The 10 Biggest Questions the Twins Must Answer This Offseason

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of Jesse Johnson, Matt Krohn, Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The Twins have reached the end of another disappointing season, which means that fans' attention has shifted toward the offseason. It'll be an even more uncertain winter than usual, with the team staring down big questions about everything from individual roster moves to the wide-angle view of the organization and its operation. The Twins entered 2026 hoping to compete; eventually became buyers at the MLB trade deadline; and still find themselves watching October baseball from home. That leaves Jeremy Zoll and the rest of the front office with a lot of work to do.

Of course, some of the big questions the team faces aren't even about things within their control. Let's consider the 10 biggest sources of intrigue and uncertainty this winter, starting with one of those big questions the team itself doesn't get to answer.

1. How Will the Lockout Impact the Winter?

The looming lockout is the giant question hanging over the entire offseason. A work stoppage could freeze transactions, delay free-agent activity and push important roster decisions into the new year. However, the last time this situation cropped up (in 2021), teams made a flurry of moves prior to the December 1 expiration of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

It could also make an already complicated offseason even more difficult for a Twins organization that needs to determine what direction it wants to take. If the offseason is shortened, every decision becomes more important—and must be made faster, with imperfect information.

2. Is Joe Ryan Untradeable?

A year ago, this would have been an easier question. Ryan entered 2026 as one of the most valuable trade pieces on Minnesota's roster. His performance, contract and age made him an attractive target for teams looking for controllable starting pitching. But injuries and a disappointing second half have changed the conversation.

Ryan's value has all but evaporated. That doesn't mean the Twins should trade him, but it does mean they have a more complicated decision to make. Do they bet on Ryan bouncing back, or do they consider selling while he still has a full year of team control? The answer could shape the entire rotation.

3. What Happens With Byron Buxton?

Buxton's 2026 season ended with another hip injury and surgery. The Twins now have to build their offseason around the expectation that their star center fielder will return for 2027—but guard themselves against the risk that he's neither ready for Opening Day, nor able to stay on the field even after he returns. Buxton was an All-Star before the injury, hitting 25 home runs in 93 games. But availability remains an unavoidable part of the conversation surrounding him.

The Twins need to determine how they will use him, how much center field he should play, and how much protection they need behind him. The organization cannot simply assume everything will be fine. It needs insurance, at the very least.

4. Is Royce Lewis Part of the Long-Term Plan?

This might be one of the most uncomfortable questions on the list. Lewis has shown flashes of potential, but his development has been interrupted by injuries and his production has been inconsistent. The Twins also need to determine where he fits defensively and how they can maximize his offensive potential.

Is he a cornerstone? Is he a player they should move, while another organization might still see significant upside? Or is he simply a player who needs another opportunity? The answer could determine how Minnesota approaches several other positions.

5. What Is the Long-Term Plan for the Rotation?

The Twins have plenty of arms. That doesn't necessarily mean they have a finished rotation. Taj Bradley, Pablo López and Ryan are penciled in at the top of the rotation. Zebby Matthews, Connor Prielipp, Mick Abel, Kendry Rojas and other young pitchers provide options. But the Twins need to decide if they keep Bailey Ober and Dean Kremer.

Minnesota needs to determine which young pitchers are legitimate long-term starters; who could transition to the bullpen; and where additions are necessary. A rotation cannot be built entirely around potential.

6. Is the Bullpen Good Enough?

This was a question entering last offseason, and it remains a question entering this one. Minnesota has already cycled through plenty of relievers, and the bullpen has undergone significant turnover over the past two seasons. The organization needs to determine whether it has enough late-inning options or whether another significant investment is required.

A competitive team needs reliable relief pitching. The Twins have spent enough time trying to patch this area together. At some point, they need a more sustainable solution. Minnesota has avoided spending on the bullpen in recent offseasons, but it might be time to change that trend.

7. What Happens at Catcher?

Ryan Jeffers is heading for free agency and will almost certainly move on, so the position still deserves plenty of offseason attention. Minnesota can make him the qualifying offer and hope he stays for one more year, but it's unclear either whether they'll do so or whether he'll accept it if they do. Victor Caratini is under contract for next season and is owed around $10 million. He hasn’t played like a starting catcher and he is one of the league’s worst catchers at controlling the run game. The Twins need an upgrade behind the plate. 

8. How Aggressively Will the Twins Spend?

This might be the biggest baseball question of them all. The Twins have spent significantly less in recent seasons, with payroll dropping $60 million from its 2023 level. The organization also has several holes that cannot realistically be filled exclusively through internal promotions.

How much money will be available? Will the Twins return to a payroll closer to previous levels? Will they make targeted additions? Or will financial restraint continue to dictate their offseason? There is a massive difference between adding a few complementary pieces and aggressively attacking the free-agent and trade markets. The Twins need to show what their intentions are.

9. Is the Pohlad Ownership Situation Changing?

The Twins' ownership picture remains an important part of the franchise's future. The Pohlad family announced in 2025 that it would remain the principal owner while adding two limited partnership groups. Tom Pohlad took over for Joe Pohlad and there were changes to the team's business side this year. 

That doesn't necessarily mean there will be dramatic changes to the way the organization operates this winter. But whenever ownership structure changes, questions about resources, decision-making and long-term strategy naturally follow. After another frustrating season, Twins fans will want to know what ownership's vision looks like moving forward.

10. What Can Jeremy Zoll Do With His First Full Offseason at the Helm?

This is the biggest baseball test of Zoll's tenure. Zoll has been involved in the Twins' front office for years and was given the top baseball operations role when Derek Falvey left last winter. But this is different. This will be the first offseason in which Zoll gets to fully shape the roster as the organization's primary baseball decision-maker. He's already experienced a trade deadline as the person in charge. Now comes the harder part: constructing an entire roster.

The Twins need pitching. They need clarity in the infield. They need to figure out the bullpen. They need depth. And they need to decide how much they believe in the current core. Zoll's answers will tell us a lot about what the next era of Twins baseball is going to look like.

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How will the Twins answer these questions? Would you add other questions to the list? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

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[LastOnePicked]

Have we ever heard anything from these "limited partners"? I don't expect a weekly podcast or anything, but maybe just a single press conference in which they introduce themselves and talk about their interest in the team and  thoughts for the future might be a nice idea.

Instead, I think these are just Pohlad buddies who bailed them out of debt and are just waiting for a payout after a future sale.

[MN Brian]

Doesn't it seem like #10 should be "Will Jeremy Zoll keep his job?"?  Personally I feel that Tom will want to choose his team, not inherit it from his brother.  Business leaders typically give themselves 6-12 months to learn the ropes, then choose their team.

[HarmonK03]

11 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

Have we ever heard anything from these "limited partners"? I don't expect a weekly podcast or anything, but maybe just a single press conference in which they introduce themselves and talk about their interest in the team and  thoughts for the future might be a nice idea.

Instead, I think these are just Pohlad buddies who bailed them out of debt and are just waiting for a payout after a future sale.

You usually don't hear from limited partners, look at the Wolves, one of their limited partners who nobody knew are taking a controlling interest.

[Andy MacPhail]

Great points, a small book could be written, trying to answer all your questions? I'll just comment that Twins needs someone who can drum up interest on players who we want to trade. Teams who are interested, know if they wait, they can pick them up on the cheap. That's why Twins don't like to trade, they prefer signing FAs to fill our needs.

Twins should have traded Ryan, Jeffers & Larnach in the offseason or deadline but IMO, they couldn't get enough for them. In the offseason, Padres desperately needed pitching, we could have picked up soon MLB-ready Salas (potential elite catcher) & some very good RPs for Ryan. Shortly into the season, Yankees were desperate for catching, we could have traded Jeffers for at least one young promising SP. There were a few teams that could really use Larnach (8,2 BTV) at the deadline, the best we could do was Bryan Abreu (-0.6 BTV) & that was nixed by the owner. There is still interest in Ryan, but I don't think the Twins can come up with a satisfactory trade in the offseason or deadline. Twins (creative) wait & see approach doesn't work; they need to be more proactive. To find someone like that isn't easy. But it'll answer a lot of our questions.

[bean5302]

CBA negotiation results.

Who heads the front office?

Strategy for the offseason before the seemingly inevitable lockout.

Those are honestly the only questions I think are a big deal. Joe Ryan has no significant trade value as in he's not bringing back elite prospects, but he may bring back an org #4-6ish type or a couple #8-15ish types. He's not "untradeable." Most teams would want Ryan in their rotation, they're just not going to pay much to get him because he'll be making at least $12MM and he only has 1 year of control left. Royce Lewis looks like a replacement level player at this point, at least for the Twins. I'd think he's probably even a non-tender candidate at this point, though this front office tends to hoard such players creating roster logjams and inflexibility. "Long Term" rotation strategy isn't too much of problem when Ryan and Lopez have only 1 year of control left. Lopez should be on target for opening day, barring any (normal) setbacks, but he's coming off an injury plagued 2024 on the wrong side of 30 with significantly declining peripherals. The "long term" plan will probably be decided by the CBA.

[MackMan]

1. The eventual lockout, I think, will impact smaller market or more homegrown teams than others that have built up their teams through Free-Agency. I'm not saying it's going to affect all teams equally, but I just feel as if our team is going to be a little more hampered with our top prospects starting to graduate to the 40-man roster and being unable to get organizational meetings, training, and Rehabbing.

2. I wouldn't say he is Untradeable, just he'd get less of a return for him now. Especially now that he has just 1 season left until FA AND his proven history of falling off after the AS break. Now, I don't know how much of that is due to the fact he has dealt with injuries after the AS break that he refused to tell anyone about or refused to come out of the games. But he is tradeable, I just don't think we'd get the return we would like for him. 

3. The team is going to need to have a very serious conversation with him about expectation moving forward. He not our everyday CF anymore. Jenkins and Emma have proven that. They are ready. The biggest thing we need to address, is he willing to change positions, willing to DH a little more, or is he willing to waive that no-trade clause. 

I doubt he'll waive his clause. Which leads me to thinking he is going to be playing either RF or LF more often than CF. Now how does that hinder our other players? Quite a bit I think. Keaschall is starting to find himself and needs the offseason to learn the OF positions. Especially if they want to keep his bat in the lineup. He is going to need regular playing time to learn them and utilize what he's been working to better himself and the team. 

4. He cannot be part of our long-term planning. His bat is not what we need for a 1st baseman. I am okay with his defense, but if he want's to stick around this team, he needs to figure that bat out. He just looks like to squirrely up there. There is way to much movement from his upper half and his lower half. Every single swing his back foot is moving away from his body (closer to the outer part of the batters box). He has 0 foundation for his swing. But sadly, when he is being consistent and his mechanics all come together, he is able to shoot the ball the other way, up the middle and even tap into his power a little bit. So going to back #1, he needs to be able to work with some hitting coaches to refine what he has to better himself and the team in the long run. 

5. Our long-term rotation plans are hard to see. We don't really have any promising pitching coming thru the pipeline as their all graduating to the Big Leagues. Personally, I think we keep the development train where its at, and see who separates themselves from the pack. Those that show they are taking the next step get the rotation spot and those that don't either get AAA or BP time. Ober looked good during his small sample size, and Kremer has been more consistent since coming over to MN. Now, we might those 2 to start the season as starters and potentially transition to the BP once Lopez, Festa, and Abel show they're ready to get back into game. Taj, Ryan, Zebby, and Prielipp have shown they have the stuff for the rotation, but we need to figure out who is going to be best served in what spots moving forward. As it stands, Lopez, Ryan, Kremer, and Ober are our veterans who need to be able to help the younger players see and make changes based on their experience.

6. The BP is on the cusp of being average. If we can tighten a few things and maybe trim the fat just a bit, I think we might have a place for everyone. It is definitely going to be a change if we have to transition some players. 

7. Catcher is going to be difficult. We have to 2 young prospect catchers coming through the minor league system in Lackey and Tait. Now we are blessed that one is RH hitting and the other is LH hitting so they could potentially platoon each other if need be. The issue is going to be do we sign a FA long term, resign Jeffers long term, or play our hands they way they are now. Personally, I think we give a QO to Jeffers, hoping he signs, and then split our attention between a few different stop gap options for our catchers. I don't have a particular catcher in mind as I am unfamiliar with who will be on the market this winter, but we are in a weird place for catching.

8. I think we'll end up spending about the same as previous years unless we can find a SP or 1st baseman that is willing to come to a team that may be a year or 2 away from really being able to compete regularly. 

9. I don't much of what is changing up there is going to make a huge different either way for the organization. The Pohlad's have shown they'd rather stay the course and hope for the best than be aggressive and make changes. Their most aggressive move(s) in the last 6 years have been the big contract to Donaldson, whom they ended up trading just to shed that contract, and the 2 big contracts to Correa who opted out after year 1 the first time, and then traded and are now eating some of the contract the 2nd time around. So I doubt anything huge is gonna happen. 

10. I think he is actually doing a pretty good job with what has had to work with this season and how things have shaken up. I'm sure losing Pablo wasn't on his bingo card when he took the reigns. He knew what he was coming into. A team that was in the process of small rebuild/retool right before a huge CBA, changing managers, and a lack of support from the fans. I think if we can avoid a lockout, he is setting the team up for a long-term build up to success. We've got the tools, we just need to results.