Three Ways The Twins Changed Their Philosophy At The Deadline

[Cody Pirkl]

Image courtesy of Matt Blewett - IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect (photo of Tommy Nance)

 

We watched the Derek Falvey-led front office operate for years. We saw them work with the Pohlad family and came to understand what to expect. With Tom Pohlad taking over public-facing ownership duties, and Jeremy Zoll replacing Derek Falvey at the head of the front office, we may be seeing a change in the team’s philosophies. Three pieces of evidence in particular stand out from the deadline.

Buying Early
Between free agency and the trade deadline, patience has been key for Twins fans. The Falvey-led Twins preferred to wait out the market and see what's left at the end rather than targeting specific players. Ironically, it could be argued the Twins could have taken this path at this deadline. Names like A.J. Minter, Tommy Nance, and Dean Kremer weren't at the top of the trade target rankings. The way the Twins acquired them, however, is notable. 

It's likely the Twins paid a premium to acquire these three pitchers as early as they did. They could regret it down the road. That being said, for better or worse, they identified who they wanted, and they went out and got them. They didn't wait until right before the deadline hoping they'd still be there for a slight discount. Say what you want about the Falvey era Twins, aggressiveness is not a word you would use to describe any facet of their operations. The idea of seeing even just a little bit more of this decisiveness in the future is interesting. 

Spending Money
The Twins took on a franchise record amount of money at this trade deadline. After years of no payroll flexibility, ownership was finally willing to invest at least a respectable amount in a roster that had plenty of needs and realistic playoff hopes. Though the Twins didn't catch the biggest headlines at the trade deadline, this is the most they've been willing to spend in some time.

One could make a fair argument that the Twins should have sold at this deadline. They're still a flawed team with shaky playoff chances. They chose to buy, however, and they could have done so by including more prospect capital in the same moves and taken on less money. After Tom Pohlad identified the importance of investing in the roster earlier this season, the Twins showed a willingness to increase payroll for the first time in years. Hopefully this trend continues into free agency.

Targeting Relievers
The Twins have rarely invested in the bullpen since Falvey took over, and this has especially been the case in the last few years. Perhaps their bigger investments in names like Addison Reed, Alex Colomé, and Jorge Lopez jaded their view. They've been able to develop elite bullpen arms internally, but trading away the arms they did at the 2025 trade deadline without investing in any replacements during the offseason was a major mistake. The bullpen is finally starting to take shape, but rather than hoping that trend continues, the Twins made sure to invest in reinforcements.

Even giving up middling prospects for Tommy Nance and A.J. Minter is noteworthy, but the investment in Jeff Hoffman should raise an eyebrow for Twins fans. The Twins made a financial investment in a reliever to a degree we haven't seen in years. They also took a risk in trading away a prospect package that included high upside lefty Dasan Hill. It feels a little ridiculous to be investing these resources in controllable relief help after trading so much of it away last year, which is exactly why it’s a sign that things are changing in the front office. Would Derek Falvey have ever invested these kinds of resources into a bullpen? It’s pretty safe to say no.

The Twins operated like a completely different team at the trade deadline. We’ll have to see more, particularly in the offseason, before giving them too much credit, but some of the changes in philosophy are exciting to see. Are you buying into this trade deadline being the new normal when it comes to how the Twins operate? Let us know!

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[jmlease1]

As a general rule, I prefer that the Twins not invest substantial resources in the bullpen, but the sell-off last season was so extreme that they literally had no choice unless they were planning on a full-on rebuild. Which would have been a waste IMHO (too many good prospects near MLB, would have driven Buxton out of town, would have driven the interest down even further, and frankly wouldn't have had any better odds of success in bringing a title here really. Would have saved the Pohlads a bunch of money. screw that).

While it's a bummer to give up a prospect like Hill, who has big upside (and bust bust capacity as well), we neither added a rental or a marginal player. We've rebuild the bullpen enough in 1 season to no longer look at it as a disaster, but even a potential strength...and without committing too much in terms of dollars to it either. There's not going to be a single arm in there they're paying $10M+, and Hoffman will likely be the most expensive arm with his discounted salary. That's a good place to be in.

I liked the fact that they were willing to strike early. I prefer to see flexibility from a front office in how they approach things like this. Don't wait too long and hope something falls in your lap...but don't overpay early either. I hated it when Terry Ryan would rush to finish out his wishlist early and we'd end up with a lesser player filling a role as much as it sucked watching every good player at a position of need came off the board under Falvey. You have to be able to read the market and take risks going both directions in order to get the best value and best fits. Hopefully Zoll, under Pom Tohlad can do that.

I'm not ready to declare a big shift in attitude around payroll and taking on money. It's a lot easier for the Twins to take on $5-7M in salary after they've chopped off $40M from the payroll already. I doubt we take on any money if the payroll is sitting up at $150M, but YMMV.

I think they had a pretty good trade deadline, and get a little credit for doing what they said they would do if in this position, and filling the needs they said they would try and fill. But it's a little credit. Not full faith and credit. And not necessarily a signal that they've made that significant a shift in philosophy.

[Cris E]

24 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

As a general rule, I prefer that the Twins not invest substantial resources in the bullpen, but the sell-off last season was so extreme that they literally had no choice unless they were planning on a full-on rebuild. Which would have been a waste IMHO (too many good prospects near MLB, would have driven Buxton out of town, would have driven the interest down even further, and frankly wouldn't have had any better odds of success in bringing a title here really. Would have saved the Pohlads a bunch of money. screw that).

While it's a bummer to give up a prospect like Hill, who has big upside (and bust bust capacity as well), we neither added a rental or a marginal player. We've rebuild the bullpen enough in 1 season to no longer look at it as a disaster, but even a potential strength...and without committing too much in terms of dollars to it either. There's not going to be a single arm in there they're paying $10M+, and Hoffman will likely be the most expensive arm with his discounted salary. That's a good place to be in.

I liked the fact that they were willing to strike early. I prefer to see flexibility from a front office in how they approach things like this. Don't wait too long and hope something falls in your lap...but don't overpay early either. I hated it when Terry Ryan would rush to finish out his wishlist early and we'd end up with a lesser player filling a role as much as it sucked watching every good player at a position of need came off the board under Falvey. You have to be able to read the market and take risks going both directions in order to get the best value and best fits. Hopefully Zoll, under Pom Tohlad can do that.

I'm not ready to declare a big shift in attitude around payroll and taking on money. It's a lot easier for the Twins to take on $5-7M in salary after they've chopped off $40M from the payroll already. I doubt we take on any money if the payroll is sitting up at $150M, but YMMV.

I think they had a pretty good trade deadline, and get a little credit for doing what they said they would do if in this position, and filling the needs they said they would try and fill. But it's a little credit. Not full faith and credit. And not necessarily a signal that they've made that significant a shift in philosophy.

Agree. They tried saving some money and tending to the books at the expense of the on-field product and fans noticed, so this week wasn't so much a change in philosophy as an acknowledgement that they've been below the line and need to start spending and acting like an MLB team again. 

Also, if Crane hadn't vetoed the Larnach deal it would have represented yet another sort of change (spending MLB talent rather than prospects, and not taking on money) so I'm not certain how much credit to award for intent here. 

[GNess]

I guess we can take some solace in the fact that the Twins made some moves at the deadline. But I am not sure we witnessed any true sea change in the way they operate.

When they start spending more in free agency, draft/develop well for both internal promotion and trade assets and project a true championship mentality by making bold moves - then we'll know that they are operating from a new paradigm.

 

 

[Andy MacPhail]

I agree with you. this is the best deadline we've had for a long time. Falvey's "creative" passively waiting for all the good targets to go by, so he could scoop up the scraps trades, drove me crazy.

Because we completely exploded the BP the last deadline, we started out the season with 0 high-leverage RPs & a very big hole. The best way to address that problem is the beginning of the offseason, not at the deadline. We'd have won a lot more games & it'd be cheaper.

[TheLeviathan]

This article is embarrassing.  Even for one of the eleventy Codys we have here.

Are we being for real here?  Buying early?  They added Hoffman on the deadline and the other two guys of any note a whopping 3 days before the deadline.  Tommy Nance is no different than Gomez - those were bullpen desperation moves not trade deadline moves.  Good lord.

Investing money? 8 million dollars and we keep rolling out the red carpet for Pohlad Praise.  Embarrassing.

Not targeting relievers?  Two of the three you cited - Colome and Lopez - were acquired by the Falvey regime.  They traded for Dyson and Romo.  They barely acquire anyone at the deadline, relief pitching seems just as frequent/infrequent as any others.

Are we trying to hit some kind of quota on terrible articles the last week?

[sstolen]

15 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

This article is embarrassing.  Even for one of the eleventy Codys we have here.

Are we being for real here?  Buying early?  They added Hoffman on the deadline and the other two guys of any note a whopping 3 days before the deadline.  Tommy Nance is no different than Gomez - those were bullpen desperation moves not trade deadline moves.  Good lord.

Investing money? 8 million dollars and we keep rolling out the red carpet for Pohlad Praise.  Embarrassing.

Not targeting relievers?  Two of the three you cited - Colome and Lopez - were acquired by the Falvey regime.  They traded for Dyson and Romo.  They barely acquire anyone at the deadline, relief pitching seems just as frequent/infrequent as any others.

Are we trying to hit some kind of quota on terrible articles the last week?

Old timey seems cynical. Enjoy the game friend. The Twins are better. Theyre typically competitive. Shelton is pretty competent. Few are whining about the injuries. Its going to be ok. Opinions noted...thats what they are.

World needs fewer performative contrarian types in sports. 

 

[TheLeviathan]

55 minutes ago, sstolen said:

Old timey seems cynical. Enjoy the game friend. The Twins are better. Theyre typically competitive. Shelton is pretty competent. Few are whining about the injuries. Its going to be ok. Opinions noted...thats what they are.

World needs fewer performative contrarian types in sports. 

 

Totally agree and I'm glad you're enjoying the team.  This article, however, is both inaccurate and poorly argued.  Sports needs less dopey clickbait too.