, after splitting his time as a starter and out of the bullpen, can be replicated. Pivetta went 10-9 with a 4.04 ERA while only allowing 110 hits in 140 innings, good for a stingy 6.9 hits per nine innings. His hits per innings mark would have ranked among the best in the majors last year if he qualified for enough innings.

Pivetta said he tries to compete against himself and his teammates when he goes out for an outing.

“If I struck out five last time, I want to strike out seven.” If a pitcher throws a good game before him, he tries to post an even better game. “It’s finding those little games against yourself,” he said.

The Red Sox traded pitcher Chris Sale to the Braves after an injury-plagued tenure with the team. In return, they received shortstop Vaughn Grissom.

Another offloading measure taken by the Red Sox in the offseason was to trade outfielder Alex Verdugo in a rare deal with their division rival New York Yankees for some bullpen help in the form of Greg Weissert and two pitching prospects.

With third baseman Rafael Devers in the lineup, the Red Sox lineup will still be a threat. Devers hit .271 with 33 homers, 100 RBIs while slugging .500 in what was about a usual year for him with a little lower average. Rookie first baseman Tristan Casas came around late and showed promising power.

Japanese import Masataka Yoshida proved to be a valuable bat in his rookie season. Jarren Duran, delivered on the promise he had shown in the minors and previous camps with a breakout season hitting .295 with 34 doubles and 24 stolen bases.

Spring Training workouts are open to the public.

The Red Sox will play their first Spring Training game Friday, Feb. 23, against Northeastern University at JetBlue Park at 1 p.m. They host the Twins Sunday, Feb. 25, at 1:05 p.m.