Is "Building Around" The Current Roster Better Than A Rebuild?

[Cody Pirkl]

Image courtesy of © Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

As bits of news leaked about teams checking in on Joe Ryan and Byron Buxton being willing to waive his no-trade clause, the belief grew that the Twins were headed for a full-on rebuild. The development in the ownership situation has changed things, as Derek Falvey now says they intend to keep their star players and add to the roster. A sigh of relief would be a fair reaction to this news, but is it really worth celebrating?

The Twins have been in a state of stasis for almost three calendar years, declining to invest in moderate-cost or multi-year free agents while keeping much of the roster core almost precisely the same. The results speak for themselves: the team missed the playoffs in both seasons since payroll was slashed heading into 2024. The team is at a crossroads: the current roster clearly isn’t good enough, and ownership hasn’t been willing to invest enough to change things.

The news that the Twins were looking to build around their star players brought instant excitement. Their current estimated payroll of around $95 million has inspired little hope for next season, and further payroll shedding would put the final nail in the coffin of fan morale. To hear them frame their plans in this manner was a refreshing development. Unfortunately, it sounds like more corporate speak that Twins fans have grown so accustomed to.

“Building around” the stars on the current roster likely means a payroll that won’t approach the $135 million the team allocated at the beginning of 2025, and $110 million is a plausible result, according to Dan Hayes of The Athletic. This number would place the Twins firmly in the bottom third of the league in spending and represent a decline in payroll for a third consecutive season.

Such a low number would leave the team scouring the bargain bin for one-year deals once again, a tactic that has had mixed results for this regime, to put it kindly. The Twins could use impact players at multiple positions, but will likely once again have to settle for low-wattage deals with uninspiring names and hope to hit on a few of them.

A $110 million payroll would represent a notable decline from the payroll of the 2025 roster, which lost 92 games. Within this number is $10 million being paid to Houston, who took Carlos Correa off their hands at the deadline. It would leave the bullpen without names such as Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, and Louis Varland, while also giving the team little chance to find adequate replacements.

This raises the question: Is attempting to compete with a $110 million payroll actually better for the team than entering a full-blown rebuild? Fan morale may have received a shot in the arm when Falvey announced their desire to build around their star players, but this is sure to dissipate throughout another quiet offseason. It stands to fall back into apathy if the team gets off to another slow start with much of the same core. There’s no telling how badly morale declines if 2026 includes another deadline sell-off where the Twins wind up parting with the star players they claim to be “building around” anyway. That's assuming they’re healthy and performing well at the time.

Twins Daily users voted on this subject over the past few days, and basically split the vote, with 138 in favor of a rebuild, and 140 against a rebuild:

It would be difficult to frame a $110 million payroll as anything more than a disingenuous “attempt” to try to compete by Twins' leadership, but it’s not difficult to envision them trying to do so. They can repeat this talking point, hoping fans weigh their additions against their current 2026 payroll of around $95 million rather than comparing it to previous seasons, in which it is almost certain to decline for the third consecutive year. If things go off the rails for a second consecutive year, they can sell off their rentals and consider doing the same with names such as Byron Buxton and Pablo Lopez to lower their bottom-line costs for the 2026 season, just as they did in 2025. Unfortunately, this is a very real possibility.

The Twins appear unlikely to emerge from their three-year hibernation when it comes to significant roster moves. Keeping their star players, such as Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan, at least gives them a chance to compete in 2026 if things go perfectly and if much of the roster that has failed them for two straight years finally comes around. That chance may be enough. 

It does raise the question, though: Is reducing payroll even further and taking half measures to compete for the third straight season really better than entering a full-blown rebuild?

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[Cory Engelhardt]

Depends on the moves but yes

[GNess]

Thoughtful article. I don't have a sense that either option is good or bad inherently as it depends on how well the plan is executed. The build around approach is something of a half measure, but it appears that is the direction the Twins have opted to pursue for now.

So we are counting on Falvey, the FO and the developmental coaches to make excellent roster/positional decisions, acquire the right players via trade/free agency and/or have the young players rising to the MLB level to be ready to contribute.

Count me as a skeptic with just a sliver of hope that this needle can be threaded.

 

[Nashvilletwin]

The question is only worth asking if the returns for Buxton, Lopez and Ryan are not very exciting (i.e. no top near-term projectable prospects and/or controllable proven with upside major leaguers are being offered).

Otherwise the question is essentially ludicrous if not for our sweet talking but delusional GM and the naive Nephew.

This team has exactly ONE above average major league position player and he will be lucky to play 100 games. Jeffers is around average, but the rest of the entire position player lineup is decidedly, unambiguously below average.  There is no money nor trade assets (unless Falvey reaches into our cadre of top prospects - which would be a firable offense) to change that scenario.  All the retread vets Falvey can muster up signing for peanuts are not going to change that. It’s a real Hail Mary to think Falvey can somehow recreate his biggest FA victory (Santana) despite all his other failures or that somehow many, if not most, of Lewis, Wallner, Clemens, Martin, Lee, Julien, Larnach, etc are going to suddenly start producing at much higher levels.

Let’s turn to the mound.  We have exactly TWO above average pitchers on the ENTIRE staff, including the bullpen.  Lopez and Ryan can theoretically keep games close for 5-6 innings; however, a lack of run support and what is arguably on paper one of the weakest bullpens in the league will not result in many victories from their starts. Sure, SWR and Ober are decent #4 types; but, the run support and bullpen issues are only magnified when they take mound.

The HOPE is that several young converted prospect starters, a couple of holdovers, and a few bottom of the barrel newcomers can somehow be cobbled together to form an effective bullpen. But an “effective” bullpen is not enough to consistently win if the run support is atrocious.

To further darken the outlook, the elation once realized upon Rocco’s dismissal quickly turned to despair with the hiring of the “already proven unsuccessful managing a low spending team” Shelton.  The hiring of Shelton feels a bit like the Falvey equivalent of signing retreads like Gallo, Margot, France, etc. etc.  That may be more than a bit harsh, but Shelton’s arrival is not being taken by anyone as a likely game changing manoeuvre.

This all is a decidedly dark (and long, for which I apologize) take. Understood.  But there is no data, precedent, or any other solid reason to come to any more likely conclusion. 

However, going back to the opening premise: if the market for Lopez, Ryan or Buxton just isn’t there right now, than there may not be much choice than to make a few small additions to see if the Hail Mary might work and the team somehow catches lightning in a bottle.  We can only hope.  But if not, we can also only hope that Ryan, Lopez, and Buxton remain healthy and productive, their market opens up as the year progresses and Falvey can actually be smart and flexible enough to pivot to building for ‘28.

[Woof Bronzer]

Good news, we don't have to speculate, the Twins have tried this approach the last 2 offseasons. 

If we call the 2025 core Buxton, Lopez, Ryan, Jeffers, and Lewis?, then...

2023:  2025 core + ace starter, HOF shortstop, 2 all star relievers, Polanco and others = 87 wins

2024:  2025 core + ace starter, HOF shortstop, 2 all star relievers, $30mil payroll cut = 82 wins

2025 pre dealine:  2025 core + HOF shortstop, 2 all star relievers, $0 additional investment = 75 win pace

2025 post deadline;  2025 core, $30 mil payroll cut = 57 win pace

This roster has spent 2+ years screaming at us that it's not good enough.  I wish the FO and fans would listen.

[tony&rodney]

Cory nailed it .... depends.

The core is: Lopez, Buxton, Correa's salary, Jeffers, and Ryan. Go ahead and add Lewis if you desire. That group of six cost $62M if my math is correct.

From there, build around these guys. Six minimum salaried relief pitchers (you get to choose) and two minimum salaried starting pitchers (pick from SWR, Abel, Festa, Bradley, Matthews, Morris, etc.)  adds $6.4M. Seven position players (Jackson, Keaschall, Lee, Wallner, Martin, Roden, Jenkins) at minimum adds another $5.6M.

The baseline of $74M with a $110M ceiling makes things tough because $36M ain't what it used to be back in the day.

So how to build? Need one starter (Ober is on books, but could be traded), 2 relief pitchers, and three position players (Larnach is on the books, but could be traded).

If Ober and Larnach are kept that adds $9M, leaving $27M for the remaining four players, two position players and two relievers. If both Ober and Larnach are off the roster, $36M is for six players.

$36M is not a bad sum of money. That is $6M per player. Herein lies the problem if one looks at past decisions in filling in the roster. Keeping Ober and/or Larnach is fine. Now you have $27M.

How would people complete the puzzle? You need 2 relief pitchers and four position fellows.

I'm greedy so I am going big on one guy, Bo Bichette for 8/$200M at $25M per year. Yes, yes I know this has zero chance of being done. I also traded both Ober and Larnach, sadly, because the budget is $110M and not $120M. I still need five more players and have only $11M to get them. My three other position players are all minimum guys, so $2.4M total which leaves me only $8.6M for two relief pitchers.  If I want to spend more someone needs to be traded from the sacred list or there isn't room for Bichette. 

I will stop here because the idea is finished. A decent team can be assembled but it requires some movement. Sitting around and thinking, woe is me, won't work. Waiting isn't much of a strategy either because soon all of your choices are made for you. Last year the Twins signed three players who absolutely delivered for the team: Harrison Bader, Ty France, and Danny Coulombe. Will Falvey pull off that trick again? It is here I remind people that with those positive additions and their best in MLB bullpen (jk), the team went 70-92. Is that a goal for 2026? I'm signing Bichette to build around the current roster and trying to stretch the rest. In my model I did trade someone and added a decent relief pitcher. In reality that pitcher will probably be gone before I hit save.

Good luck yourselves.

[LastOnePicked]

Of all the painful decisions of the last few years, this one hurts the most. I thought we were finally embarking on a journey with this team that was going to see young homegrown talent finally get a chance to sink or swim. To get out of the free agent and waiver claim dumpster and into the development of a real roster.

Yes, it was going to involve some very bad baseball and some last-place finishes. But there's a difference between unwatchable bad baseball and very watchable bad baseball. Watchable bad baseball features the likes of Walker Jenkins getting ABs in unfavorable matchups. Unwatchable bad baseball has your veteran "core" on the IL as Mickey Gasper gets an exhausting extension of his MLB career.

But now we're back to FO doublespeak and roster "nibbling" with the hopes that somehow a few marginal free-agents and an uninspiring and lackluster core will somehow - what? - catch lightning in a bottle and fall just 2-3 games short of a 2026 WC berth? That we'll end up picking 12th in the 2027 Draft instead of 2nd?

If ever there was a time to commit to a full and total organizational rebuild, it's now. Lopez, Jeffers, Buxton and Ryan have value. That value - assuming Falvey is even half competent at trades - could be traded for prospects who could be leading the team in a 2029 championship run. Or it can continue to rot away on a well-below-mediocre roster, pushing the next playoff window further and further and further away.

[Linus]

1 hour ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Good news, we don't have to speculate, the Twins have tried this approach the last 2 offseasons. 

If we call the 2025 core Buxton, Lopez, Ryan, Jeffers, and Lewis?, then...

2023:  2025 core + ace starter, HOF shortstop, 2 all star relievers, Polanco and others = 87 wins

2024:  2025 core + ace starter, HOF shortstop, 2 all star relievers, $30mil payroll cut = 82 wins

2025 pre dealine:  2025 core + HOF shortstop, 2 all star relievers, $0 additional investment = 75 win pace

2025 post deadline;  2025 core, $30 mil payroll cut = 57 win pace

This roster has spent 2+ years screaming at us that it's not good enough.  I wish the FO and fans would listen.

This is what I’ve been saying. If you look at it objectively this lineup has been poor for several years but just wait they are going to get better. Now we have the same lineup problem with a non-existent bullpen. 

[Major League Ready]

10 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

Of all the painful decisions of the last few years, this one hurts the most. I thought we were finally embarking on a journey with this team that was going to see young homegrown talent finally get a chance to sink or swim. To get out of the free agent and waiver claim dumpster and into the development of a real roster.

Yes, it was going to involve some very bad baseball and some last-place finishes. But there's a difference between unwatchable bad baseball and very watchable bad baseball. Watchable bad baseball features the likes of Walker Jenkins getting ABs in unfavorable matchups. Unwatchable bad baseball has your veteran "core" on the IL as Mickey Gasper gets an exhausting extension of his MLB career.

But now we're back to FO doublespeak and roster "nibbling" with the hopes that somehow a few marginal free-agents and an uninspiring and lackluster core will somehow - what? - catch lightning in a bottle and fall just 2-3 games short of a 2026 WC berth? That we'll end up picking 12th in the 2027 Draft instead of 2nd?

If ever there was a time to commit to a full and total organizational rebuild, it's now. Lopez, Jeffers, Buxton and Ryan have value. That value - assuming Falvey is even half competent at trades - could be traded for prospects who could be leading the team in a 2029 championship run. Or it can continue to rot away on a well-below-mediocre roster, pushing the next playoff window further and further and further away.

Could not agree more.  So many factors screamed rebuild.  Let's start with they are coming off a season where they were among the very worst in the league.  They only have 2 years left on the couple of good assets they have and they are not willing/able to spend what it would take to upgrade this team.  We also really need a couple more impact prospects if we are going to seriously contend in the next several years. 

Modest improvements won't cut it.  They have a major rebuilding of the BP required and several SPs who are candidates to transition.  That takes time.  They need to invest a lot of innings in guys transitioning.  The also need to evaluate several OFers.  That's also an investment in playing time.  They have three great prospects near ready but not immediately ready and they have a couple guys in Roden and Martin that deserve a look.  They have a great SS prospect near ready.  They also have several young SPs ready or near ready which also requires investment in terms of allocating IP.   That's a lot of pieces that need upgrading.  Pretending to compete and fitting prospects instead of committing will significantly diminish the opportunity to make meaningful improvements in the team/

What's really frustrating is they could be a very interesting team by the start of 27 if they would commit to building a winner instead of the same inability to commit that has made us perennially mediocre or worse.  

[old nurse]

The Twins hav.e 2 frontline starters, a 4 WAR player in Buxton a 3 in Jeffers  they need to have Jeffers be a 4. He seems capable of being that.  Now that he no longer has rookie status there is just pessimism thrown his way. If there was a closer that would be a strong core   SWR last year was what suffices as a fourth starter  

What will determine if the season is to have success , beyond those. 4s health is the uncertainties.  There is the comeback kid. Does Ober come back to what he was before last year. There was a  blogger here who claimed he could be Cy Young worthy There are the 2 maybe brothers in Lewis and Wallner. Maybe they will put it together, maybe  they wont. Both are capable of playing a great game, just not last year.  There is the mystery three. Which 3 starters are going to the failed starters at the back of the bullpen. There are the 4 mirages. As in was that a mirage and will it be back?  4 pitcher mirages in Prielipp’s relative health, Funderburk’s post deadline pitching, Topa and Sands competent years. The 4 position player mirages would be Martin after the deadline, the new catcher’s season last year, Jullian’s rookie season and Clemen’s existence.  

A good start to the season may be essential, but it will not help for deadline additions if they are contending 

 

[IndianaTwin]

I don't think calling it a big drop in talent if they go from $135M to $110M is that helpful. Take Correa's $22M out of the $135M and it's comparing $113M and $110M, roughly the same. There's correlation between payroll and talent level, but it's not a 1:1 correlation.

Outliers make a difference. Said another way, they could add $38M to the roster by trading for Rendon and not help the team a bit. 

[nova_twins]

It's pure fantasy to think the Twins can accomplish anything by going into "rebuild" mode. They don't have enough assets to make any difference. They should try to win as best they can under the budgetary constraints, end of story.

[#3Killer]

Gloom and doom. Posters on this site are really downers!!! We have a really good starting rotation with many options. Some who don’t earn a spot can jump to the bullpen. Lewis, Lee, Wallner, Larnach all have the ability to play way over what they have shown. Jeffers is totally under-rated.  Keaschal started great but now we have to make him feel bad because he doesn’t meet Twins Daily fielding standards/ add Lee to that. Bitch, bitch, bitch!!! Front office sucks!! New manager won’t be a change, coaches suck!!!!

I coached HS sports for 44 years - one thing I found was if you didn’t believe in your kids and expect them to succeed- they wouldn’t!!!!! 

[sweetmusicviola16]

I'm not an advocate of a full all out rebuild. I'm not even suggesting it. What I do suggest however is a trade of Joe Ryan, He is very unlikely to ever be worth more than he is right now. Pablo would soon follow. Shortly into the season, sooner if the deal was right. Trading these guys for the very most top close to ML ready players you can get will enhance the competitive window of this team when it arrives. It isn't that I don't like Ryan and what he brings. Quite the opposite. This isn't tearing the entire team down. Without trading Ryan and Lopez it actually leaves me very confused. Why acquire Abel, Rojas and even Bradley along with holding onto Matthews and Festa? I get it, injuries happen. But if Ryan and Lopez go down then what? What value will they be then? If everything in 2026 goes right with Ryan and Lopez we're an 80 win team. I for one am willing to gamble and deal them for a package that will allow us to be a true contending team in 3 years. And I'm not naive, I know it's a gamble. But I assess that it is just as much a gamble signing a handful of players to build around them for 3-4mil each is even more of one.

[tony&rodney]

41 minutes ago, #3Killer said:

Gloom and doom. Posters on this site are really downers!!! We have a really good starting rotation with many options. Some who don’t earn a spot can jump to the bullpen. Lewis, Lee, Wallner, Larnach all have the ability to play way over what they have shown. Jeffers is totally under-rated.  Keaschal started great but now we have to make him feel bad because he doesn’t meet Twins Daily fielding standards/ add Lee to that. Bitch, bitch, bitch!!! Front office sucks!! New manager won’t be a change, coaches suck!!!!

I coached HS sports for 44 years - one thing I found was if you didn’t believe in your kids and expect them to succeed- they wouldn’t!!!!! 

This is an aggressive response to people who might have different thoughts. Different opinions don't need to be seen as complaints. Try not to paint with such a broad brush. There is quite a wide assortment of thoughts and opinions on this site.

I match your experience, I'm old as hell. I also played Senior Mens Ball against dozens of former MLB players including matchups a dozen plus times against Mike Marshall (Cy Young-1974). I agree totally with your statement about believing. What does it all mean for commenting on Twins Daily. In my case -nothing.

Talent is huge in MLB because the margins are so minor. We once had a guy join our men's team 8 weeks after he was DFA'ed by the Orioles. He had lost control of his pitches and they wandered right back into the hitting zone and so after a couple of years of up and down, he was done, released and not picked up. Seven weeks later his wife told to get out of the house because he was moping and join a local team, which he did. He talked about the fine line quite a bit.

The Twins were 70-92 last season and they lost Duran, Jax, Varland, Bader, France, Coulombe, and so forth. Do you believe the Twins style of baseball was worthwhile last season: station to station, missing the cutoff way too often, and so on? Can this same group recover to win 75-81 games? What would you do coach?

I'm quite positive about a few of the coaching changes but am admittedly biased. I'm also a believer in Jenkins on Day 1 of the 2026 season. I'm generally pretty positive but also examine the overall product and see that some change is needed which is where i get critical. I'm also not a fan of giving regular jobs to over the hill vets who are clearly declining (Gallo, Margot, etc.) and those players were once upon a time very good players.

What do you think? Instead of attacking, lay out your proposals. I'm sure you have some worthy ideas to share. That is a positive about sites like this that is worth participating in from time to time.

[karcherd]

I believe that by not rebuilding it is just a commitment to aging vets or AAAA guys that they hope will figure it out.  This is not a formula for success.  By signing these types of players you are not giving the younger players chances and you can't keep waiting until they are 26 or 27 to find out what you have.  We keep hearing about how hyped our farm system, at some point they have to be used in the major leagues.

Gleeman tweeted out a couple of interesting facts today, one is we are one of only four teams not to sign a MLB free agent.  The other is that six relievers have already gone off the board,  the tier one and two guys are drying up.  So is this just another sign they are going to go dumpster diving again this year, that is the fear.

I would rather see some of the kids like Jenkins, ERod and Culpepper, it at least gives some hope for the future.  And if they all flame out, you at least know where you stand.  This would be more preferable than seeing the Margots or IKF's types being run out there on a daily basis.

And I am not convinced that we don't have some talent on this roster, more than some want to give credit for.  I think Lewis is still going to be an above average player.  And Ober had a bad year, but he has been above average before that.  So supplement these guys with the young prospects not the AAAA players or aging vets that they keep trying to convince us are impact players.

 

 

[#3Killer]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

This is an aggressive response to people who might have different thoughts. Different opinions don't need to be seen as complaints. Try not to paint with such a broad brush. There is quite a wide assortment of thoughts and opinions on this site.

I match your experience, I'm old as hell. I also played Senior Mens Ball against dozens of former MLB players including matchups a dozen plus times against Mike Marshall (Cy Young-1974). I agree totally with your statement about believing. What does it all mean for commenting on Twins Daily. In my case -nothing.

Talent is huge in MLB because the margins are so minor. We once had a guy join our men's team 8 weeks after he was DFA'ed by the Orioles. He had lost control of his pitches and they wandered right back into the hitting zone and so after a couple of years of up and down, he was done, released and not picked up. Seven weeks later his wife told to get out of the house because he was moping and join a local team, which he did. He talked about the fine line quite a bit.

The Twins were 70-92 last season and they lost Duran, Jax, Varland, Bader, France, Coulombe, and so forth. Do you believe the Twins style of baseball was worthwhile last season: station to station, missing the cutoff way too often, and so on? Can this same group recover to win 75-81 games? What would you do coach?

I'm quite positive about a few of the coaching changes but am admittedly biased. I'm also a believer in Jenkins on Day 1 of the 2026 season. I'm generally pretty positive but also examine the overall product and see that some change is needed which is where i get critical. I'm also not a fan of giving regular jobs to over the hill vets who are clearly declining (Gallo, Margot, etc.) and those players were once upon a time very good players.

What do you think? Instead of attacking, lay out your proposals. I'm sure you have some worthy ideas to share. That is a positive about sites like this that is worth participating in from time to time.

This was made to be an aggressive response. The negativity displayed may have very little impact an anyone in the organizational/ player level, but the negativity bleeds out to the readers and followers of this sight and who doesn’t love to talk about Twins baseball with family and friends. All winter 80% of posts are basically about telling everyone that our core of young player “ain’t got it” . The very same posters who called on bringing up The 6-7 players I mentioned now condemn them for not coming through. Don’t tell me this isn’t true- if you read the posts you know it’s a fact. We have a new manager and some new coaches- let’s give them a chance- I bet they realize that any success they will accomplish must come from our young core.

i was not a Rocco fan. I know I do not respond to coaching that doesn’t instill some fire. This doesn’t mean yelling. It means teaching and insisting on the fundamentals of the sport,, which will hopefully instill a level of confidence in your athlete that leads to further improvement and realization of potential. I am not aware of Rocco’s style but his rotation of players, handling of the pitching staff laid back attitude from the dugout came across like he could care less about winning or putting his best players in the field.All sports demand emotion and commitment as well as great fundamentals and frankly this did not shine through from Rocco.

so - use spring training to prep your starters to come out of the gate on fire. Correa had 12 live at bats before the season started the season. Starters basically played 1/4 of the AB’s at best. No wonder April was a disaster. Learn to advance runners by bunting, master getting a jump to steal bases, learn to put the ball in play with 2 strikes. defensive execution is inexcusable- so fix it. If you are collapsing mid season hold early bird practices and fix it- they are pros and getting paid to play so put in the time so they succeed.- in all aspects of the game. Winning fixes everything- and preparation is required for winning- on everyone’s part! Even poster on TD.
 

 

 

 

[ashbury]

Note to the Twins' PR department: try to provide major media outlets such as the NYT a less insipid photo of Falvey than the one that keeps getting used.

[jorgenswest]

The path to a rebuild by tear down is more difficult if not possible than last decade. The Astros and Orioles didn’t rebuild by trades. They had the number 1 or 2 pick and the associated dollars to split among all of their picks. The draft lottery has closed the door on that route.

Last decade there were some blockbuster trades with prospect hauls. The Royals received a top flight prospect, two other prospects in the top 100 and Lorenzo Cain who had a solid two month debut in the majors in 2010. The Yankees received a top flight prospect in Gleyber Torres , a top 100 prospect, major leaguer Adam Warren and another prospect for a rental reliever in Aroldis Chapman. The Twins traded away three post seasons of Duran and didn’t get near the return. It took 5 years of control to pry away De Vries.

If teams aren’t going to trade top flight prospects and you can’t go with the be awful and get the number 1 pick plan then I wouldn’t go with the tear down plan. Those plans rely on a higher likelihood of getting an impact player. There really isn’t much that separates the 250 or so FV45 to FV50 players.

The Twins do have a plan. It was to trade three very good under control relievers and replenish their prospect pool. As a result no one had more FV45 players or better than the Twins. They also have several recent graduates. For the plan to work they need to build a respectable bullpen from their large group of unproven starters and a few impact players need to emerge from their many good but not top flight prospects. It probably won’t work but I don’t think it is less likely to work than the tear down.

[Linus]

I get the feeling that some people don’t want to “rebuild” because it is risky to trade Ryan and Lopez because the return could completely flop. Of course this is true. My view is that it is also very risky to hold onto Ryan and Lopez, run back essentially the same club and win 76 games next year followed by a disrupted season in 27.  We could end up in essentially the same spot but we wasted two trade assets that could lift us to a serious WS window of contention.  Could Falvey thread the needle next year?  Sure, just like it’s possible to flip heads 5 times in a row. If running back this same squad means there is a 65% likelihood that they win less than 80 games I’m all in on rolling the dice for a chance to develop a club that could be special. 

[GNess]

3 hours ago, #3Killer said:

Gloom and doom. Posters on this site are really downers!!! We have a really good starting rotation with many options. Some who don’t earn a spot can jump to the bullpen. Lewis, Lee, Wallner, Larnach all have the ability to play way over what they have shown. Jeffers is totally under-rated.  Keaschal started great but now we have to make him feel bad because he doesn’t meet Twins Daily fielding standards/ add Lee to that. Bitch, bitch, bitch!!! Front office sucks!! New manager won’t be a change, coaches suck!!!!

I coached HS sports for 44 years - one thing I found was if you didn’t believe in your kids and expect them to succeed- they wouldn’t!!!!! 

Coach I also spent 40+ years as a basketball coach at High School, JC and D-1. While I agree that self-belief is an important ingredient in athletic success and success in many endeavors this site doesn't have any discernible impact on the self-confidence of the players or coaches on the Twins. 

There are other components to success for å MLB team, such as sport specific skills, athletic ability, execution of fundamentals, mental toughness and understanding the game amongst them.. They can all be assessed by fans from their particular perspective.

This site is for fans to share their opinions and to interact with other fans.

Yours are noted and fully understood. 

[Fatbat]

Well we all know the Pohlads are cheap and the 3rd generation of them is spending Carls investment equity like its lottery $$$.  Someone attracted bail out investor $$$ so why not expect a full rebuild?  They can tank or they can buy immediate mlb talent. You can have both.  
Lean into betting on the kids in AAA &AA or spend enough $$$ to be competitive right away.  Isn’t that why the Angel investors wrote a check (s)?

[old nurse]

5 hours ago, IndianaTwin said:

I don't think calling it a big drop in talent if they go from $135M to $110M is that helpful. Take Correa's $22M out of the $135M and it's comparing $113M and $110M, roughly the same. There's correlation between payroll and talent level, but it's not a 1:1 correlation.

Outliers make a difference. Said another way, they could add $38M to the roster by trading for Rendon and not help the team a bit. 

Taking Correa’s absences and 1/2  out of 3 years playing well for the alleged HOF player off the roster can almost be addition by subtraction 

[old nurse]

1 hour ago, ashbury said:

Note to the Twins' PR department: try to provide major media outlets such as the NYT a less insipid photo of Falvey than the one that keeps getting used.

They use as bad of photos as they can find.for people they dislike. 

[SteveLV]

The simple answer to the question posed is: No.

Because apparently this FO and Ownership define "build around" as spending $10-15M as a short-term bandaid to a failed roster.

Either extend Jeffers, Ryan and start signing the young players to long extensions or blow things up.  Trying the proverbial "competitive rebuild" will work as well for the Twins as it has for the Vikings so far.

Since we know they will not do the former, please do the latter.  The middle ground is just mediocrity and apathy-inducing.

[old nurse]

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

The path to a rebuild by tear down is more difficult if not possible than last decade. The Astros and Orioles didn’t rebuild by trades. They had the number 1 or 2 pick and the associated dollars to split among all of their picks. The draft lottery has closed the door on that route.

Last decade there were some blockbuster trades with prospect hauls. The Royals received a top flight prospect, two other prospects in the top 100 and Lorenzo Cain who had a solid two month debut in the majors in 2010. The Yankees received a top flight prospect in Gleyber Torres , a top 100 prospect, major leaguer Adam Warren and another prospect for a rental reliever in Aroldis Chapman. The Twins traded away three post seasons of Duran and didn’t get near the return. It took 5 years of control to pry away De Vries.

If teams aren’t going to trade top flight prospects and you can’t go with the be awful and get the number 1 pick plan then I wouldn’t go with the tear down plan. Those plans rely on a higher likelihood of getting an impact player. There really isn’t much that separates the 250 or so FV45 to FV50 players.

The Twins do have a plan. It was to trade three very good under control relievers and replenish their prospect pool. As a result no one had more FV45 players or better than the Twins. They also have several recent graduates. For the plan to work they need to build a respectable bullpen from their large group of unproven starters and a few impact players need to emerge from their many good but not top flight prospects. It probably won’t work but I don’t think it is less likely to work than the tear down.

Chapman at the time was the gold standard for relievers whereas Duran would be a step below.  

Houston in their rebuild did not get any players of note by trading their stars. 

[old nurse]

1 hour ago, GNess said:

Coach I also spent 40+ years as a basketball coach at High School, JC and D-1. While I agree that self-belief is an important ingredient in athletic success and success in many endeavors this site doesn't have any discernible impact on the self-confidence of the players or coaches on the Twins. 

There are other components to success for å MLB team, such as sport specific skills, athletic ability, execution of fundamentals, mental toughness and understanding the game amongst them.. They can all be assessed by fans from their particular perspective.

This site is for fans to share their opinions and to interact with other fans.

Yours are noted and fully understood. 

 

2 hours ago, #3Killer said:

This was made to be an aggressive response. The negativity displayed may have very little impact an anyone in the organizational/ player level, but the negativity bleeds out to the readers and followers of this sight and who doesn’t love to talk about Twins baseball with family and friends. All winter 80% of posts are basically about telling everyone that our core of young player “ain’t got it” . The very same posters who called on bringing up The 6-7 players I mentioned now condemn them for not coming through. Don’t tell me this isn’t true- if you read the posts you know it’s a fact. We have a new manager and some new coaches- let’s give them a chance- I bet they realize that any success they will accomplish must come from our young core.

i was not a Rocco fan. I know I do not respond to coaching that doesn’t instill some fire. This doesn’t mean yelling. It means teaching and insisting on the fundamentals of the sport,, which will hopefully instill a level of confidence in your athlete that leads to further improvement and realization of potential. I am not aware of Rocco’s style but his rotation of players, handling of the pitching staff laid back attitude from the dugout came across like he could care less about winning or putting his best players in the field.All sports demand emotion and commitment as well as great fundamentals and frankly this did not shine through from Rocco.

so - use spring training to prep your starters to come out of the gate on fire. Correa had 12 live at bats before the season started the season. Starters basically played 1/4 of the AB’s at best. No wonder April was a disaster. Learn to advance runners by bunting, master getting a jump to steal bases, learn to put the ball in play with 2 strikes. defensive execution is inexcusable- so fix it. If you are collapsing mid season hold early bird practices and fix it- they are pros and getting paid to play so put in the time so they succeed.- in all aspects of the game. Winning fixes everything- and preparation is required for winning- on everyone’s part! Even poster on TD.
 

 

 

 

The negativity toward players, managers and owners in most situations would be called toxic. 

When player and coach have a mutual respect for one another, the manager shouldn’t have to say much. The player would be wanting to do the right thing. With the narcissist, they can play enough lip service for awhile to skate for a bit. 

[Major League Ready]

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

The path to a rebuild by tear down is more difficult if not possible than last decade. The Astros and Orioles didn’t rebuild by trades. They had the number 1 or 2 pick and the associated dollars to split among all of their picks. The draft lottery has closed the door on that route.

Last decade there were some blockbuster trades with prospect hauls. The Royals received a top flight prospect, two other prospects in the top 100 and Lorenzo Cain who had a solid two month debut in the majors in 2010. The Yankees received a top flight prospect in Gleyber Torres , a top 100 prospect, major leaguer Adam Warren and another prospect for a rental reliever in Aroldis Chapman. The Twins traded away three post seasons of Duran and didn’t get near the return. It took 5 years of control to pry away De Vries.

If teams aren’t going to trade top flight prospects and you can’t go with the be awful and get the number 1 pick plan then I wouldn’t go with the tear down plan. Those plans rely on a higher likelihood of getting an impact player. There really isn’t much that separates the 250 or so FV45 to FV50 players.

The Twins do have a plan. It was to trade three very good under control relievers and replenish their prospect pool. As a result no one had more FV45 players or better than the Twins. They also have several recent graduates. For the plan to work they need to build a respectable bullpen from their large group of unproven starters and a few impact players need to emerge from their many good but not top flight prospects. It probably won’t work but I don’t think it is less likely to work than the tear down.

Cleveland, Tampa, and Milwaukee have been sustaining success by routinely trading established players for prospects.  The 2025 Brewers had 13 players with 1.5+ WAR.  7 of them were acquired by trading established players.  Their top 3 SPs by WAR were all acquired in trade.  

I think it's very reasonable to say that trading Ryan / Lopez and perhaps Buxton would have a good chance of producing well above average major league players.  The Twins will have that much less talents for 6-7 years post 2027.   That's the cost.  If the gain is a couple of years of very good teams but I don't think it's reasonable to believe marginal improvements to a terrible team will produce a playoff run.  

[AlLagoon]

So thankful to have a local franchise willing to go for it, and I mean the Wild.

How did the Twins become the poor boys, with their own new stadium and all the revenue streams the Metrodome deprived them of? Half a billion of debt?

I call BS. 

[Markdumont25]

I've been on here a couple times the last 6 months saying, while usually an optimist, I just don't see the twins competing for a couple years at least. The cynic in me is just seeing this pivot as something to keep attendance from dropping too far. There's no way they're going to make meaningful enough moves to make this team a real playoff threat. It sucks but I think the best move is just Go full rebuild and sell and hope to compete in 3 years.