The Twins Don't Need a Full Rebuild. They Need a Direction.

[nicksaviking]

On 9/18/2026 at 6:39 AM, DJL44 said:

That sounds like most MLB 4th starters. 

 

21 hours ago, ashbury said:

I'm not sure if this was meant in contrast to what I said, but I see very little daylight between our two posts.  😁

This would be my argument for putting him in the pen. Maybe he can cut it in the rotation, but a #4 starter ceiling is less valuable than a late-inning, soul-sucking reliever, and Matthews has that ceiling. Peak Bailey Ober was never more valuable than peak Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax or Louie Varland.

[Vanimal46]

39 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

It's always frustrating when your opponents have a better understanding of your players' potential than the people running your own organization.

Toronto’s GM had to have been thrilled every time Derek Falvey called. Fleece job after fleece job. 

[bean5302]

4 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Varland broke the record for playoff appearances in 2025. Toronto clearly viewed him as a significant asset. 

[Coach]

On 9/17/2026 at 10:25 PM, ewen21 said:

This is why Buxton wants to be a Twin for life in my mind.  He knows the expectations are almost non-existent for him.  He's who has been chosen to be "the face of the franchise" and this is largely due to a large section of the fanbase.  It almost seems as though since Target Field has opened the Twins and a great number of fans are content with Buxton even though he appears in roughly 60% of the games each season.  If this is the player you want to make for your "face of the franchise" then good luck with building a team.

 

Rant over!

Totally off subject, but I want to apologize for being disrespectful to you, it was one of those days.  I do agree with you on this take, Buck is way too comfortable.

[The Great Hambino]

20 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

This brings up something I've been saying for awhile (and fought upstream abput with many posters here): I don't think Falvey had advanced notice on the payroll slash or the "we're going to win!" ownership changeups.  I think he added Correa under the notion he had payroll manueverability and had it abruptly changed.  This offseason he resigned rather than deal with it again.

It was suggested on Gleeman's podcast that Falvey was led to believe that they were in year one of a five year runway of increased payroll when they decided to reverse course after 2023.  So he got his budget slashed right after locking in some immovable high-price contracts in Correa and Lopez, which handcuffed the payroll until they had to pay for Correa to go away. 

If true, no wonder the limited partners wanted nothing to do with Joe P

[ashbury]

5 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

That's probably the real rot. We've changed GMs, managers, coaches, rosters. The one constant is the Pohlad heirs - people with no real interest in baseball, no urgency to grow the business and no understanding of how to build a winner.

The residents of the Twin Cities better hope the next owners provide some kind of improved outcomes, or else some soul-searching will be the next step - assuming enough of them even care.  😁

[HarmonK03]

20 hours ago, jkcarew said:

Except that the very first thing Tom did was to fire the previous GM who had just begun an obvious rebuild. Followed up by a deliberate, highly visible campaign tour promising a commitment to “winning”.

Falvey had the business operations duties taken away from him and he didn't agree with that.  The Twins have always split the business and baseball operations duties.  Falvey was given the additional business operations duties when St. Peter because at that time the team was up for sale so it would seem that was a transitionary move.  But Falvey wanted both and felt one person could do both and Tom P. didn't agree.  Now Tom P. may have pushed him out the door with that move, but he wasn't fired.

[jkcarew]

2 minutes ago, HarmonK03 said:

Falvey had the business operations duties taken away from him and he didn't agree with that.  The Twins have always split the business and baseball operations duties.  Falvey was given the additional business operations duties when St. Peter because at that time the team was up for sale so it would seem that was a transitionary move.  But Falvey wanted both and felt one person could do both and Tom P. didn't agree.  Now Tom P. may have pushed him out the door with that move, but he wasn't fired.

1000% pushed out the door and his recent moves to sell at the previous deadline was what triggered everything…perceived bad PR, Tom coming in and making promises (that he had no chance of keeping). Pushed out or fired. Same thing.

[HarmonK03]

39 minutes ago, jkcarew said:

1000% pushed out the door and his recent moves to sell at the previous deadline was what triggered everything…perceived bad PR, Tom coming in and making promises (that he had no chance of keeping). Pushed out or fired. Same thing.

Falvey was looking for a way out because he wanted to operate like the big boys and when he got his feelings hurt because he had duties taken away from him that anyone in his position would know were temporary.  He then had his out and grabbed it.

[TheLeviathan]

2 hours ago, The Great Hambino said:

It was suggested on Gleeman's podcast that Falvey was led to believe that they were in year one of a five year runway of increased payroll when they decided to reverse course after 2023.  So he got his budget slashed right after locking in some immovable high-price contracts in Correa and Lopez, which handcuffed the payroll until they had to pay for Correa to go away. 

If true, no wonder the limited partners wanted nothing to do with Joe P

Do you know when they had that conversation on Gleeman's pod?  I'm curious to hear his reporting on this.

But yeah, this is exactly what I was speculating back in this thread.  It's the only reasonable explanation for how he behaved as a GM.

[TheLeviathan]

1 hour ago, HarmonK03 said:

Falvey was looking for a way out because he wanted to operate like the big boys and when he got his feelings hurt because he had duties taken away from him that anyone in his position would know were temporary.  He then had his out and grabbed it.

You may need to accept that you've had the Pohlad/Falvey situation wrong from the get-go.

Like I said in our conversation from a few months ago - it takes nothing away from your valid criticisms of Falvey to distinguish between things that are his fault and blame that lies at the feet of the Pohlads.

My guess is that Falvey realized he no longer had an ownership group he could count on to be consistent in setting short and long term expectations and resigned rather than become the fall guy.  (Though he deserved to be that fall guy for moves unrelated to Pohlad behavior)

[HarmonK03]

6 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

You may need to accept that you've had the Pohlad/Falvey situation wrong from the get-go.

Like I said in our conversation from a few months ago - it takes nothing away from your valid criticisms of Falvey to distinguish between things that are his fault and blame that lies at the feet of the Pohlads.

My guess is that Falvey realized he no longer had an ownership group he could count on to be consistent in setting short and long term expectations and resigned rather than become the fall guy.  (Though he deserved to be that fall guy for moves unrelated to Pohlad behavior)

“We believe that the best structure going forward is a president of business and a president of baseball,” Pohlad said.

“I think any structure can work with the right belief in it, with the right people, with the right people underneath, and the foundation,” Falvey said. “And I want to say this: I totally respect Tom's position that he would like it to look a little different in the other way. There are few teams that have it this way, there are a lot more teams that don't that have it spread apart. I totally respect that decision. It's a really hard job for sure to do both. I think with the right environment, the right structure around it, you can do both,

This is from the reporting at the time of his leaving.  His own words say he wanted both positions.  

I blame the Pohlads for not addressing this at the end of the season due to not having the ownership situation worked out.  Because they just continued the same practices for another year and I hope they address it soon.

[TheLeviathan]

25 minutes ago, HarmonK03 said:

“We believe that the best structure going forward is a president of business and a president of baseball,” Pohlad said.

“I think any structure can work with the right belief in it, with the right people, with the right people underneath, and the foundation,” Falvey said. “And I want to say this: I totally respect Tom's position that he would like it to look a little different in the other way. There are few teams that have it this way, there are a lot more teams that don't that have it spread apart. I totally respect that decision. It's a really hard job for sure to do both. I think with the right environment, the right structure around it, you can do both,

This is from the reporting at the time of his leaving.  His own words say he wanted both positions.  

I blame the Pohlads for not addressing this at the end of the season due to not having the ownership situation worked out.  Because they just continued the same practices for another year and I hope they address it soon.

I don't personally consider press conference comments to be terribly reliable about what is happening behind the scenes.

Per our previous conversation, and the one you're having here, I don't think you're considering Falvey's behavior relative to your narrative about what occurred.  As I said before, abrupt changes from ownership are the most comprehensive explanation for the last 3-4 years.  Abrupt changes that caused Falvey to have to make decisions that were seemingly incoherent or lacked long-term thinking.  Ultimately, which caused him to peace out.

[NYCTK]

11 hours ago, bean5302 said:

The only significant asset the Twins moved was Duran.

The guy that returned Taj Bradley wasn't a significant asset? That same guy that looks like he might be a playoffs starter? He's not significant? How about Varland? Is the guy that performed like a top 5 reliever in the league significant? 

Not arguing the trades aren't defensible, but to say the players traded were insignificant seems a mighty stretch. 

 

Quote

Twins fans have been coddled in this market featuring the only team in the AL Central which has never walked out a sub-$100MM payroll during the Falvey era.

These plebians have had it far too good for far too long. LEAVE THE BILLIONAIRES ALONE! 

[ashbury]

56 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

LEAVE THE BILLIONAIRES ALONE! 

Concurs:

[HarmonK03]

1 hour ago, TheLeviathan said:

I don't personally consider press conference comments to be terribly reliable about what is happening behind the scenes.

Per our previous conversation, and the one you're having here, I don't think you're considering Falvey's behavior relative to your narrative about what occurred.  As I said before, abrupt changes from ownership are the most comprehensive explanation for the last 3-4 years.  Abrupt changes that caused Falvey to have to make decisions that were seemingly incoherent or lacked long-term thinking.  Ultimately, which caused him to peace out.

We view the events that have occurred differently and will have to agree to disagree.

[Kummel]

The top management, the owners -- it's hard to change things when there isn't real change at that level.   I  hope our most recent generation of home grown talent materializes over this year and next, but  any MLB team has to also have some financial infusion via trades and at least some self-awareness about what is keeping team from doing well if it struggles to compete year after year.    

Also, it seems hard to ignore that Buxton and even Ryan are not reliable second half players.  You can't continue to have two of your best players disappear in final months, it's one factor in end of year collapses if rest of your roster can't make up the difference.  We've sorta moved on to rebuilding despite not moving Jeffers or Ryan or Larnach at deadline.

Still, with all that and despite another deteriorating season, I still like some elements of this team -- not a moody group; some really dedicated players (Keaschall); and in some games players showed more grit than I've seen in recent years of Twins play (my favorite was the epic comeback in bottom of ninth and two outs with Kody's grand slam).  

So for next year... Move on from Lewis, Larnach, Martin, Wallner, Caratini, Ober.  Time to finally pull the plug.

For 27,  Lee, Keaschall, Clemens, and the newly arrived cohort (Jenkins, Culpepper, Rodriguez).  If Marek Houston comes up as SS, move Culpepper to second, Clemens to super utility?   Twins could make Jeffers an offer, probably won't keep him.  If not, catcher is going to be a black hole.   Finally, key with such a young roster to have a veteran presence or two if Bell isn't returning.

I guess Taj Bradley and Lopez (IF he returns to form) are at top of pitching rotation.  Not a given with Prielep,  Zebby.   The bull pen is going to need some reinforcement, still.  Promise not to mention Varland again.  

Funny thing -- We're already used to Twins not paying for talent, esp uninjured talent, we assume it's off the table.   If we're not going to patch holes with much in the way of trades, then imperative to finally scrutinize how this team goes about player recruitment and development and maintenance of player health; identify front office practices and ownership behaviors which keep us down year to year.   I'm not saying that will happen, but it needs to.

 

[The Great Hambino]

10 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

Do you know when they had that conversation on Gleeman's pod?  I'm curious to hear his reporting on this.

But yeah, this is exactly what I was speculating back in this thread.  It's the only reasonable explanation for how he behaved as a GM.

Nothing specific unfortunately.  He's alluded to it a couple of times but haven't been able to find it in an article.  It wasn't a real in-depth conversation, more a mention in passing.

While it's possible I hallucinated the entire thing, it really does track with what I think is the most reasonable timeline.  There's no way Falvey hands out the Lopez extension and Correa's second contract without ownership approval, and there's no way that ownership approves those contracts if the plan was to slash payroll by $30MM at the end of that same season.  There had to have been a change in budget vs the original plan

It also aligns with ownership decision making that would lead an outside investor to insist on a change of leadership as part of their agreement to make an investment

[ewen21]

On 9/19/2026 at 6:15 PM, Coach said:

Totally off subject, but I want to apologize for being disrespectful to you, it was one of those days.  I do agree with you on this take, Buck is way too comfortable.

Nothing here to me is personal, but I do appreciate you for saying this.  I have had some of those days over the years myself so thanks for being a real person. Let me apologize also.  I could have probably done better myself! 

 

That being said, I think this franchise has a problem that cannot be fixed easily.  I think that when we won some divisions, had a star player in Joe Mauer and then got the new stadium things completely flipped over to something else.  Somehow, some way the franchise seems to believe marketing a star player is most appealing to the fanbase and Buxton became that guy.  He has received special treatment since he got here because everyone wanted him to be a superstud and he just isn't that.  I do not care how great he looks in streaks because he also has slumps where he looks absolutely awful and he cannot be relied upon to be "an everyday player" as it was with Torii Hunter.

 

I think the ridiculous praise Buxton gets is a big problem for the Twins and there is a segment of the fanbase that actually gets angry when he receives criticism.  Buxton really never got any blowback for his tantrum in 2018 when he cleaned out his locker and bolted from Rochester when the Twins didn't call him up in September.  Instead of holding him accountable for this extended outburst he was defended here.  Even if we assume the Twins were wrong to not call him up September of 2018 (and to me they were not), his behavior never should have been excused (and it was here).  The same goes for when he pitched a fit over a fans breaking his chops during the new uniform reveal in November of 2022.  He went right on Twitter to confront the minor jabs thrown his way at that was straight up embarrassing.  He was actually defended here for firing back and the fans were blamed.  It wasn't just here either.  Professional athletes taking to Twitter when they are active players to get into it with fans is unprofessional.   Period.

 

No way in the world should a player take to Twitter and address something so innocuous and minor the way he did.  It shows a lack of professionalism on his part no matter how dumb anyone thought the fan comments were.  Even if the comments were dumb, the criticism was FAIR.   Predictably (at that time) this place (the majority at least) put the blame on fans being jerks and if anyone commented that Buxton overreacted or lacked professionalism for his "wanna-be fans are clowns" comment they were blasted.  The notion being, the fans were "attacking his character" and that made them wrong.  That is just insane to me. 

 

Finally he has gone on about wanting to be a "Twin for life" and why wouldn't he?  This a nice cushy spot for him.  No way in the world would just about any other organization tolerate the uncertainty and the puzzle he presents for the organization.  We needed to  have a "plan B" in place as long as he was our starting CF.  I do not recall that being the case for Hunter, Puckett or name any other outfielder who gets the "face of the franchise" tag.   The man has 862 hits in a dozen seasons with this organization.  Since he was called up in June of 2015 that equates to an average of 72 his per season and that simply is not good enough and we cannot expect this to improve as he comes off hip surgery going into his 33 year old season.  I think he's a problem and I do not say this to offend anyone.

 

I would much rather move toward the kind of team that doesn't need to have a someone they put up on a pedestal, but rather a TEAM of players like we had in the early 2000s.   I would much rather see a team like the 2001 team (that didn't make the playoffs) than see a team like this one back in like the front office believed they might.

 

That is a long one.  If you got this far than thanks for reading