The 10 Biggest Questions the Twins Must Answer This Offseason

[Brandon]

9 starting pitchers is a good problem to have.  

The Twins now have a good floor pen and could use another elite arm or two

Lewis doesn't seem to be a good long term bet anymore.  Keeping him for next season is a coin flip.  We have lots.of options if he fizzles again.  

We really don't have much at C without Jeffers.  We do have a low floor but compared to Jeffers and his bat..... I hope he accepts a QO for next year.  

I'm really excited about our OF and MI and 3,B..  

With 1B and C a hole the Twins should bring back Bell.  

And the most important question left off the list.  Who will be the Top Prospect.once ERod, Jenkins, Culpepper drop off the list?

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

15 hours ago, Nashvilletwin said:

1. Lockout Length.  If the owners stick to their guns on a cap, then the lockout will last until the ASB.

I fear that also. And that being the case, I can't foresee many teams, especially the Twins, going out and making trades or signing any free agents. I think it will be a long, dark winter --- and maybe spring too --- for us baseball fans. 

[HarmonK03]

7 hours ago, Brandon said:

With 1B and C a hole the Twins should bring back Bell.  

Bell is unplayable at 1B, so how does he solve the 1B problem, he is a DH only and just clogs the roster.

[Trov]

Number 1 will affect everything.  Mainly, if there is a floor and teams have to spend to get to the floor right away, and if the Twins fall below the floor.  That will lead to certain moves.  Until we know what the CBA looks like I doubt many teams will ink long term deals. 

[Whitey333]

Joe Ryan has been bad the second half of the season for quite a while now.  In over 50 second half starts in his Twins career his ERA is over5.00.  Not a true number 1 you want trying two pitch you to the playoffs.  Twins totally messed up the catching situation with Ryan Jeffers.  He should have been traded to get something.  The draft pick they nay get is peanuts to what tgey coukd have gotten.  Buxton cannot be considered a part of the core team.  Hes always injured.  Doesnt playing knly 2 of 12 seasons as a "full time" player tell you hes totally unreliable?  To put him anywhere in the outfield would only hurt the development of players like Jenkins.  Yes its also time to move on from Lewis.  I certainly dont believe the Pohlads are all of a sudden going to dump millions into payroll.  That just adds to the debt.  

[Brandon]

2 hours ago, HarmonK03 said:

Bell is unplayable at 1B, so how does he solve the 1B problem, he is a DH only and just clogs the roster.

If we don't bring him back, then we have another hole at DH half the time.  While I do not expect Bell to drive in 96 runs again.  I do think he can drive in 75-80 which is what he was expected to do this year anyways,  I would say the Twins find someone else but there are not many options on the market.  If we can bring back Jeffers, I would be totally fine moving on from Bell.  

[saviking]

Good analysis.. 

But I think the new bargaining agreement could play a major role in the Twins future going forward if the owners are successful. 

Funneling money from larger markets and having a spending floor much higher than the Twins spend coukd be a big difference maker for 2028 going forward. 

And for 2027 a lockout could give Buxton enough time to heal. 

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

15 hours ago, HarmonK03 said:

Zoll is Falvey 2.0, he has shown that with many of his moves.  If he is in charge I wouldn't expect anything to be much different.  So hopefully Zoll is gone, but it should have been announced today.

Unfortunately you're probably right. He needs to make bold moves. I have my doubts 

[killercarewoliva]

On 9/28/2026 at 11:19 AM, bean5302 said:

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.

what the front office does like you say is they look at the potential and it's three four five years later and you've only seen a little bit of that potential yet they keep the guy. they think it's finally going to happen. if Royce Lewis goes to another team and hit 60, home runs fine. it's time to go in a different direction please.

[mluebker]

On 9/28/2026 at 3:30 PM, Road trip said:

2.  Should defense be taught differently in the minors?

I’m not convinced it’s being taught at all, but in the hypothetical, yes. It would be nice to see guys arriving in the majors knowing how to play at least one position well, instead of getting moved all over the field looking for the least embarrassing or damaging place to play them.

On 9/28/2026 at 3:30 PM, Road trip said:

3. Will players continue to be taught to pull the ball to generate maximum power, or should they be taught towards a "hit to all fields" philosophy to generate more balls in play and higher batting averages?

Jeez, I hope not (to the first) and I hope so (to the second). There’s gotta be more than one way to be valuable at the plate. Wouldn’t mind seeing a little more bunting, either.

On 9/28/2026 at 3:30 PM, Road trip said:

4. Does baserunning matter?  Are stolen bases now undervalued (both acquiring and preventing) by the franchise relative to the rest of the league?  Should that change?

Whenever playing “small ball” stopped being a thing, the game got a lot less interesting. When all the prospective big guns are slumping, it would be nice to have a few more guys like Keaschall who may actually have heard the phrase “manufacture some runs.” Sure, it would be nice if he actually could play a position in the field, as well, but one thing at a time.