As MLB Trade Deadline Looms, Who’s to Blame for Minnesota Twins’ 2025 Letdown?

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of © John Hefti--Imagn Images

As the MLB trade deadline inches closer, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the Minnesota Twins are seriously listening to trade offers for short-term pieces like Willi Castro, Harrison Bader, and Danny Coulombe. Other veterans on expiring contracts (Chris Paddack, Ty France, and Christian Vázquez) could also be available. The smoke is getting thicker, and it smells a lot like a team preparing to sell.

It’s a disappointing turn for a team that should be smack-dab in the middle of its winning window. If the Twins end up punting on 2025, it will mark the fourth time in five seasons that they’ve failed to reach the postseason. A division title and a playoff breakthrough in 2023 briefly turned the tide, but whatever goodwill that October created is rapidly evaporating. The season has spiraled. The record is mediocre. And now the blame game begins.

Let’s try to sort out who deserves the lion’s share.

The Front Office: A Predictable Failure
If the Twins are sellers at the 2025 trade deadline, then the front office has failed. 

After a gut-wrenching collapse down the stretch in 2024, Minnesota responded with… essentially the same roster. Derek Falvey and company made no meaningful upgrades, no shakeups, no bold offseason moves. There were minor moves around the margins, such as adding Bader, France, and Coulombe, but this team was built with the hope for internal bounce-backs and improved health. That kind of passive roster-building was always a gamble, and it’s landed the club squarely in a quagmire of mediocrity.

Sure, they’ve continued to find value on the margins. Coulombe has been solid and Bader filled a gap. But this front office bet big that the same core could deliver a different result. That was wishful thinking, and now they’re staring at the consequences.

Ownership: Spending Enough, But Not Smartly
Plenty of Twins fans will point fingers at ownership, and not without reason. Following the euphoria of 2023’s playoff run, the front office was handed a reduced budget. The phrase “right-sizing the payroll” still stings, especially given the opportunity to build on real momentum.

However, it’s worth noting that FanGraphs still lists Minnesota with the highest payroll in the AL Central in 2025. Ownership isn’t spending like a bottom-feeder. They’re just not spending like a team hungry to win now.

In that sense, the issue may not be the amount of spending but the approach. The front office had limited resources and chose to roll them into depth and hope. The 2025 Twins were built to stay afloat, not dominate. That might have worked in a different division. It hasn’t worked here.

The Players: Stars Can’t Shine Alone
Byron Buxton is turning in a season for the ages, and All-Star Joe Ryan looks like one of the AL’s best pitchers. Both players could finish in the top 5 for the MVP (Buxton) and Cy Young (Ryan). Minnesota’s bullpen has been a quiet strength all year, and likely why multiple bullpen arms will be dealt before July 31. But that’s where the list of bright spots ends.

Carlos Correa has had another underwhelming season, with a 0.0 rWAR and a 91 OPS+. Those totals can’t be associated with a player who makes up over 25% of the team’s payroll. Matt Wallner hasn’t taken the expected step forward with a 109 OPS+ that is over 20 points lower than his career mark. Royce Lewis appears unable to stay on the field long enough to make a consistent impact and has struggled to play well over the last calendar year. The offense has sputtered far too often, and it’s buried strong pitching performances along the way.

This lineup was supposed to be powered by its core. Instead, it's been anchored by disappointment.

The Coaches: The Easy (and Often Wrong) Target
It’s easy to grumble about Rocco Baldelli’s bullpen choices or the occasional head-scratching baserunning decision. But there’s a reason the Twins picked up his option for next year: this team’s problems are rooted deeper than the dugout.

Baldelli can’t make Correa hit .300 or keep Lewis healthy. The coaching staff can only coach the roster they’re given, and the flaws in this one were exposed by mid-May. Could they have milked a few extra wins? Maybe. Would that have changed the big picture? Probably not.

Unless a potential new ownership group decides to clean house, Rocco isn’t going anywhere.

So Who’s to Blame?
Every group shares some of the blame. But if you’re looking for the main culprit in a disappointing 2025 season, the arrow points to the front office. They built this roster. They ran it back after a collapse. They banked on rebound seasons from too many uncertain pieces. The Twins had enough talent and enough payroll to contend in a weak AL Central (outside of Detroit). They didn’t need to be spectacular. They just needed to be solid. And they couldn’t even manage that.

The 2023 postseason run bought this regime some equity. But equity runs out fast when October baseball feels like a fading memory. Now, as veterans are quietly shopped and the Twins position themselves for 2026, fans are left wondering how a winning window could close so quickly. And who’s going to be held accountable when it slams shut?

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Who deserves the most blame for the team’s poor performance in 2025? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

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[CRF]

Ownership, F.O., and manager. 

[FlyingFinn]

Correa - look at his numbers with runners in scoring position, especially with 2 outs. They are terrible. I can tell you the pitchers are going to throw him breaking stuff on the outside edge of the plate and Correa's going to pull his front shoulder out.  Why can't he adjust. This for a guy who makes up 25% of the payroll.

[Whitey333]

I agree with the last poster.  Ownership for being disinterested and not having much public relations skills.  Tge front office for standing still and not trying to improve the team then blaming it on a tight budget.  My contention has been that it isn't the payroll dollars it's how the FO has allocated them.  The cheap pohlads montra understandable as it may be tends to be with little merit.  They have had, and continue to have the highest or close highest payroll in the Central division.  At last check I believe they were 19 out if 30 teams in total team payroll dollars.  Falvey and company have done a terrible job of budgeting their payroll dollars.  Also the manager deserves a lot.of blame.  His lineups are strange and his stubbornness to stick to the plan even when losing is ridiculous.  He is terrible at in game managing and leadership.  It's mind-boggling to understand how he has lasted this long.  The best thing any new ownership could do is dump both Falvey and Baldelli.

[In My La Z boy]

You covered it. Great write up! I'll point to squads like Milwaukee as an example of how much better we should be, than we actually are. I got your point on Rocco, but at this point its glaringly obvious he isn't getting the most out his players, and he doesn't push the right buttons during games. He's one of many problems, but a big problem he is no question. 

[Riverbrian]

It's the people who hire the people. 

Job isn't getting done? Who can do something about it? 

It's the people who hire the people. 

[In My La Z boy]

1 minute ago, Whitey333 said:

I agree with the last poster.  Ownership for being disinterested and not having much public relations skills.  Tge front office for standing still and not trying to improve the team then blaming it on a tight budget.  My contention has been that it isn't the payroll dollars it's how the FO has allocated them.  The cheap pohlads montra understandable as it may be tends to be with little merit.  They have had, and continue to have the highest or close highest payroll in the Central division.  At last check I believe they were 19 out if 30 teams in total team payroll dollars.  Falvey and company have done a terrible job of budgeting their payroll dollars.  Also the manager deserves a lot.of blame.  His lineups are strange and his stubbornness to stick to the plan even when losing is ridiculous.  He is terrible at in game managing and leadership.  It's mind-boggling to understand how he has lasted this long.  The best thing any new ownership could do is dump both Falvey and Baldelli.

Amen

[mikelink45]

Maybe we have too many coaches. Too many voices and the players don't seem to hear any of it or they can't adjust.  It is discouraging but perhaps we also overestimate what we have. Which leads to the question for the rest of this year and the future are we in limbo until I no ownership comes in?

[Jack207]

Look how the Twins besides the bottom of the 9th. They stole 4 bases in an inning with aggressive baserunning . Where has that been all year? Plus they put the ball in play the last couple days with runners in scoring position. I still can't figure out why that is so hard to do.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Okay, fine. I admit it.

It's my fault.

[arby58]

All of the above, as the OP suggests, has to be the 'most right' answer. It's a long season, and it is rarely just one thing that lets a team down in the 40  or so games that make or break a team. I think the FO over-estimated the emerging pitching at AAA, and the team took its lumps in June after 3/5ths of the rotation went down. Further, there was an expectation that some of the young  members of the offensive core (Wallner, Larnach, Lee, Lewis, Miranda) would continue to progress. The thing about young players is their advancement is seldom linear, and each has demonstrated that in their 'own special way.' 

It is frustrating to see the Twins snatch defeat from the jaws of victory ala yesterday vs. the Dodgers, and plenty of neutral third-party observers mention the team's talent level (in a good way/bad way since they are not rising up to it). Yes, some of that is on the manager, but a lot is also on the players - ultimately, they, not the manager, have the most impact on the outcome of a game.

The thing that primarily concerns me about the existing core is the lack of overall speed and athleticism (Buxton notwithstanding). The Twins are near the bottom of the league in stolen bases, and they don't do very well in fielding analytics either. My hope is that some of the 'next wave' of emerging players (Emma, Jenkins, Keaschall, Culpepper) will reverse that trend. 

[Woof Bronzer]

Total.  System.  Failure.  

[rv78]

Sorry to say, but I think most of you have this team pegged as a contender when all they are is a pretender. Maybe the way they are is not the anomoly but 2023 when they went to the playoffs was the anomoly.

Just because they are the bigger spender in a weak division doesn't mean they are good or even should be good. It just means they have spent more money and it is likely that it wasn't spent wisely. Has the big money allocated to an over-rated shortstop made a difference or has it been a hindrance to improving the team in many other ways? We all know and have seen the quality of fringe players, that are other teams cast-offs they add every year, that DON'T make the team better but just hold the status quo. Has the FO built a pipeline of pitching that can be counted on where a pitcher or two can continously be added to the roster or has that been a failure? That's an easy NO answer. We have seen the quality of the young hitters they have drafted that are now being brought up and they either can't stay on the field or aren't anything close to being difference makers. Has the Manager done a good job getting his players to play the "right" way on the field? Has he instilled confidence in them or is it the opposite by changing the lineup daily, platooning at every whim, thus showing them that he thinks there is someone better that bats the other way, so now they have to be replaced in the lineup. Has the FO shown that you are going to be held accountable by rewarding that same Manager with a contract extension or picking up the option even though the club plays below expectations at almost every facet of the game, every season? I think most of you have it wrong. This IS what they are...... and unfortunately, they seem to feel that it is ok because all they do is rinse and repeat.

[ziggy]

42 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Okay, fine. I admit it.

It's my fault.

Actually it is my fault. I joined TD in the spring of 2024. Twins had a losing season in 2024 and will again in 2025.

Sorry. I'll let myself out.

[LastOnePicked]

Baseball's not just a game of numbers, but it's also a game of emotion. I still think that, after last season's epic stretch-run collapse, the players looking in the dugout and seeing the same manager and hearing the same losing messages had an impact. And sure enough, they picked up right where they left off and fell flat on their faces. This season was lost in April.

But I agree that ownership torpedoed fan excitement and good will after 2023's meek but encouraging playoff run. That seems to be the core failure that has stretched its way across two seasons.

[TwinsDr2021]

7 minutes ago, rv78 said:

Sorry to say, but I think most of you have this team pegged as a contender when all they are is a pretender. Maybe the way they are is not the anomoly but 2023 when they went to the playoffs was the anomoly.

The Central in 2023 was terrible, KC won 56, CWS won 61, Clev 76 and the Tigers 78, 

They finished September playing against the following and went 18 -9 and won a short series against Toronto.  TEX (90 wins), CLE (76 wins), NYM (75 wins), TB (99 wins), CWS (61 wins),Cin (82 wins), LAA (73 wins),  Oak (50 wins), Col (59 wins)

They basically ran that barely above .500 team out there since (Minus Gray) and we wonder what has happened? Sure they have replaced the Gallo's, Solano, Taylor, Farmer and other bit pieces with other bit pieces, but the core hasn't changed. CC, Buxton, Lewis, Castro, Larnach, Wallner, Jeffers, Vazquez, Lopes, Ryan, Ober, Jax, Duran, Sands, Varland, and ROCCO. 

It pretty much seems like next year will be the same group minus Castro, unless something major happens, and most likely we on this site will be talking about the same stuff we have been for the last couple of years. Waiting for the way too of players (Miranda, Julien, Lewis, Larnach, Martin, Wallner, Festa, Matthews) to fully develop and some will talk about how they just need more seasoning in the minors to turn them around. 

IMO this team needs to rid it self of most of these players that haven't figured it out so the next group can be given a chance, Trade Larnach or don't offer him Arb, Trade Julien, Miranda or just let them go, stop holding out hope for these players. (Julien turns 28 before next season, Larnach 29, Miranda just turned 27, Keirsay 29, Wallner 28, Martin 27, Lee 25,  Lewis 26/27, Festa 26, Matthews 26, even SWR turns 25 in a month and change) these are not young guys any longer!!!! I have some hope for the pitchers but the hitters should all be in their prime not figuring it out!

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

My number one thing of actions that could be taken right away is that I wish Rocco would make an everyday lineup and stick to it.

This has worked for decades. The Twins new philosophy of “anyone anywhere anytime, be ready” is not sustainable over a full season.

A set lineup would let players know their roles and expectations and help their preparation and would make Rocco’s late inning substitutions less of a guessing game.

Keaschall has earned a promotion and may be back with the team next week. What’s the plan for the middle infielders, Keaschall, Lewis, Lee, Correa? Keep shuffling them around the infield up and down the order with random off days? 

[In My La Z boy]

1 hour ago, Riverbrian said:

It's the people who hire the people. 

Job isn't getting done? Who can do something about it? 

It's the people who hire the people. 

Yes, but I've made a bad hire into a good hire by proper management, oversight and motivation. Hire the people is #1 Yes, but you could hire the right people and manage them incorrectly and wreck it too.

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Okay, fine. I admit it.

It's my fault.

Finally an admission.  Now fix it.

[Riverbrian]

1 minute ago, In My La Z boy said:

Yes, but I've made a bad hire into a good hire by proper management, oversight and motivation. Hire the people is #1 Yes, but you could hire the right people and manage them incorrectly and wreck it too.

Agreed

[jmlease1]

It's still ownership #1, because the "right-sizing" of the payroll absolutely screwed the roster development that was going on. Signing Correa and making big extensions for Buxton and Correa (even if they're actually below market rate) along with making the play for Vazquez made much more sense in the context of the 2023 payroll, not what followed after. It's not that the team isn't spending "enough" money, precisely it's that ownership allowed payroll to make a jump up in class and then ratcheted back, which screwed over the front office's ability to build in smaller moves around what they saw as the core and sent them back to dumpster diving. They might not deserve the largest share of blame exactly, but their absolutely terrible decision-making and cash-first attitude has had dreadful results and made the franchise look inept, cheap, and stupid.

Players need to take a large share. Guys have underperformed this season, and at the end of the day if the players aren't playing well, little else matters. Wallner has disappointed and was injured, Miranda and Julien didn't bounce back at all, Lee hasn't taken a step forward at the plate, Correa hasn't been anywhere near what the team needs from him, Royce has struggled for most of the season (and was hurt, again), Larnach and Jeffers have just been ok. The pitching was the strength, but injuries really dinged things up losing Pablo, Ober, Matthews, and now Festa and Jax has been erratic while Sands took a step back. Outside of Ryan & Varland who took a step forward? (Duran and Stewart have both been good, of course, but didn't go to a new level, really)

Front office is probably 3rd for me. Their off-season moves this year haven't turned out too badly, but they were very limited in what they could do. Bader & Coloumbe worked, and moving Varland into the bullpen has been (predictably) good; Tonkin was a miss but a marginal move. France was a miss as well IMHO, but when you're shopping in the dented can aisle you shouldn't expect much. If you want to argue they should have taken a much more aggressive stance in the offseason in trying to trade salary to bring in more talent...I guess? But there really wasn't that much to move without dealing Pablo (Buxton & Correa weren't going anywhere). They haven't covered themselves in glory, but worked tied to a chair I think.

Last is the coaching staff, who will almost certainly take the fall for this anyways. They've been fine. Not great, but not awful. A few bad choices. They haven't done enough positive things to make me feel like defending them, but they're probably going to take more of a share of blame than they actually deserve, nature of the job.

It's a very frustrating season, because I can see the path to a playoff spot with this team and I like a lot of the players. But they haven't gotten it done.

[Eris]

I thought a previous article on replacement level killers does a good job of summarizing the players lack of contributions.  I would add Correa to that list.  The manager/coaches for failing to get the most out of underperforming players.  Then the FO for putting such a team together.  

 

[nddan67]

 

 

 

 

[tony&rodney]

It doesn't matter who's right or wrong, the future is now and the past is gone.

 

[In My La Z boy]

2 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

My number one thing of actions that could be taken right away is that I wish Rocco would make an everyday lineup and stick to it.

This has worked for decades. The Twins new philosophy of “anyone anywhere anytime, be ready” is not sustainable over a full season.

A set lineup would let players know their roles and expectations and help their preparation and would make Rocco’s late inning substitutions less of a guessing game.

Keaschall has earned a promotion and may be back with the team next week. What’s the plan for the middle infielders, Keaschall, Lewis, Lee, Correa? Keep shuffling them around the infield up and down the order with random off days? 

It's ridiculous. Athletes are creatures of habit. Athletes are creatures of routine.
Rhythm & Momentum are everything. Look how easily a team can rattle off 10 wins in a row and then the same team can lose 10 games in a row. That's the mystery of momentum. 

[Coach Wheels]

1 hour ago, CRF said:

Ownership, F.O., and manager. 

Plenty of blame for each group discussed here but, ownership made zero effort to make this team better when they allowed roughly $10 million to be spent in FA. That's embarrassing and the lack of depth in the talent pool is obvious. I hate that Correa has been below average offensively but its a great example of why depth matters and the Twins are very short on talent when we speak of depth.

[KnoblauchWasFramed]

Let's see where to start here – 

The Owners - Aren't interested in baseball and have no desire to do anything with the Twins business that improves it.  But then, on the same hand, they are already do-nothing billionaires who inherited everything they have so run around acting like movie directors or whatever the heck they’re into this week.  And they are holding strong on a $1.5B asking price for something that is probably, at best, worth $1.2B.  Already getting all of that money without having done any of the work and still have to shake down the extra $300M instead of just walking away. 

The Front Office – I understand that they were given strict restrictions on what they could spend on payroll every year, and things have downgraded over the last two years on that front.  But this does not in any way alleviate the failures they have consistently had in the draft year after year.  (The failure to develop players is coming up next with the manager and coaches)  There are times where they make stretches in the draft and take someone way early and present it as some kind of outside of the box move filled with tons of information that no other GM had.  But when those surprise picks almost all fail and never even make the Major League team then clearly you were full of crap and you had no idea what you were doing.  It only works if those players develop into everyday players.

Management – Rocco “The Spreadsheet” has consistently just not gotten better in all of these years.  He still has not developed “on the fly” or “in the moment” decision making skills.  He constantly changes the lineup in non sensical ways and still can’t figure out how to properly and effectively run a pitching staff / bullpen.  It’s one thing to use sabermetrics as a tool and for some assistance, but it’s another to only rely on them and allow them to determine every decision you make like you’re a computer.  Beyond that, after Joe Ryan, can you name any players, pitchers and batters, that have developed once they joined the Major League team?  Young players tear up the minor leagues and then almost immediately plateau and hit a median line of production and then never seem to progress and get better as the weeks and months go by.  The last coach who showed any actual ability to develop pitchers and bullpen arms quit on Rocco midseason and went back to coach in college – literally something that has never happened before or since.  And don’t even let me get started on Tommy Watkins… This team doesn’t even know what small ball is.  The team doesn’t bunt, doesn’t steal, doesn’t move runners over.  Since 2019 it’s been home run or not much else.  This isn’t a home run hitting team and Rocco has refused to accept that and work with what he has – small ball guys that need to learn how to generate runs without the long ball. 

Players – For the last several years, and the playoff year included, there have been constant issues with lack of drive and desire by a lot of the key names on this team.  The only real sparkplug lately had been Royce Lewis, but then he gets injured again and again so it doesn’t really help all that much.  Buxton has really shined this year – finally.  But there were plenty of other times that Twins fans tried to cover up where he was a horrible hitter who just swung away and would strike out 3 and sometime 4 times a game multiple times a week.  Correa has just overall failed since he’s been here.  Wallner, Larnach, Lee, Ober, Jeffers, etc etc etc are all filled with all of the potential in the world yet none of them seem to get any better.  Not all of that is on them specifically as the coaches have consistently failed them.  But there should also be some of their own personal internal development happening that just isn’t. 

Overall – This team is sliding more and more every year to being in the Pittsburgh Pirates, Colorado Rockies, and Miami Marlins neighborhood.  Owners that just want to make some form of profit no matter how small that is and refuse to invest into the team – the whole just treat it like another business and have no fun with it routine.  It’s already very had to get free agents to want to come here and it’s only getting worse each year.  Even if the Twins were allowed to spend money, how much are they going to have to be overpaying players to come here now?? 

[arby58]

31 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

Baseball's not just a game of numbers, but it's also a game of emotion. I still think that, after last season's epic stretch-run collapse, the players looking in the dugout and seeing the same manager and hearing the same losing messages had an impact. And sure enough, they picked up right where they left off and fell flat on their faces. This season was lost in April.

But I agree that ownership torpedoed fan excitement and good will after 2023's meek but encouraging playoff run. That seems to be the core failure that has stretched its way across two seasons.

It's hard to claim that the season was lost in April, when they had a 29-22 record on May 24th and were still 5 games over .500 at the end of May. The season most assuredly was lost in June, and that is pretty far removed from the end of 2024.

[OvertheHill]

23 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

My number one thing of actions that could be taken right away is that I wish Rocco would make an everyday lineup and stick to it.

This has worked for decades. The Twins new philosophy of “anyone anywhere anytime, be ready” is not sustainable over a full season.

A set lineup would let players know their roles and expectations and help their preparation and would make Rocco’s late inning substitutions less of a guessing game.

Keaschall has earned a promotion and may be back with the team next week. What’s the plan for the middle infielders, Keaschall, Lewis, Lee, Correa? Keep shuffling them around the infield up and down the order with random off days? 

100% agree with this. Not only would players know their roles better, it would improve the fan experience IMO. “Anyone can play anywhere……” is BS. 

[Guest]

Correa's deal limited any realistic flexibility with payroll, which as noted, remains relatively high.  That limits the strategy to a very defensible bounce-back/development strategy.  Zoll made a few astute acquistions, all of which may be flipped this month for higher values, i.e., sold high. Who hasn't developed?  Wallner and Lewis are soft, Larnach's willing but can't adjust, Lee needs another year but is fundamentally a keeper, Vasqy's contract was as much to blame for Levine's exit as Correa's.  Those five plus Correa are worth about 7-8 wins to this point.  Want payroll flexibility?  I'd shop Correa but this offseason given his production this year.