Week in Review: Reality Sets In

[DJL44]

3 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

I would feel a lot better about 2026 with Varland as our closer.

Gus Varland is free agent

[LastOnePicked]

2 hours ago, NYCTK said:

Just remember: Falvey is way more responsible for this team's woes than the Pohalds. 

Help me out. Remind me again who hired, retained and promoted Falvey?

Come on. This doesn't hold water. The rot is in the system at this point, and it starts - and ends - with inept, disinterested ownership.

[Woof Bronzer]

1 hour ago, NYCTK said:

I agree it ultimately falls on them, cause they should have fired Falvey and Rocco last October.

But Falvey is the one that built this terrible team. He's the one that constructed an opening day roster featuring Randy Dobnak, DaShawn Keirsey and Mickey Gasper, despite a pretty healthy $140 Million payroll and a fairly healthy roster. Joe Pohlad is a wealthy dope, but that's not on him. 

 

 

Who hired Derek Falvey?  Who promoted him after last year's debacle?

[Woof Bronzer]

1 hour ago, NYCTK said:

I agree it ultimately falls on them, cause they should have fired Falvey and Rocco last October.

But Falvey is the one that built this terrible team. He's the one that constructed an opening day roster featuring Randy Dobnak, DaShawn Keirsey and Mickey Gasper, despite a pretty healthy $140 Million payroll and a fairly healthy roster. Joe Pohlad is a wealthy dope, but that's not on him. 

 

 

Who hired Derek Falvey?  Who promoted him after last year's debacle?

[mickster]

4 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

Actually, I'm feeling a bit optimistic about next year already. Sure, lots of pieces to move and/or settle, plus that bullpen will be a big challenge to rebuild, but I don't feel all the doom and gloom that so many other are expressing. I think we needed to make some big changes, and the waves of trades last month was a start. We have a lot of exciting young players in the system and it's time to see what they can do on a bigger stage. 

I agree with this ONLY if they keep Ryan and Lopez

[NYCTK]

44 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Who hired Derek Falvey?  Who promoted him after last year's debacle?

Yes. The Pohlads suck. They're indirectly responsible. Falvey is DIRECTLY responsible. 

[Woof Bronzer]

9 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Yes. The Pohlads suck. They're indirectly responsible. Falvey is DIRECTLY responsible. 

Falvey is terrible, but the buck stops with the Pohlads.  This franchise has won 1 ALDS in the past 3+ decades.  The players, FO, and coaches have all changed; the ownership (and losing) hasn't.  Nothing will change for the Twins until the Pohlads are gone.  

[P Meyer]

40 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Yes. The Pohlads suck. They're indirectly responsible. Falvey is DIRECTLY responsible. 

I mean, he built a team that went to the playoffs 4 out of 7 season before the payroll slash of 2024. An educated guess would be that it wasn't his idea to slash payroll and change the budget environment he was working under. He built a bullpen that MLB teams wanted the pieces of this year. You can't have a fire sale if no one wants what you are selling. 

 

I am not a Falvey apologist but directing any of the blame away from the Pohlads is silly IMO. They are mandating or co-signing the Baldelli extensions. They are mandating or co-signings the fire sale of the team. It starts and ends with them.

[NYCTK]

25 minutes ago, P Meyer said:

I mean, he built a team that went to the playoffs 4 out of 7 season before the payroll slash of 2024.

He's built a team that has gone to the playoffs once in 5 years, 4 of which are in the new era of expanded playoffs. 

I, mostly, do give him a pass for 2024 because of that payroll situation. But this is 2025 and his team, that he built independent of the Pohlads involvement, still sucks. Are we just going to give him this excuse in perpetuity? As long as the Pohlads are around is Falvey shielded from criticism? 

[Otaknam]

It seems like every time I look at the box score I see an unknown reliever just signed off the scrap heap. What a disappointment that the bullpen now has a direct line to the waiver wire. And I was not against most of the trades, just Varland and Jax. Given that the team underperformed again  this year, the players who are free agents after this season did need to be dealt. Hopefully some of the players they got in return are very good.

[TheLeviathan]

4 hours ago, NYCTK said:

Falvey is way more responsible for this team's woes than the Pohalds. 

I'm am genuinely baffled by anyone having this stance.

But even if you do....last time I checked Falvey didn't hire himself and continue to cut himself a check.

[TheLeviathan]

The argument has been made that bad ownership need not lead to bad baseball.  There is a lot of truth to that in many situations.  You know where it's also true?  The NFL.  Most owners are largely irrelevant to what happens on the field.  The Colts won Super Bowls with Jim Irsay.  The Bengals had a long run of winning seasons with Mike Brown.

But sometimes your team is owned by old man Jerry Jones.  Or Woody Johnson.  Then....that argument about overcoming bad ownership?  It stops applying to you.  (As Belichick said: "Ready, fire, aim")  Sometimes bad ownership is insurmountable.  It is the core of the rot.

That's the Pohlads.  They hired all the failed FOs.  They employ all the failed development people.  They set the tone of stagnation and mediocrity as long as they make a buck.  Stop looking for scapegoats people!

[smartfred]

I’ve been disappointed with a lot of the comments on Twins Daily lately. I usually come here to read thoughtful takes from loyal fans, not the Facebook-style hot takes where every single problem gets pinned on the Pohlads or Falvey. Lately it feels like the conversation is just piling on, and people are missing how smart the trade deadline really was.

Are the Twins closer to a World Series after the trade deadline sell off? Without a doubt they are! The last few years the Twins were good enough to "limp" into the playoffs. Is that what Twins Territory wants? An early exit? An embarrassing defeat to the Yankees or Houston again? The same fans would be complaining on how the Twins are terrible despite making the playoffs.

The Twins don't have bottomless pockets! They currently rank 22nd in revenue in the MLB. They spend on their payroll 20th. The Twins are overspending! Chill out! The Pohlads might have money, however why would we expect them to fork over their personal assets for our amusement. How many owners currently do that? How many of you all go to the arcade and start dishing out your personal cash so strangers can have fun?

Bullpens are replaceable. A reliever might pitch 70 innings a year—that’s less than 3% of a team’s innings. Just look at the Rays: they’ve built playoff bullpens for years out of waiver claims, minor-league deals, and failed starters. The Marlins are already copying that model under the Rays’ old GM, and it’s working. Relievers are volatile too roughly half of the relievers who post an ERA under 3.50 in one season fail to repeat it the next year. The Twins’ own best guys (Durán, Jax, Varland) all came from this exact approach. Odds are the next late-inning group is already on the roster.
 

This is about building a real contender, not sneaking in. The last few years we limped into October only to get bounced right away. Is that really what we want again? I’d rather see the team reset now and aim for real playoff runs in 2026–27 instead of wasting time pretending this roster could win it all.

And don’t forget the young talent: Lewis, Buxton, Keaschall, Jenkins, plus a strong rotation core with our deadline aquisitions. That’s a foundation a lot of teams would kill for. If even a couple bats take a step forward, this gets exciting fast.

[USAFChief]

3 hours ago, smartfred said:

I’ve been disappointed with a lot of the comments on Twins Daily lately. I usually come here to read thoughtful takes from loyal fans, not the Facebook-style hot takes where every single problem gets pinned on the Pohlads or Falvey. Lately it feels like the conversation is just piling on, and people are missing how smart the trade deadline really was.

Are the Twins closer to a World Series after the trade deadline sell off? Without a doubt they are! The last few years the Twins were good enough to "limp" into the playoffs. Is that what Twins Territory wants? An early exit? An embarrassing defeat to the Yankees or Houston again? The same fans would be complaining on how the Twins are terrible despite making the playoffs.

The Twins don't have bottomless pockets! They currently rank 22nd in revenue in the MLB. They spend on their payroll 20th. The Twins are overspending! Chill out! The Pohlads might have money, however why would we expect them to fork over their personal assets for our amusement. How many owners currently do that? How many of you all go to the arcade and start dishing out your personal cash so strangers can have fun?

Bullpens are replaceable. A reliever might pitch 70 innings a year—that’s less than 3% of a team’s innings. Just look at the Rays: they’ve built playoff bullpens for years out of waiver claims, minor-league deals, and failed starters. The Marlins are already copying that model under the Rays’ old GM, and it’s working. Relievers are volatile too roughly half of the relievers who post an ERA under 3.50 in one season fail to repeat it the next year. The Twins’ own best guys (Durán, Jax, Varland) all came from this exact approach. Odds are the next late-inning group is already on the roster.
 

This is about building a real contender, not sneaking in. The last few years we limped into OctobeThe last few years we limped into October only to get bounced right awayr only to get bounced right away. Is that really what we want again? I’d rather see the team reset now and aim for real playoff runs in 2026–27 instead of wasting time pretending this roster could win it all.

And don’t forget the young talent: Lewis, Buxton, Keaschall, Jenkins, plus a strong rotation core with our deadline aquisitions. That’s a foundation a lot of teams would kill for. If even a couple bats take a step forward, this gets exciting fast.

So much wrong in one post, but I'll just focus on this:

"The last few years we limped into October only to get bounced right away..."

The Twins have made it into October once since 2020. Once. Limp or not.

It's kinda hard to take anything you say seriously when you don't even know their record. Or call Buxton "young" for that matter.

 

[BD57]

i'm thankful I have a team in each league that I follow . . . and that the NL team (the Phillies) is actually good.

Front office blew up the roster at the trade deadline.    Based on how the team came out of the All Star Break, hard to argue it was "wrong" to do so . . . the roster we had wasn't going to contend for anything.

That said . . . there's little to nothing I can see which offers grounds for optimism.   Seems we're going to look at mediocrity until the farm system produces a roster capable of playing good baseball.

Which could take a while.

[smartfred]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

So much wrong in one post, but I'll just focus on this:

"The last few years we limped into October only to get bounced right away..."

The Twins have made it into October once since 2020. Once. Limp or not.

It's kinda hard to take anything you say seriously when you don't even know their record. Or call Buxton "young" for that matter.

 

I appreciate the response.

Buxton is 31 years old. He remains in the 99th percentile in sprint speed. In the next few years he will be in the tail end of his prime and there is a possibility of being surrounded by a good core of players. He's young enough to make a difference with the up and coming core of players.

I didn't feel it was necessary to add in the record of the last few seasons. Those teams were above average. In order to be a serious contender, you need to be at about 95 wins. (Twins were at 87). Now there are always exceptions like the 2023 Diamondbacks in recent memory (they still lost in the world series), however you need a stroke of good luck to have your dice roll in a favorable position and make it that far. The Twins won a playoff series which was great! Once they were up against Houston however we certainly saw how good of a team they were. 

The last time the Twins were serious contenders for a World Series was 2019 with the bomba squad. Guess who assembled the team? Well Mr. Falvey did! Not only did he assemble the team he did it without breaking the bank. CJ Cron, Johnathan Schoop, Mitch Garver, Polanco, Rosario, and lets not forget our highest paid player Nelson Cruz. Of the 9 hitters that contributed the most, 6 of them were homegrown (because it's cheaper). 

In the next 1-2 years the Twins now have the opportunity to do this again. Buxton, Keaschall, Culpepper, Wallner, Roden, Jenkins, Buxton, Tait, Gonzalez, Houston and that's 10!!! You add a couple more pieces through FA like in 2019 now you're really cooking with gas! 

You can do the same with the pitching rotation however I'm running out of steam for a short response.

I'm sorry that everyone is upset, however it is time to turn your frowns the other way around. We now have a window of opportunity coming for the Twins to compete for a championship thanks to this trade deadline. We won't be limping into the playoffs and capitalizing on a weak AL Central. 

 

[RpR]

28 minutes ago, smartfred said:

I appreciate the response.

Buxton is 31 years old. He remains in the 99th percentile in sprint speed. In the next few years he will be in the tail end of his prime and there is a possibility of being surrounded by a good core of players. He's young enough to make a difference with the up and coming core of players.

I didn't feel it was necessary to add in the record of the last few seasons. Those teams were above average. In order to be a serious contender, you need to be at about 95 wins. (Twins were at 87). Now there are always exceptions like the 2023 Diamondbacks in recent memory (they still lost in the world series), however you need a stroke of good luck to have your dice roll in a favorable position and make it that far. The Twins won a playoff series which was great! Once they were up against Houston however we certainly saw how good of a team they were. 

The last time the Twins were serious contenders for a World Series was 2019 with the bomba squad. Guess who assembled the team? Well Mr. Falvey did! Not only did he assemble the team he did it without breaking the bank. CJ Cron, Johnathan Schoop, Mitch Garver, Polanco, Rosario, and lets not forget our highest paid player Nelson Cruz. Of the 9 hitters that contributed the most, 6 of them were homegrown (because it's cheaper). 

In the next 1-2 years the Twins now have the opportunity to do this again. Buxton, Keaschall, Culpepper, Wallner, Roden, Jenkins, Buxton, Tait, Gonzalez, Houston and that's 10!!! You add a couple more pieces through FA like in 2019 now you're really cooking with gas! 

You can do the same with the pitching rotation however I'm running out of steam for a short response.

I'm sorry that everyone is upset, however it is time to turn your frowns the other way around. We now have a window of opportunity coming for the Twins to compete for a championship thanks to this trade deadline. We won't be limping into the playoffs and capitalizing on a weak AL Central. 

 

Pretty much based on wishful thinking but better than the we are doomed, that is saturating TD right now.

[LambchoP]

With Abel, Bradley, Rojas and Gallagher, along with our guys already in the system, I think we should be ok as far as starting pitching goes, as long as we don't trade away anyone. We should also be able to fill some reliever spots with some of these SP who don't seem to do well after 2-3 innings. I think our lineup needs a true shake up. Need a first baseman who can hit, some defensive athletic infielders to backup Lee and Lewis. In the OF I think Wallner and Larnach have hit their peak and we could stand to upgrade our there. Roden and Outman are not going to be the answer. We've got some solid talent coming soon with Jenkins, ERod, Culpeper, Gonzalez, Fedko. Until they are ready, let's audition some of our younger guys that are fighting for a spot. Martin, Eeles, Sabato etc. wouldn't mind auditioning some of our pitchers for pen spots next year too. See how guys like Raya, Morris and our new guys do.