The Precipice of Possible

[Chris Hanel]

It's easy to have hope when all is in front of you, and there's nothing left to lose.

Image courtesy of © Chris Tilley-Imagn Images

[Ed. note: Chris Hanel, who is probably familiar to many of you as a member of our community and blogger already, graciously allowed us to pull this piece out to the front page from his blog on the site, so we can share it more widely. We hope you enjoy it. Here's the original blog post, for completism's sake.]

The 2025 Twins stand at an intoxicating crossroads. And no, I do not include the Pohlads in this equation - I'm referring to whichever 26 players end up being asked to bear the burden of taking this team to the postseason over the next few months, payroll and franchise financials be damned.

Given the status of things, this should logically be a rebuilding year. In fact, let's take stock of recent events- after putting to bed the cruelest streak in sports, and finding themselves with the greatest opportunity in 30 years(!) to seize the fanbase's imagination, the decision was made to not only *refuse* to do so, but to instead lower the current team's payroll, and ensure a regression in their fortunes. It was, without argument, the greatest subversion of anticipation that I can recall in my lifetime as a sports fan. It is the franchise equivalent of self-harm - to actively shrink away from the responsibility of healing the trauma of the Twins fanbase. To reject this call was to deny the very reason one should have for bothering to own a team in the first place. To take the promise we had all collectively tasted for the first time since 2004 and instead poison it, cementing the acid in our veins we had generated through our fandom, rather than exorcise it once and for all. 

These decisions helped to sow the seeds for what we saw transpire in 2024. A promising squad who knew the quality of their craft. Flashes of brilliance that refused to stay buried, even if they could sometimes be lost in the quagmire that was the unyielding streakiness plaguing the roster. Royce Lewis naively proclaiming that he "didn't do slumps", only to be patiently reminded by the fates that he, too, wasn't immune to misfortune. The constant roll of the dice that was the health of the team's core. And once again, a roster that only needed the support of the Pohlads to ensure the cavalry would arrive when needed - only to find, come the trade deadline, that reinforcements were not coming through the clubhouse door. The burden would be fully placed on the shoulders of an already depleted staff to carry our hopes across the finish line, and it didn't matter how obvious it was that it wouldn't be enough - that was the end of it, in more ways than one. The collapse that followed was gargantuan. In many ways, it was undeserved. None of this should have even been on the table. And yet, it transpired in the open for all of us to experience. And then, weeks later, those responsible announced it was time for them to wash their hands of it all by placing the team on the auction block.

Where does that leave the Twins in 2025? The fanbase? The players? It's an impossible question when there's no telling who the absentee landlords will be replaced with or when that substitution will happen. Can you be excited about a squad when you know, deep inside, that there is every reason that its construction should be better than it is, if not for a refusal from the owners to do the bare minimum? How do you cheer for a team when to do so is to accept the cynicism and banality that is the cravenness of professional sports in the 21st century?

But if I could ask one thing of you, it would be to attempt to shut out the noise that capitalism screams at us in this day and age, and think about what's possible with the players and coaches already here. To read FanGraphs and understand what the numbers suggest is possible - if not probable - for the Twins in 2025 is to be provoked to get one's hopes up again. To foresee a year where the pitching is dominant, the lineup rises to the heights that we already know is within reach, and where October baseball isn't just a thin layer of icing on an already flimsy layer cake. 

It feels strange to try and aggregate how the world feels about this team in this moment. The fanbase is (rightly) agitated over the limbo the organization currently finds itself in, preventing it from moving forward. The pitching staff (and especially the bullpen) are projected to be one of the best in baseball, while power rankings still plunge the Twins to as far down as the bottom third of the league. It's enough to send one hurtling deep into a bleak emotional spiral, but only if you haven't already been down this road many times before. Because, honestly, this location is the address where Twins Territory has lived for more years than I can remember. A team everyone seems to understand is capable of wonderful things, but refuses to come to the consensus that those things are likely to ever happen.

It is a battle I find myself in as spring training starts its trudge towards the regular season. As a former poker player, I am reminded of a thought exercise I was taught to help combat the frustrations of losing a big hand - 

Look at your chip stack. Look at your cards. Forget what just happened and how well you were doing before this moment. Imagine in the previous hand that instead of losing, you just doubled up, and that you are in twice as good of a position as you were before. How would you feel in that moment? Because the numbers match exactly the situation you're saddled with in real life. Think and play as if you've just doubled up, and if you truly have the skills to do so, you'll do just fine.

The Twins have the pieces to astound a lot of observers. It'll require some luck and unexpected consistency, but there is no reason to believe such an outcome isn't in its grasp. I might be guilty of rose-colored glasses, but I would forever prefer that to any other perspective.

Here's to 2025, and this roster of neglected misfits running roughshod over the expectations of all who dare to believe that they aren't capable of great things. They have at least one believer in their cheering section, and I hope that number is far greater than myself.

If one cannot believe that this is the year, then I don't understand the point of baseball.

View full article

[Rod Carews Birthday]

Fun article and a good reminder of why we are fans to begin with.  Go Twins!  Let's win some games!

[LastOnePicked]

Beautifully written. Personally, I just can't understand how one of the slowest teams in baseball, with an injury-prone roster and an inability to play solid defense, is capable of "great things." I think the hope is getting waaay ahead of itself. But I can see where folks really want the taste of 2024 washed away. For any remaining believers, I truly hope it will be, and that you can scold the rest of us with a hearty "told ya so" come October.

I don't expect a winning club. I'm just hoping for a new owner by the All-Star break and a clear direction for 2026.

[NYCTK]

As has been said regarding baseball since at least 1888 - Hope Springs Eternal. 

No room for negativity until May 1st. 

That being said...

...jk.

 

[Fire Dan Gladden]

For baseball, Spring Training is the time to be eternally optimistic.  Young players may surprise, veterans come in healthy, older players look to regain the past.  Even the White Sox fans look at their team and ask "What if?".  What if Buxton and Corrrea stay healthy?  What if Wallner, Lewis, and Miranda take steps forward?  What if Paddack and Festa pitch well?  What if...

No matter what anyone says, everyone has a level of hope right now.  Every day this game surprises us and gives us a possibility of something we have never seen before.  That is why we are all here arguing on this website.

[Road trip]

Interesting picture... it must be due to the angle of the shot, but Wallner looks like he is about a foot and a half taller than Bader. 🤔

[old nurse]

Keaschall and Bader are both listed at 6’  tall  Wallner is 6’4” Posture makes a difference   Keaschall and Wallner are standing at attention, Bader and others are not 

[tony&rodney]

"The Twins have the pieces to astound a lot of observers. It'll require some luck and unexpected consistency, but there is no reason to believe such an outcome isn't in its grasp. I might be guilty of rose-colored glasses, but I would forever prefer that to any other perspective."

This, in a nut shell, is why every team including the Twins has optimism every Spring Training. My guess is the Twins win the World Series because it is possible as of today.

As far as any anxiety related to payroll, I have never had a dose of that disease which so widely infected Twins Territory. The way I see it the Twins miraculously escaped signing the two most popular and called for free agent choices from last offseason, Rhys Hoskins and Jordan Montgomery. I guess a trade for Anthony Rendon might have been worse. I'm thinking positively for our guys.

Go Twins in 2025.

[Karbo]

I've followed this team from the beginning. I've seen some pretty bad teams. Yet every spring I'm hoping for a winning season. Who knows? Somebody unexpected could jump up and have a career year! I prefer not to think of things like injuries (liriano blowing out his arm). And some of the best players walking away for bigger payrolls. Each season has its problems, but in the spring I just ignore them. After all, they're tied for 1st place in the standings!

[DocBauer]

I don't know what it is exactly, but the world is just better when it's baseball season. While it's still somewhat white and cold in the midwest...not so bad here in Nebraska, sorry for you folks further up north...baseball means the promise of spring and summer! 

Personally, I like the framework of this team. That's what makes the whole payroll/ownership situation so damned frustrating to me. I know a larger payroll doesn't guarantee winning. And the Twins have the largest payroll in the ALC, but with hope and no insult to France, and wishing him the very best in a Twins uniform, how much better does this team look with a decent, experienced BAT at 1B? I'm not a stick in the mud in the middle of a large pond of hopeful, but it irks me to see such a potential hole in the lineup.

But I like the rotation and the young arms that have arrived, or are close to doing so. I like the pen a lot, especially with Coulombe added to fill the one glaring weaknesses that I think we all saw. He's not a fireballing ser up man, but he's a solid, proven LH arm who's affective against RH bats who you don't cringe when he comes in for the 6th or 7th...maybe the 8th inning certain situations...to get the job done.

I/we can choose to lament Buxton's lengthy injury history, Lewis's somewhat shorter one, or the foot issues that have recently plagued Correa. OR, we can be optimistic that Lewis is ready to go, Correa's feet are now OK, and hopefully we get another 100 games out of Buxton. Dare we hope for more?? Those 3 are worth the price of admission to watch perform. So is Wallner when he squares up. So are many of the Twins arms. 

Give me those rose colored glasses and a sack full of hope, because it's spring, baseball is back, and there's enough talent here for a winning year.

When I look at Rodriguez and Keaschall debuting sometime soon, Jenkins hopefully in 2026, and arms and young pitching depth we haven't seen since ??? and what we hope is a more invested new ownership group,  I'm even more excited about 2026 and beyond.

Go get 'em boys! It's baseball season and optimism is in the air like the smell of blossoms in the spring!

[Dave Borton]

16 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

...This, in a nut shell, is why every team including the Twins has optimism every Spring Training. My guess is the Twins win the World Series because it is possible as of today....

Vegas will return $4000 on your $100 bet today. Best grab it.

Quote

Go Twins...

Though my $100 will remain in my pocket for 3 dozen eggs at Cub in these remaining weeks of ST, I will agree  with you on "Go Twins."

[Heiny]

Count me in the optimistic crowd.  Wallner and Larnach had decent seasons.  A little progression is possible there.  Bucky and Correa starting out with good health is bright spot.  I look for Lewis to come back strong with good health.  Lee should make positve progress.  Miranda has good potential.  Julien can't be as bad as last year or he won't be on the team.  The starting pitching and the bullpen should be ++.  Say what you want about Bader and France, but they both certainly could have average or better seasons.  If not, they won't get alot of playing time.  We have great depth and youth.  And yes,  it's spring.  If you can't find some optimism at this time of year you probably didn't get to see the '87 or '91 seasons.  Not alot of pre season optimism there either.  Play Ball!!!!!!!