My Twins Offseason Blueprint: A Badly-Needed Major Change

Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll faces a tall order this winter. Owner Tom Pohlad has loudly proclaimed that expectations around the team are rising, and while Pohlad has also pledged to boost the payroll in support of grander goals, not all problems can be solved with money. If the Twins want to make the playoffs in 2027, they need to make some significant changes this winter. I believe they will, but they might well stop a step or two short of where they really need to go—or simply be outbid for a player who's key to their plans.

Using our Offseason Blueprint tool, I've sketched out what I think would be the ideal Twins offseason. It's no small set of changes; this would mark the end of one Twins era and the dawn of a new one.

Not Counting on Victor Caratini, and Not Waiting on Vahn Lackey

Ryan Jeffers will depart via free agency. That's not for certain, but it's a prediction I offer confidently. I wrote late last week about why the Twins might not even extend the qualifying offer to Jeffers, and even why that might be the right choice. One way or another, I expect Jeffers to leave, but that doesn't mean the team should or will leave the position in the hands of veteran Victor Caratini.

I have the team signing erstwhile Reds backstop Tyler Stephenson, whom the Blueprint tool assigns a salary of $8 million for 2027. I think that's about right; he would get that amount each year on a two-year pact. The idea is to bridge the gap from Jeffers to top prospect Vahn Lackey, whom the Twins selected with the third overall pick in July's MLB Draft. Caratini is miscast as anything above a complementary option. Stephenson, a solid righty bat with a shaky defensive profile, is similarly limited, but the two players fit nicely into the team's longstanding preference for balanced playing time between two catchers. Caratini will slough off the roster after 2027, but in this scenario, Stephenson would still be in position to support Lackey and keep him fresh in 2028.

Jettisoning Royce Lewis, and Aiming a Whole Lot Higher at First Base

I don't think the Twins face an interesting dilemma or a crossroads with Royce Lewis this fall. I think Lewis is just a bad player whom the team needs to get rid of, whether that's via trade or non-tender. The raw talent remains somewhat in evidence, but Lewis is too flawed a hitter for so limited a defender, and injuries have dimmed his former athletic brilliance. The team shouldn't put itself in any position to pay him significant money in 2027. Nor should they let him stand in the way of needed improvements, including at the positions where he's been such an underwhelming presence over the last three seasons. 

My plan includes getting rid of Lewis and signing top free-agent first baseman Jake Bauers, whom the Blueprint values at $18 million. I think it's possible Bauers makes even more than that, but let's imagine a four-year, $72-million deal and call it good. For a player with elite bat speed, excellent plate discipline and a positive clubhouse presence, that's still a great deal. The Twins need more reliable thump in the middle of their lineup; Bauers is capable of providing it. He might also cost the team a draft pick—the Brewers should extend Bauers a qualifying offer late Monday afternoon—but Bauers can be an anchor of the batting order for multiple seasons to come.

There's another noteworthy change to the 2027 infield picture on my Blueprint: current Cubs infielder Pedro Ramírez. We'll talk more about how he could become the 2027 Twins' second baseman later. Not much later, though!

A Starting Rotation Reset

Although the bullpen came in for criticism all season, quietly, the Twins' starting rotation wasn't good enough, either. That's been true in each of the last three years, as the names in the team's starting mix outdid the production each year. This winter, rather than hold onto the group that has ill-served them of late, I propose resetting the starting unit and reallocating some resources. In this scenario, the Twins would deal Joe Ryan to the Cubs, in exchange for Ramírez and outfielder Kevin Alcántara. Ramírez, 22, batted .261/.321/.402 as a rookie in 2026, and is under team control through 2032. He has a bit of speed and power, but no place in the Cubs' long-term plans, after they locked themselves into several years of Nico Hoerner and Alex Bregman at second and third base, respectively. Alcántara is toolsy but strikeout-prone, and he's out of options next spring. The Twins would have to keep him on the big-league roster in order to retain him, but he's a right-handed batter who mashes lefty pitching, so there's at least a chance he's a solid fit.

I also have the team trading or non-tendering starter Bailey Ober, though not for a substantial return. With the money they save on Ryan and Ober, the club then signs (in my vision) Michael Soroka, who turned down his side of a mutual option with the Diamondbacks to become a free agent over the weekend. Soroka, 29, had a 3.41 ERA in 116 innings for Arizona in 2026. He profiles as a solid back-end starter and a possible mid-rotation guy, with an arsenal (and, in particular, a capacity for missing bats) that should appeal to the Twins. 

Pablo López anchors the rotation as I envision it, with Taj Bradley, Dean Kremer, Connor Prielipp and Soroka backing him up.

Two Major Bullpen Upgrades

Finally, I foresee two more forays into free agency for the team, to shore up that aforementioned relief corps. Jeff Hoffman should be ready to deliver a full season at the back end of the pen, but the Twins need more upside than they'll get from the likes of Andrew Morris and Tommy Nance in the middle innings. I'm predicting that they sign Jonathan Loáisiga, another free agent wrapping up a successful stint with Arizona, and lefty JoJo Romero, a teammate of Bauers's at the end of the season with the World Series-winning Brewers.

Loáisiga underwent an impressive transformation this year with the Snakes, with a well-conceived move to the first-base side of the rubber and a few corresponding tweaks to his pitch mix. He doesn't miss bats the way one might expect a hard-throwing righty reliever to do, but he induces weak contact well and still has the stuff to see the strikeout rate tick back up. Meanwhile, Romero showed late in the season that he has more sheer power than he might have initially let on. He frequently touched 96 miles per hour with his heavy sinker during Milwaukee's title run, and might be a sneaky high-leverage option at a middle-reliever price this offseason.

The Big Picture

I'm advocating for an offseason in which the Twins pivot hard toward a future centered on their top young players. Kaelen Culpepper, Brooks Lee, Emmanuel Rodríguez, Walker Jenkins, Luke Keaschall and the newcomer Ramírez each play as close to every day as their health permits, in this scenario. Prielipp is guaranteed a rotation spot when he's able to fill it, and space is left for Kendry Rojas, Mick Abel and David Festa, given the inevitable attrition that will affect the rest of the projected group. 

At the same time, Stephenson, Bauers, Soroka, Loáisiga and Romero constitute a significant investment in the team's short-term future. The 2026 Twins were only slightly better than the 2025 version. The organization hasn't fielded a legitimate winner since 2023. They have a young core in place, and they ought to seize their opportunity to win with it. With these five players replacing (on the whole) less expensive ones like Lewis, Ryan, Ober and Trevor Larnach, I have the Twins committing $150 million to their 2027 payroll, including the money they'll send to Houston as part of last summer's Carlos Correa trade. That's relatively ambitious, but if the Twins can't summon at least that much gumption, they're in for another disappointing year.

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