3 Twins Players It's Time to Move On From This Offseason

[Cody Pirkl]

Image courtesy of Matt Marton-Imagn Images

The Twins are on pace to miss the playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons. They’re following their recent trend of playing particularly ugly baseball down the stretch, so it’s time to start considering some changes. After sticking with their current core for so long, it may be time to start dismantling it. A few players stand out as names the Twins should part ways with this offseason.

Trevor Larnach

With one last trip through arbitration on the docket, paying Larnach what he’ll be awarded in the process makes no sense for the Twins at this point. While he’s rewarded their decision to tender him a contract last offseason with a .768 OPS, he’s been a major reason the offense has taken a step back in the second half. His .594 in August did a number on the lineup, and renews concerns he seemed to have assuaged a couple months ago.

It’s also time to give younger players with greater upside more playing time. Emmanuel Rodriguez, Walker Jenkins, and even Alan Roden deserve opportunities in 2027 and beyond. Larnach has no defensive value, requires platooning, and has let the Twins down once again down the stretch in 2026. It’s time for them to see what’s behind Door No. 2.

Bailey Ober

It’s difficult to watch what’s happened to Ober over the last few years. Still a smart and crafty pitcher, his stuff appears to be bordering on untenable at the big-league level, which is why it’s time for the Twins to move on. While he’s still able to get outs at a decent clip, Ober’s fastball has averaged just over 88 MPH this season, and when he doesn’t have pinpoint command, it’s a difficult watch.

Due for his last trip through arbitration this offseason, Ober will likely make at least $7-8 million in 2027 if the Twins tender him a contract. It’s a fair price to pay for his overall body of work, but his upside is completely gone, and it feels like there’s a risk the Twins could come to regret that decision very early in the 2027 season. It may be a case where the Twins are wise to cut bait too early, rather than too late.

Royce Lewis

Lewis was in a tenuous spot earlier this season after being demoted to Triple-A. A blistering return to the lineup in June changed things, but he’s been pretty quiet since then. He’s a below-league-average hitter on the season and is slashing just .235/.293/.410 since the beginning of 2024, which is 5% below the league-average hitter in that timeframe.

Now a utility man mostly playing first base, the bar to clear offensively is much higher; Lewis has fallen to the bottom of the defensive spectrum. He doesn’t hit left-handed pitching at an exceptional rate; doesn’t get on base very well; and his speed and athleticism appear long gone. His free-swinging ways still lead to the occasional hot streak, but the Twins may be best served finding a new home for Lewis this winter.

 

The Twins made changes in the front office and in the manager's chair heading into the season, but kept much of the same core on the field. After another disappointing finish, it’s time to make some changes in the player department. It’s time to move on from a few pieces that have been at the core of their roster for the last few years and turn things over to a new group.

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[Linus]

I definitely would not bring Larnach back. I would like to have Ober back in a long relief / spot starter role. Let’s not forget the guy has been good not that long ago and still threw some good games this year. This role does not command $7-8 million so he would have to agree to a lower number. I would try to upgrade from Royce for sure. I don’t want a one year vet type deal. I want a big bat through free agency or trade. If that’s not possible I would probably give him one more shot but reluctantly. 

[h2oface]

Depressing. Accurate, and depressing. 

[wesnewy]

definitely sucks to see Royce on this list but to love is to let go

[LastOnePicked]

Here's why my own biases kick in: I'd rather have Ober than Kremer. That could be a stupid take, but Ober still seems serviceable as a #5-6 starter. I think he's a smart pitcher, but I think his best days are long gone.

Larnach joins Rooker, Kirilloff and possibly Martin as highly-touted OFs who, for whatever reason, couldn't put it all together here. That's a lot of misses on can't-miss prospects.

The Royce Lewis story breaks my heart. I really like him as a ballplayer. I wish the Twins hadn't put him in CF after his first recovery. I think he needs to be somewhere else at this point. I hope he has a few great years yet, Someday I think he'll be a coach. The Twins will get nothing in return for him - another first-round pick transformed into zero pennants and zero recycled value.

Every team has promising players who fizzle out. But for the Twins, these situations seem to happen too often.

[Patzky]

Trade Lewis or give him a chance to make the team out to spring training. I'd take Buck or Bell as DH ahead of that. Non tender Larnach. Frees up another single digit uniform number for the young kids. 😜

 

Bailey Bailey Bailey. It's silly to cut a SP who can still start. Especially when you consider the reliance we are putting on Abel and Pablo (and maybe Festa) all recovering from devastating injuries. Kremer and Zebby.. I'll take Ober's experience as an almost equal. Leaves us with Taj and Joe (hope he's still here) and likely a less inning-managed Prielipp and perhaps Rojas. We are gonna need Ober at least for April and May. 

 

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[StiltedGopher]

Lanarch is preventing trying someone who could be a better solution - we wasted time using him this year already.  
 

Competent pitching is hard to find, even if it is low velocity.  I keep Ober until the healing arms show they are back and going.  
 

Royce gets to compete, but it should be a competition. Don’t dump him for a rental scrap heap first baseman.  
 

Loved the old Taylor Rogers - current rendition not so much.  
 

Kreidler - hard to believe we gave that guy over 200 plate appearances.  
 

Martin - okay as a 4/5th outfielder, but rather audition the prospects.   

[mickster]

11 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Trade Lewis or give him a chance to make the team out to spring training. I'd take Buck or Bell as DH ahead of that. Non tender Larnach. Frees up another single digit uniform number for the young kids. 😜

 

Bailey Bailey Bailey. It's silly to cut a SP who can still start. Especially when you consider the reliance we are putting on Abel and Pablo (and maybe Festa) all recovering from devastating injuries. Kremer and Zebby.. I'll take Ober's experience as an almost equal. Leaves us with Taj and Joe (hope he's still here) and likely a less inning-managed Prielipp and perhaps Rojas. We are gonna need Ober at least for April and May. 

 

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I would like to see Lewis dealt along with Erod for a solid 1B bat.   I think they need to bring back Larnach as we have a lot of promise without proof in the young OF.  You can't have enough pitching so Ober needs to be back.   I prefer Kremer over him, but arms are needed.

[laloesch]

6 minutes ago, mickster said:

I would like to see Lewis dealt along with Erod for a solid 1B bat.   I think they need to bring back Larnach as we have a lot of promise without proof in the young OF.  You can't have enough pitching so Ober needs to be back.   I prefer Kremer over him, but arms are needed.

I'd like that too but Lewis is not worth much now.  He's been terrible for a while now after his brief hot streak after getting called back up.  Just feed him a steady diet of offspeed breaking ball pitches and he's a sure out and that's what teams are doing. 

Lewis is cooked, just saying.  With him I think it's mental not physical.  He apparently does not listen to the coaches as he continues to swing at everything down and away from the plate.  His approach reminds me of Sano.  The guy just couldn't resist chasing breaking balls.

[laloesch]

My two cents and I know it won't be popular, but I'd rather have Trevor Larnach in the outfield than any  maddening combination of Austin Martin, Matt Wallner, Kody Clemens, James Outman, Alan Roden, Ryan Kreidler, Kyler Fedko, or Luke Keaschall (love his bat though), that we've seen this season.  While I'm not a huge fan of Larnach he is FARRRRR from the biggest problem facing this team.  The Twins did the right thing by finally calling up Jenkins who's gonna take a bit of time to get his feet under him, but they should have called up EROD too.  It's clear the Twins aren't making the playoffs, call up EROD NOW!

[laloesch]

 

38 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Trade Lewis or give him a chance to make the team out to spring training. I'd take Buck or Bell as DH ahead of that. Non tender Larnach. Frees up another single digit uniform number for the young kids. 😜

 

Bailey Bailey Bailey. It's silly to cut a SP who can still start. Especially when you consider the reliance we are putting on Abel and Pablo (and maybe Festa) all recovering from devastating injuries. Kremer and Zebby.. I'll take Ober's experience as an almost equal. Leaves us with Taj and Joe (hope he's still here) and likely a less inning-managed Prielipp and perhaps Rojas. We are gonna need Ober at least for April and May. 

 

. 

 

I'm NOT a fan of Kremer.  I was not a fan of that trade for him either.  Luckily he can be easily ditched when the time comes as can Bailey.  I think when Abel and Pablo are back next season (if there is one) it's an easy decision to ditch Kremer or Bailey.  Prielipp emerging as a legit rotation option has helped too.  I think as they ramp him up even more next season, he will fill the gap from either Ober or Kremer potentially. 

Festa has not shown any consistency or durability.  I think long term he's a relief pitcher, but we'll see.  I want him to succeed, but he's fragile as glass it seems. 

The real question is what happens with Joe Ryan.  I keep hoping the Twins extend him, but I think that's pretty much not going to happen.  Joe is heading back to California as soon as he can.

[DJL44]

This team is not so flush with pitchers that they can throw away Bailey Ober.

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

Larnach and Royce should have been gone at the trade deadline. They are weighing this team down and holding us back in a big way.

Larnach has been absolutely horrible in LF while being a little above average in a platoon position. When we have so many top prospects that play in the outfield waiting for a chance, Larnachs time needs to end. We could've been using this time to see ERod, instead we had to watch a guy running in slow motion in LF while failing at the plate. 

Royce has overstayed his welcome, IMO. Below average bat and a below average attitude. Hes been bad for a lot longer than he was good. 

Over is a different story and there isn't a clear path for him. Yes, his velocity has declined for a few years now. But his overall numbers this season show a guy thats been our 3rd best pitcher behind Taj and Ryan. I go back and forth on Ober. He plays hard. Appears to be a good teammate. The thing that pushes me towards trading him is that we are not near a playoff team with his as our 3rd best pitcher. We also have guys with more unproven "potential" than Ober offers ready for the rotation. But then none of them have realized that potential yet and here we are this year with Ober in our current top 3. 

[PuckettPond]

Addition by subtraction is what a small market Twins team needs to become a World Series contender. Dead wood limits a forest's growth. Player management must improve as some player's development is embarrassing. Embarrass is a small Northern Minnesota town it should not be our Twins roster.

[terrydactyls]

1 hour ago, Linus said:

I would like to have Ober back in a long relief / spot starter role. Let’s not forget the guy has been good not that long ago and still threw some good games this year. 

You should be in the Twins front office.  The "use to be good a couple years ago" method of filling out a roster hasn't worked well before but maybe it will this year.

[jmlease1]

18 minutes ago, laloesch said:

My two cents and I know it won't be popular, but I'd rather have Trevor Larnach in the outfield than any  maddening combination of Austin Martin, Matt Wallner, Kody Clemens, James Outman, Alan Roden, Ryan Kreidler, Kyler Fedko, or Luke Keaschall (love his bat though), that we've seen this season.  While I'm not a huge fan of Larnach he is FARRRRR from the biggest problem facing this team.  The Twins did the right thing by finally calling up Jenkins who's gonna take a bit of time to get his feet under him, but they should have called up EROD too.  It's clear the Twins aren't making the playoffs, call up EROD NOW!

Correct, it won't be popular, because Trevor Larnach is not really worth the arbitration raise he'd mostly like get...nor is he worth the roster spot. It might be worth exploring if Larnach had an option left and could be sent down if he wasn't performing, or if he had more significant trade value, but he's got neither.

And while you listed a bunch of guys that in theory could take Larnach's spot and might be no fun to watch...the reality is there's little chance of Martin, Wallner, Clemens, Outman, Kriedler, or Fedko starting in the Twins OF next season if Larnach is gone. Keaschall? Sure, and we might think better about his glove if he were playing in LF where he belongs. (Clemens is far more likely to start at 2B) Roden is still a possibility...but far and away the most likely option is going to be either Jenkins or Rodriguez, playing in RF. 

Larnach isn't precisely a problem (though his rotten August, coinciding with Clemens rough August, and Buxton getting hurt did help torpedo the offense) but his upside is low and there's a real opportunity cost to his roster spot. He's been healthy all season and he's topping out like it was 2024, which is a below average starter. There's small likelihood of greater upside (it's not like he's going to improve defensively or suddenly start hitting LHP) and we need greater upside. It's time to move on from him.

[The Great Hambino]

I find it hard to believe this team would carry both Kremer and Ober at arb-3 prices to be backend starters/swingmen.  I'm wondering if Kremer at least partially was targeted with the idea of him being an Ober replacement, or at least an Ober alternative, heading into 2027

I'd rather take that $7MM-ish salary and apply it toward a true difference-making FA or trade target

[Vanimal46]

No arguments from me on the 3 names. Bummed about Royce, but it's time for a fresh start for both the Twins and him. Ober is going to cost too much on his last arb year, and probably why Zoll valued Kremer's 2027 option year in a trade,

Others I will add to the list are Austin Martin and Matt Wallner. 

[DJL44]

15 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

You should be in the Twins front office.  The "use to be good a couple years ago" method of filling out a roster hasn't worked well before but maybe it will this year.

Ober has the 3rd highest WAR on the pitching staff this season.

[Andy MacPhail]

1 hour ago, LastOnePicked said:

Here's why my own biases kick in: I'd rather have Ober than Kremer. That could be a stupid take, but Ober still seems serviceable as a #5-6 starter. I think he's a smart pitcher, but I think his best days are long gone.

Larnach joins Rooker, Kirilloff and possibly Martin as highly-touted OFs who, for whatever reason, couldn't put it all together here. That's a lot of misses on can't-miss prospects.

The Royce Lewis story breaks my heart. I really like him as a ballplayer. I wish the Twins hadn't put him in CF after his first recovery. I think he needs to be somewhere else at this point. I hope he has a few great years yet, Someday I think he'll be a coach. The Twins will get nothing in return for him - another first-round pick transformed into zero pennants and zero recycled value.

Every team has promising players who fizzle out. But for the Twins, these situations seem to happen too often.

It breaks my heart too, to see how many promising young Twins players fizzling out. Royce Lewis tops that list. A potential MVP candidate. Twins handled him very poorly, from throwing him in CF, tinkering with his swing, to poorly handling his temperamental personality. There were other conditions but it seems like Lewis is broken. I had big hopes in Lewis, even though Boras is his agent, I thought Lewis loved it here & a reasonable extension was possible. Now, IMO, his attitude has changed, MN is no longer his team. IMO, Lewis would still turn it around but not as a Twin. It saddens me but the sooner we trade Lewis the better.

[Twins GFP]

This article needs to be re-written:

Players currently guaranteed roster spots next year:
Luke Keaschall
Kody Clemens
Byron Buxton
Brooks Lee
Taj Bradley
Joe Ryan
Yoendrys Gomez

That's it. A few more are in the "probably" category (Culpepper, Caratini), but everyone else is subject to salary, proving it, or the Twins finding someone better.

[Fatbat]

How much is Royce going to cost?gaah. I don’t want to watch him fail/flail any longer. Move on from all of them. 

[offensive_loons_fan]

I think what I really want is for us to be able to move on from someone like Ober. You want to be in a position to look at a 4.50 - 5.00 ERA pitcher that will usually be healthy for their start and say, "we can upgrade from that."

Maybe I'm cynical but I think the house of cards of our pitching staff needs a lot of things to go right for that to be true.

[Linus]

30 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

You should be in the Twins front office.  The "use to be good a couple years ago" method of filling out a roster hasn't worked well before but maybe it will this year.

So you would rather have Travis Adams?

[Fatbat]

3 minutes ago, Twins GFP said:

This article needs to be re-written:

Players currently guaranteed roster spots next year:
Luke Keaschall
Kody Clemens
Byron Buxton
Brooks Lee
Taj Bradley
Joe Ryan
Yoendrys Gomez

That's it. A few more are in the "probably" category (Culpepper, Caratini), but everyone else is subject to salary, proving it, or the Twins finding someone better.

Isn’t Kremer under contract?

[DJL44]

5 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

How much is Royce going to cost?gaah. I don’t want to watch him fail/flail any longer. Move on from all of them. 

Not that much. Numbers like his don’t get big arbitration awards.

[farmerguychris]

Interesting to see such a varied assortment of suggestions here...

To add my thoughts:

Ober- let go (can't keep people missing with only slight of hand and no speed)

Larnach - (fine, but too much young talent to pay his anticipated salary)

Lewis - Sorry, I just can't let him go yet.  Most streaky guy ever from a guy who claims he 'doesn't slump'....But - unless we actually spend for a better 1st base bat (that could change my opinion), I'd keep him one more year.

Wallner - see if you can get anything for him.   At all.

Last thought - do we have any switch hitting OF in the system - would like to see them be our 4th OF next year (or a FA).  Just seems to make too much sense.

[MapleGroveTwinsFan]

19 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Ober has the 3rd highest WAR on the pitching staff this season.

Says more about the twins pitching staff as a whole, then it does about Ober, doesn't it?

 

[DJL44]

Just now, MapleGroveTwinsFan said:

Says more about the twins pitching staff as a whole, then it does about Ober, doesn't it?

 

It says he’s not one of the top three players to move on from.

[Road trip]

I guess 3 is a nice round number, but you forgot Wallner, as apparently has the Twins FO.

I saw a headline from the Trib today, and an earlier article in the Pioneer Press, that Wallner does not expect to ever be called up to the Twins again.  I can't blame him as he tore up AAA all summer and never got a call back.  

There is a little gnashing of teeth over Larnach's situation, and I get it, but Larnach somehow got 2100 plate appearances to put up an OPS+ of 105, while Wallner essentially was abandoned after only 1100 plate appearances at an OPS+ of 119.  Wallner never even had enough time to get to arbitration..  Both are platoon guys, both slow on the bases, both should be DH's, both former 1st rounders.  To me, it still seems the Twins invested playing time in the wrong slow platoon lefty.