Big Picture: The Twins’ Deadline Strategy Reveals a Risky Confidence in Themselves

[Thebigalguy]

Great article. The FO believes a new bullpen can be constructed as well as developed and yes, has confidence to do so. I hated to see Varland traded, too; it was a mistake. Could have been the closer.
 

The one-run losses did the team in this season, so I didn’t see that they were overmatched, but they lost too many of those games without clutch hits. I’d like to think that they could have made a run, but the evidence suggests otherwise.

 

The FO decided to trust starters and offense as either already getting the job done or salvageable and trade the pen and the one-year guys. It’s a strategy. Time will tell.

[tony&rodney]

2 hours ago, NYCTK said:

Roden is the inverse of Martin. Whereas Martin looks like he should be a good defensive player, he's not. And while Roden doesn't look like much of an athlete he's been pretty competent out in LF and has a good enough arm if a team wanted to play him in RF. 

The first two games were not much for an impression, but I will watch him play and we shall see. Odd that Toronto, a team in need of outfielders, would trade him if he was decent. No?

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, NYCTK said:

Roden and Mendez both stand a decent chance. 

 

For the Twins? Would you be content with them in the Mets outfield? 

I'm not being difficult. I expected the bar to be higher. The return for expired contracts can be justified to an extent. But a counter is if the players coming back are merely replicas of guys already in the system, why add more 40 or 45 type guys. The exchange for good players needed to be pieces that will be regulars or critical support. What was it, 10 trades. Did anyone say, "Wow, that player could be a real difference" on any of the 10 trades. The most highly ranked/rated player is not even on the top 200 of some lists. I actually like Tait. 

If your Mets had made these types of trades I'm not thinking you were be too enthusiastic. 

Some of us expected better. I do not think that is a complaint. 

[NYCTK]

7 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

The first two games were not much for an impression, but I will watch him play and we shall see. Odd that Toronto, a team in need of outfielders, would trade him if he was decent. No?

I'm not gonna suggest he's a high ceiling future all star. Toronto has a group of these decent out fielders and his loss, especially considering his struggles in the final jump to the majors, won't be felt in their playoff push. 

But the other fact is...he's already a better bet than Larnach in LF and 3 years younger. He feels like a 1.5-2.0 WAR player with the possible upside of a 2.5 win player. Larnachs defense is so bad his upside is only 1.5 wins. 

Now, is Roden exciting? No. And he may not be around in' 27 if both Jenkins and Rodriguez continue their development and become strong contributors. But he is a good insurance plan if one of them, or Gonzalez or whomever falters. 

 

[LA Vikes Fan]

7 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

It's still not clear to me that there was/is a strategy from the front office, other than dumping a lot of salary and trading some expiring contracts. But as Cody says in the article, the biggest surprise was trading away younger players that still had some team control. I know I'm in the minority, but I don't hate most of these trades, except for the very unexpected and unwarranted Varland trade. That one annoys me the most. But unlike many others, I'm not sold on the idea that we are in the midst of a rebuild. Except for a decimated bullpen, we still have the makings of a good team. The core of the team remains relatively intact and our starter rotation now actually looks stronger. We've kept key guys like Buxton and Lewis, and maybe even Lee will finally fulfill his promise. So, I'm not ready to jump ship yet. Bring up some of the young prospects for the rest of this season and let them play. See what you've got. We're not on the verge of making the playoffs, so let's be creative and test some of our young position players and pitchers. The bullpen certainly is now a very weak area, but even on that count I'm not alarmed. I think that's easier to fix than trying to find three new arms for the starting rotation. 

Amen, brother. Still don't understand the Varland trade though, unless the 21 year-old LH starter they got is the real deal. 

[DocBauer]

I dont know if the FO has a clue what kind of plan/path they are following right now.

Example: 27yo Varland has made a highly successful transition to the pen and is cheap and undsr control for at least 3 more years. In THOERY, the talented but struggling Bradely could move to the pen. But instead of having BOTH as pen arms, you only have 1 now since Varland was moved. So you gained younger years for someone who hasn't made the pen transition yet when you might have had both? 

Example 2: While his arm might fall off tomorrow...or it might not since he says he feels better than he has in years...they trade the effective, cheap, and controlled Stewart for a LH 28yo OF who needs fixing. But they've had trouble "fixing" some of their own bats? They moved 3 of their top BP arms but a 2026 start with Varlan and Stewart offers at least a LITTLE hope for a re-build, along with Sands. But they're so confident they can just rebuild the whole thing over night that NOT lowering payroll but just starting over from scratch was the best thing to do in these cases?

And other than a 18yo tip 100 catcher that might be huge in 3 years, what did they get for immediate help for the lineup? And hasn't the offense been the biggest problem the past couple of years?

It's not necessarily an issue they sold off so much. And it's not to say they got nothing back. But it IS about a couple of the guys moved. And it IS about not necessarily getting back what the teams needs most, which are ML ready or close bats.

I just dont see a direction here. MAYBE all the $ they saved will bring back 2 BATS via FA in the next offseason? Maybe there's a smart trade or two from prospects to add. But if they move Lopez and/or Ryan, then it's a complete teardown/rebuild. Period. 

Again, I just dont see a direction here.

[NYCTK]

18 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

For the Twins? Would you be content with them in the Mets outfield? 

I'm not being difficult. I expected the bar to be higher. The return for expired contracts can be justified to an extent. But a counter is if the players coming back are merely replicas of guys already in the system, why add more 40 or 45 type guys. The exchange for good players needed to be pieces that will be regulars or critical support. What was it, 10 trades. Did anyone say, "Wow, that player could be a real difference" on any of the 10 trades. The most highly ranked/rated player is not even on the top 200 of some lists. I actually like Tait. 

If your Mets had made these types of trades I'm not thinking you were be too enthusiastic. 

Some of us expected better. I do not think that is a complaint. 

You're mistaken. When the Mets sold two future hall of fame pitchers under control in the 2023 season, Mets fans, myself included, looked at the returns and, while they weren't great, began thinking of the team objectively and how those pieces fit into the new roster. Acuna isn't that good, but he's a role player and improves the team. 

Would I be happy with the Mets, trying to win a world series had Roden penciled in as their starting LF? No. But I was happy with Drew Gilbert in return for Verlander, and Drew Gilbert is about the same player as Alan Roden. Not quite good enough a hitter to be a great corner nor good enough defense to be a CF. But good enough to be valuable. And also, a piece that was ultimately Gilbert was traded for a bullpen arm when the team was ready to push for it. 

Roden in my mind is a new Verdugo type. And the Yankees just went to the WS last year with Verdugo as their LF. So, I refuse to **** on the Twins returns and instead will look at them objectively. 

Now, if you ask me if I would have made that specific trade? Probably not, but not because I value Varland. Moreso because I think it'd be easier to throw him in as the closer retain his value then flip him next year, and that takes away stress from a FULL bullpen reset. 

[tony&rodney]

15 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Now, if you ask me if I would have made that specific trade? Probably not, but not because I value Varland. Moreso because I think it'd be easier to throw him in as the closer retain his value then flip him next year, and that takes away stress from a FULL bullpen reset. 

Yes.

[nicksaviking]

3 hours ago, NYCTK said:

OK. And my response is who cares? Are they not getting enough playing time to prove themselves? 

Should managers be managing to win games or stroke the fragile egos of players? Are we really here complaining that Trevor Larnach wasn't allowed to strikeout against more lefties in close games? Or that he was pinch run for and substituted? 

Is the argument that Trevor Larnach would be better if he were just allowed to suck more often? 

I'm really struggling to understand the argument man. 

Ps: you didn't mention a single player. Relying on nebulous theory instead. So I'm mentioning Larnach as an example 

OK, I'll list players. Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff, Royce Lewis, Edouard Julien, Jose Miranda, Austin Martin, Ryan Jeffers, Nick Gordon. Even if only two or three of these players would have panned out, it would have been worth it. That's how it's ALWAYS been done, and the Twins wouldn't have been the Twins in the Gardenhire and Molitor eras without letting these guys suck for awhile.

It's not about stroking (sic stoking) fragile egos, it's about developing these players and part of that is letting them fail. And at the expense of winning? Winning what? They aren't winning a damn thing, so what would it have hurt to let Matt Wallner learn to hit left handed pitching LAST year? His splits are identical this year, so the numbers show it would have worked. Dear god, Julien made a terrible throw in the 9th inning of an 80 win season! So what, maybe if he wasn't given the cold shoulder by the manager, he'd still be hitting like he did two years ago. Is that pandering? Maybe, so what, this team needs cheap home grown talent, pander if that's what is needed! No doubt Julien  is now cooked. Miranda too and maybe every single one of them. But this team did not have the overwhelming amount of prospect misses under the last two managers, who embraced instructing fundamentals and giving the young players the leashes to mess up. Not even close to this many misses.

I can't specifically nail down what the issue is, but with how many of these guys tore up AA ball and AAA but can't find consistent success at the MLB level, Occam's Razor says it's due to how they are managed at the MLB level. None of them can be counted on year to year, that's more than a coincidence.

[NYCTK]

17 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff, Royce Lewis, Edouard Julien, Jose Miranda, Austin Martin, Ryan Jeffers, Nick Gordon

With the exception of Austin Martin, all these players WERE given a lot of chances in the bigs. That's why I don't get this specific complaint. 

[NYCTK]

40 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

OK, I'll list players. Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff, Royce Lewis, Edouard Julien, Jose Miranda, Austin Martin, Ryan Jeffers, Nick Gordon. Even if only two or three of these players would have panned out, it would have been worth it. That's how it's ALWAYS been done, and the Twins wouldn't have been the Twins in the Gardenhire and Molitor eras without letting these guys suck for awhile.

It's not about stroking (sic stoking) fragile egos, it's about developing these players and part of that is letting them fail. And at the expense of winning? Winning what? They aren't winning a damn thing, so what would it have hurt to let Matt Wallner learn to hit left handed pitching LAST year? His splits are identical this year, so the numbers show it would have worked. Dear god, Julien made a terrible throw in the 9th inning of an 80 win season! So what, maybe if he wasn't given the cold shoulder by the manager, he'd still be hitting like he did two years ago. Is that pandering? Maybe, so what, this team needs cheap home grown talent, pander if that's what is needed! No doubt Julien  is now cooked. Miranda too and maybe every single one of them. But this team did not have the overwhelming amount of prospect misses under the last two managers, who embraced instructing fundamentals and giving the young players the leashes to mess up. Not even close to this many misses.

I can't specifically nail down what the issue is, but with how many of these guys tore up AA ball and AAA but can't find consistent success at the MLB level, Occam's Razor says it's due to how they are managed at the MLB level. None of them can be counted on year to year, that's more than a coincidence.

No offense my guy, but this makes no sense. Everyone wanted to see this team build off 2023 (I'm guessing you included) but you're now retroactively advocating for Rocco to have let the team be worse intentionally. 

[mluebker]

I think it's what it looks like: owners who no longer are interested in the team and are trying to squeeze as much money out of it before it (I hope) sells. And unless that sale happens soon, look for more of the same over the winter.

[nova_twins]

What else can the front office do except be confident in their work? Resign? Even if some people did you can't turn over the whole organization. I honestly don't understand the premise of the article. 

The reason the Twins traded relievers is because that's who was available to trade. Additionally, relievers are historically volatile in terms of health and performance. 

Under new ownership, the 2026 bullpen could be rebuilt, not to elite status but adequate. Without new ownership there's no hope anyway. 

[T.O.]

22 hours ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

How many more articles are we going to see putting all of the deadline weight on the FO when we know ownership pushed them into this process?

Feels to me like all the articles are feeding into the "blame the FO" paranoia instead of taking a step back and looking at the situation as a whole. A little balancing might be in order.

I've always thought if I don't like an article I should write my own, 
or move on to another article,
or stop reading if they are that bad.

[bunsen82]

5 hours ago, DocBauer said:

I dont know if the FO has a clue what kind of plan/path they are following right now.

Example: 27yo Varland has made a highly successful transition to the pen and is cheap and undsr control for at least 3 more years. In THOERY, the talented but struggling Bradely could move to the pen. But instead of having BOTH as pen arms, you only have 1 now since Varland was moved. So you gained younger years for someone who hasn't made the pen transition yet when you might have had both? 

Example 2: While his arm might fall off tomorrow...or it might not since he says he feels better than he has in years...they trade the effective, cheap, and controlled Stewart for a LH 28yo OF who needs fixing. But they've had trouble "fixing" some of their own bats? They moved 3 of their top BP arms but a 2026 start with Varlan and Stewart offers at least a LITTLE hope for a re-build, along with Sands. But they're so confident they can just rebuild the whole thing over night that NOT lowering payroll but just starting over from scratch was the best thing to do in these cases?

And other than a 18yo tip 100 catcher that might be huge in 3 years, what did they get for immediate help for the lineup? And hasn't the offense been the biggest problem the past couple of years?

It's not necessarily an issue they sold off so much. And it's not to say they got nothing back. But it IS about a couple of the guys moved. And it IS about not necessarily getting back what the teams needs most, which are ML ready or close bats.

I just dont see a direction here. MAYBE all the $ they saved will bring back 2 BATS via FA in the next offseason? Maybe there's a smart trade or two from prospects to add. But if they move Lopez and/or Ryan, then it's a complete teardown/rebuild. Period. 

Again, I just dont see a direction here.

Falvey and the front office knew exactly what they were doing.  This was direction from ownership and appears to be to clean the team up financially in the Correa deal, and the new owners want a high draft pick in the next draft and don’t see the team competing for a few years. So you sell off the pieces you can especially the most volatile position in the relievers. Jax, Varland and Stewart were not money saving moves, and the Stewart move was not a value adding move, so the only logical conclusion is there was a bigger goal and strategy.  
 

I am more and more resigning myself to the fact Ryan will be traded. He has more value than Duran, Jax and Varland combined.  Ober and Lopez don’t carry as much value so maybe we carry them into next year leading our pitching staff.  Obers decline in velocity is concerning.  
 

As to the players we received it’s the post hype players I am most concerned with. Roden and Bradley carry a lot of value from the trades.  Can Rodens bat show up at the mlb level? Can the Twins fix Bradley? Looking at it more and more I think both are less than 50/50 propositions.  Outman is also a post hype players but like Julien it seems the book is written on him. 2023 was a long time ago.  
 

The Duran trade I continue to like. Abel performance today was really strong. 2 walks and a hit over 5 innings and 60+ pitches.  I personally think he is the best pitcher we picked up in all the deals.  
 

The real question with new ownership will be is how much will they be willing to spend. If this trade deadline is any indication I don’t think we can anticipate a major improvement. We just tanked our reputation with premium free agents for a year or two.  We have enough in the minors I still anticipate putting a decent product on the field, maybe below .500 with a weak bullpen but with a lot more hope than a Rockies situation. 

[Mahoning]

The meassage from Leadership was, "Our last plan was a failure. Trust us with a new plan!" The additions of Taj Bradley and Mick Abel suggest that both Ryan and Lopez will be traded over the winter. Both should hope for exactly that.  And Byron should be reconsidering his loyalty, unless he is content never to play in the post-season again. 

[tony&rodney]

9 hours ago, NYCTK said:

Roden is the inverse of Martin. Whereas Martin looks like he should be a good defensive player, he's not. And while Roden doesn't look like much of an athlete he's been pretty competent out in LF and has a good enough arm if a team wanted to play him in RF. 

Roden struggled in his first looks, at the plate and in the field. I watched the minor league games today. The two guys who are real deals are Culpepper and Jenkins. They are on a roll, laying off the breaking stuff and crushing fastballs of all velocity. They are also hitting with power to al fields. Hendry Mendez had 2 strong games as his introduction to the Wichita team. He looks like he has good bat to ball skills. The Twins best bet is to have Emmanuel and Walker flank Buxton in the outfield next season and stick Culpepper at shortstop. He is already better than Lee. The Twins need to give Keaschall a position and just let him play there every day. He is quick enough to play second base. Perhaps Roden gets a shot at first base.

 

[DocBauer]

3 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

Falvey and the front office knew exactly what they were doing.  This was direction from ownership and appears to be to clean the team up financially in the Correa deal, and the new owners want a high draft pick in the next draft and don’t see the team competing for a few years. So you sell off the pieces you can especially the most volatile position in the relievers. Jax, Varland and Stewart were not money saving moves, and the Stewart move was not a value adding move, so the only logical conclusion is there was a bigger goal and strategy.  
 

I am more and more resigning myself to the fact Ryan will be traded. He has more value than Duran, Jax and Varland combined.  Ober and Lopez don’t carry as much value so maybe we carry them into next year leading our pitching staff.  Obers decline in velocity is concerning.  
 

As to the players we received it’s the post hype players I am most concerned with. Roden and Bradley carry a lot of value from the trades.  Can Rodens bat show up at the mlb level? Can the Twins fix Bradley? Looking at it more and more I think both are less than 50/50 propositions.  Outman is also a post hype players but like Julien it seems the book is written on him. 2023 was a long time ago.  
 

The Duran trade I continue to like. Abel performance today was really strong. 2 walks and a hit over 5 innings and 60+ pitches.  I personally think he is the best pitcher we picked up in all the deals.  
 

The real question with new ownership will be is how much will they be willing to spend. If this trade deadline is any indication I don’t think we can anticipate a major improvement. We just tanked our reputation with premium free agents for a year or two.  We have enough in the minors I still anticipate putting a decent product on the field, maybe below .500 with a weak bullpen but with a lot more hope than a Rockies situation. 

I think we're mostly aligned here.

I'm not crazy about Rodon either. But at 25yo, with solid MILB production and just breaking in to MLB, he's got potential. Not as much as Rodriguez or Jenkins, and maybe not as good as what Wallner has shown he can be, but he's got potential. I think he might be a Larnach replacement. 

I'm also not sold on Bradley. And I think Jax was worth more than just him. His 2025 is a regression from 2024. And coming from the Rays, that's concerning. But at 24yo with ML experience, and SOME success, he's the same age as SWR...I believe...and a year younger than Matthews and Festa. And as smart as the Rays are, they were wrong about Ryan. At worst, they may have another, younger Jax/Duran/Varland pen conversion. Still, that trade seems light.

Grudgingly, and with great remorse, I also tend to believe Ryan might be traded in the offseason. He's cheaper than Lopez, slightly better than a fully functioning Ober, and has STEAM. I'd rather keep him and sign him to an extension. But he might bring back a major BAT for the lineup, plus more. I'd just rather keep him.

Where we probably disagree is about any pending new ownership. It's really easy and loosely applicable to say they could be as "cheap" as the Pohlads...we have no idea...or that they were part of the sell off at the deadline because they are also cheap...again, we have no idea...or that they had any control over the firesale at all...one more time, we have no idea.

IF there is a single new potential buyer just waiting to sign the dotted line...yet again, no clear idea...how much power would they hold unless they have pen in hand? Further, might they have even talked to Falvey about changes that needed to be made for a shakeup of some sort and given their understanding approval? Maybe, IF new owners were involved, they might be working for cleaner books and more financial flexibility to re-invest in the team?

I still don't like Jax for a single prospect. And Stewart and Varland being moved does NOTHING for the books. So I'm hesitant to say the deadline was ALL about the bottom line. And despite various opinions held by others, I'm very torn about the Correa trade. And I'm NOT going to go on a tangent regarding him. What's done is done. But at the end of the day, there is another $20M over the next 3yrs that could be re-invested in the team, should the new owners wish to do so.

I also agree there's enough talent on hand for 2026 for the team to not tank to the level of recent A's, Dirty Sox, or Rockies level. But it sure would make a difference if Lewis and Wallner could get their s**t together and Rodriguez could get healthy and STAY healthy! If that would happen for Rodriguez, I'd follow the Brewers plan and put him in LF DAY ONE for 2026 and keep him there and let him grow, adjust and figure it out!

The biggest issue for 2026...other than new owners and what they might invest in the FA marketplace...is the pen. And with so many options available, it's going to time to trade a couple, and/or, just make moves for some much earlier than you normally would, and get those arms in to the pen to be the next potential Duran, Jax, Stewart, Varland, etc.

[KBJ1]

I think the writing is on the wall. They will trade some or most of their top 3 SP. For what, I don't know. A stud RH bat OF would be nice, but highly unlikely

 Teams just don't  trade such players, especially young controllable ones. Unless they plan on spending 4x what they spent this year on the bullpen (a good, yet cheap bullpen) they will have nothing in the pen next two years.

This team has no road map forward for at least 3 years.

[Coach Wheels]

19 hours ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

Sometimes a spade is a spade. The deadline moves weren't as much about returns as dumping contracts. Again, most of this blame falls on ownership.

I qustion the Varland move, but don't have enough data to criticize it. The rest were pretty obvious.

Every word out of Falvey's mouth right now is damage control. Stop looking for reasons.

The Varland and Jax trade makes me think what happened on Thursday was a culture reset as much as a talent reset. Varland and Jax both talked openly about being in the rotation not the bullpen, maybe the chemistry of this group wasn't good and they cleaned out the attitudes?

Duran was going to bring the most back, easy trade. Castro, Bader were UFA's, easy trades,. Throwing France in the Varland deal, makes sense.

When I listened to Buxton interview Saturday, he talked about the visit with Morneau and culture came up in that conversation. I think the vibe of this bunch was a priority in the over haul.

[LA Vikes Fan]

12 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Roden struggled in his first looks, at the plate and in the field. I watched the minor league games today. The two guys who are real deals are Culpepper and Jenkins. They are on a roll, laying off the breaking stuff and crushing fastballs of all velocity. They are also hitting with power to al fields. Hendry Mendez had 2 strong games as his introduction to the Wichita team. He looks like he has good bat to ball skills. The Twins best bet is to have Emmanuel and Walker flank Buxton in the outfield next season and stick Culpepper at shortstop. He is already better than Lee. The Twins need to give Keaschall a position and just let him play there every day. He is quick enough to play second base. Perhaps Roden gets a shot at first base.

 

Maybe I'm too impatient but I would like to see Culpepper and Jenkins get a shot this year. I don't think Lee is a long term MLB SS - too slow, not enough range, doesn't hit well enough for 3B. Right now, Lee looks like a long term UTL. I have more hope for Martin but I think he's realistically a 4th OF because of the lack of power and the strangely mediocre defense (how can such a great athlete not be good at defense in baseball?). 

Here's what I would like to see by 8/15:

1B - Clemens/Lee

2B - Keaschall

SS - Culpepper

3B - Lewis

UTL - Lee  

UTL (1B/2B) -  Julien

LF - Jenkins

CF - Buxton

RF - Wallner/Larnach

4th OF - Martin

C - Jeffers, Vasquez

DH - Larnach/Wallner/Martin/Jeffers

Play these guys almost every day. Send Roden back to AAA, he's a 2026 ST project. Fitzgerald and Keirsey are AAAA guys, send them to AAA (or DFA land). Yes, be prepared for a lot of SOs and offensive futility, and yes Martin may be a bust as the backup CF (but we need to know since he can hit and Keirsey/Outman cannot). Alternatively, make Martin the 2B and move Keaschall to LF with Jenkins as the backup CF, but then it's hard to get all 3 plus Buxton in the lineup every day unless Wallner or Larnach sit. Yes, this might be painful at times but this way we have a much better handle on 2026 and 2027.  

[tony&rodney]

2 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

Maybe I'm too impatient but I would like to see Culpepper and Jenkins get a shot this year. I don't think Lee is a long term MLB SS - too slow, not enough range, doesn't hit well enough for 3B. Right now, Lee looks like a long term UTL. I have more hope for Martin but I think he's realistically a 4th OF because of the lack of power and the strangely mediocre defense (how can such a great athlete not be good a defense in baseball?). 

Here's what I would like to see by 8/15 ;

1B - Clemens/Lee

2B - Keaschall

SS - Culpepper

3B - Lewis

UTL - Lee  

UTL (1B/2B) -  Julien

LF - Jenkins

CF - Buxton

RF - Wallner/Larnach

4th OF - Martin

C - Jeffers, Vasquez

DH - Larnach/Wallner/Martin/Jeffers

Play these guys almost every day. Send Roden back to AAA, he's a 2026 ST project. Fitzgerald and Keirsey are AAAA guys, send them to AAA (or DFA land). Yes, be prepared for a lot of SOs and offensive futility, and yes Martin may be a bust as the backup CF (but we need to know since he can hit and Keirsey/Outman cannot).  This might be painful at times but this way we have a much better handle on 2026 and 2027.  

There is nothing in the 9 years of The Plan which allows for rookies burning up roster time. It may be an idea but no way the Twins play Jenkins and Culpepper. I'm fine with them having some fun in Wichita before being exposed to the Twins ways. Hopefully ownership and POMO/manager change occurs before next season. It needs to happen. 

[Morland]

Is the front office confident? More likely they're just doing the best that they can while under a mandate from the Pohlads to cut payroll. If the Pohlads still own the team this winter I'm sure the front office will be told to trade Ryan, Ober, and anyone else who might get a raise in the next year or two. They clearly would have traded Buxton as well if he hadn't made it clear to them that he was staying. Right now the Pohlads are doing their best to compete for the worst owner in MLB.