Part of the Core, or Out the Door? Ranking Minnesota Twins Trade Candidates, 6-10

[Sjoski]

Gotta keep the dumpster fire going somehow.  Winters coming, time to stock up on some more wood.

[SteveLV]

Can the answer be: None of the Above?  Sure, Lewis and Wallner COULD be part of our core going forward, but they are in prove it years as far as I am concerned.  Lee is almost in the same boat, at least until Culpepper is ready to get his chance.

Ober is ok, and he is likely worth his arb number but does not move the needle much beyond that.

Sands has some promise, but, again, has this year to show what he can do out of the 'pen.

This should be, as far as I am concerned, a Year of the Youngsters.  Get them all out and up here, play them, and see what we have.  Trade Ryan and possibly Lopez for more young players and see if we can form a true core of good players.  The A's have seemingly done that; we can to with luck and skill.

 

[Fatbat]

Across the roster, including these guys, the chance of a trade is low.  All these guys will be back as ‘26 core players

[Patzky]

The roster is beginning to take shape. 

The Twins have selected the contracts of left-handers Kendry Rojas and Connor Prielipp, righties Andrew Morris and John Klein, and outfielders Gabriel Gonzalez and Hendry Mendez, the team announced Tuesday.

[Permanent Twins Fan]

Of this list, Wallner is the most likely to be traded. I don't think the Twins should be looking to move Ober after a down season despite the full rotation. If Wallner is traded, than the Twins need to be willing to let Jenkins and Rodriguez get consistent playing time in his spot.

[hitterscount]

4 hours ago, SteveLV said:

Can the answer be: None of the Above?  Sure, Lewis and Wallner COULD be part of our core going forward, but they are in prove it years as far as I am concerned.  Lee is almost in the same boat, at least until Culpepper is ready to get his chance.

Ober is ok, and he is likely worth his arb number but does not move the needle much beyond that.

Sands has some promise, but, again, has this year to show what he can do out of the 'pen.

This should be, as far as I am concerned, a Year of the Youngsters.  Get them all out and up here, play them, and see what we have.  Trade Ryan and possibly Lopez for more young players and see if we can form a true core of good players.  The A's have seemingly done that; we can to with luck and skill.

 

And how did that work out for the A's... no longer in Oakland, just an observation.

[DocBauer]

I'm just too tired to go in to great detail, so forgive bullet point comments.

SANDS: Flashed some in 2023. Was really good in 2024. Was disappointingly inconsistent, but not bad, the first 4 months of 2026. Take away 7-10 days of really bad performance, he was really good the last 2 months. Looked like his 2024 self. A lot of upside still, the Twins need BP arms, he isn't going anywhere. 

LEWIS: Still only 26yo. Admitted he's finally been frustrated with trying to find comfort at the plate with all his injuries. Was a league average hitter the 2nd half of the season plus when he started to feel better. Even began to run more. Played the most games of his career and didn't have any injuries post his ST hamstring injury. Despite vast improvement defensively at 3B, COULD move to 1B down the road depending on the rest of the future INF construction. Foolish to trade him or bet against him and the hitter still lurking inside of him waiting to break out.

LEE: Poor athlete. But he's smart, has good hands, transitions glove to hand well, and can make the off balance throw despite an average-ish arm. Has the potential to be solid, not great, across the dirt. Actually played better at SS post Correa trade. Was barely above ML rookie status in 2025. Might actually have more power than originally projected. Has never been a great BB/OB hitter, but should be much better than he's shown so far. Seems to recognize his mistakes as a hitter. But can he overcome his self recognized flaws? If he can, he's a potential starting player, long term, at either 2B or 3B. Possibly his best position? Super Utility INF who plays almost daily across the INF, including 1B. Much more potential awaiting to be unlocked. His trade value is only for someone who sees all of these same things. But the Twins need him more than any value he'd bring back at this time.

OBER: I say again, chicken and the egg. What came first? Ober had a bad hip injury that ruined his 2025. Did the hip injury mess with his mechanics? Or did he mess up his mechanics and develop a hip injury?

Regardless, Ober has been an excellent #3 starter before 2025's injury frustration. At times, he's thrown like a #2. IMO, STOP with the velocity issue. He's only 30yo! And he doesn't have a tremendous amount of IP on his arm. He just needs to be healthy in 2026 to be what he's been. If someone wants to offer a nice package because they also believe he's going to be OK, then listen for sure. But a healthy Ober is a very good SP. So the return would have to be pretty good.

WALLNER: How much angst is directed towards Wallner only because he had a disappointing 2025? He had a solid rookie debut. He followed up with a pair of .870-ish OPS seasons. He was still above league average in a disappointing 2025 where maybe his early injury and missed time just messed with him. Great MILB career where he always advanced and improved. Great first 2 1/2 seasons. Has slowly been better and better against LHP. Should be the primary DH and occasional corner OF.

UNTIL Rodriguez, Jenkins, Gonzalez, etc establish themselves, where else do you find the power and potential of Wallner? He's an absolute keeper.

No disrespect to the OP, but ALL 5 of these are definitely part of the current core based on age, payroll, and potential. It stinks that all 5 had mediocre seasons in 2025. But why and when do you trade young and young-ish players with talent that have the potential to be part of your core for the next 2-5yrs? 

 

[beckmt]

In the next year you have Jenkins, Gonzalez, and Rodriquez along with Buxton and Martin.  Plus you have a few more guys that can play outfield.  I want players with speed and lower K totals.  That is not Wallner.  It might be a mistake, but I would move Wallner, and possible Larnach at this time to clear space.  We also have more of the same profile for outfielders at St. Paul plus Roden and Outman.  In the tough situations Wallner will either see a lefty or a righty that can hit his spots.  Wallner might make it, just do not see the timing of it here.  

 

[SteveLV]

hitterscount, I would surely swap our lineup for Oaklands right now, in a heartbeat.  I don't care where they are playing.

[Chembry]

20 hours ago, stringer bell said:

No organization wants to take on a guy who has lost velocity and effectiveness unless there is evidence that he can get the velo back. Ober finished the season with a fastball that couldn't get to 90, so I don't think any team will want him. 

What's interesting about Ober's velocity, is that Perkins specifically mentioned (either during TV or radio broadcasts, I can't quite remember) that Ober would consistently hit 92-93 during his bullpen sessions...even late into the season.  Why didn't that transfer into games? I think there is more to the story than just mechanics.  We know he was dealing with hip issues since spring training last year.  I wouldn't be surprised if that lingered even when coming back off the IL in July.

[Chembry]

12 hours ago, hitterscount said:

And how did that work out for the A's... no longer in Oakland, just an observation.

The A's youth has nothing to do with them leaving Oakland.  The lease was up on the Coliseum and they were trying get a new stadium built.  There was also discontent between the fan base and the owners.  I travel to Sacramento at least once a month for business.  I have caught many A's games while there as well as Sacramento River Cats and the fan base.  I played college baseball and played in better stadiums than the Coliseum.  It is a horrible place to watch baseball.

The fanbase was very apathetic.  They were upset that Fisher never invested in the team and consistently in rebuild mode. Over time fans stopped showing up.  Oakland finally gave the A's a site and $774M to build a stadium, then Fisher said no, they are moving to Vegas.  He blamed fans and the city for the move.  The funding he got for the Vegas stadium is $300M less that what Oakland was going to give them...

The move has nothing to do with the youth or the talent of the team.  Oakland has a very talented group of young guys (Kurtz, Wilson, Soderstrom, Butler).   

[hitterscount]

On 11/19/2025 at 6:02 AM, Chembry said:

The A's youth has nothing to do with them leaving Oakland.  The lease was up on the Coliseum and they were trying get a new stadium built.  There was also discontent between the fan base and the owners.  I travel to Sacramento at least once a month for business.  I have caught many A's games while there as well as Sacramento River Cats and the fan base.  I played college baseball and played in better stadiums than the Coliseum.  It is a horrible place to watch baseball.

The fanbase was very apathetic.  They were upset that Fisher never invested in the team and consistently in rebuild mode. Over time fans stopped showing up.  Oakland finally gave the A's a site and $774M to build a stadium, then Fisher said no, they are moving to Vegas.  He blamed fans and the city for the move.  The funding he got for the Vegas stadium is $300M less that what Oakland was going to give them...

The move has nothing to do with the youth or the talent of the team.  Oakland has a very talented group of young guys (Kurtz, Wilson, Soderstrom, Butler).   

Right, there were many games that Target field looked packed in September compared to most of the non-competitive teams the A's fielded the last 5-7 years in Oakland. Trading your best players is great, as long as you continue to win..... losing on a consistent basis will ruin many fans support/enthusiasm of their hometown or favorite teams....look no farther than Minnesota's attendance last year. So if you want to draw 1.25 - 1.5 million in 26 by all means trade all of the remaining guys with value and field a team like we saw from late June on. 

[Chembry]

15 hours ago, hitterscount said:

Right, there were many games that Target field looked packed in September compared to most of the non-competitive teams the A's fielded the last 5-7 years in Oakland. Trading your best players is great, as long as you continue to win..... losing on a consistent basis will ruin many fans support/enthusiasm of their hometown or favorite teams....look no farther than Minnesota's attendance last year. So if you want to draw 1.25 - 1.5 million in 26 by all means trade all of the remaining guys with value and field a team like we saw from late June on. 

I agree a consistent losing team will erode a fanbase.  But the relocation of the A’s has nothing to do with the team being young.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5798535/2024/09/27/oakland-as-final-game-coliseum-thompson/

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38442355/story-how-all-went-south-las-vegas

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/sep/26/oakland-athletics-final-game-john-fisher