Is There a Light at the End of the Tunnel for Twins Fans?

Fire Dan Gladden · April 23, 2025

Any potential light will only show up once ownership sells the team. The lack of sale is basically holding up any potential change, be it coach, FO, player signing or major trade. All other screaming at the wind aside, nothing of consequence will happen until that deal is done.

The Pohlad's do not care about the team in any way unless it affects their checkbook. Wins are a byproduct to them.

Vanimal46 · April 23, 2025

Winning games helps. But really, I think the past 18 months have pushed a lot of fans to their breaking point. People are speaking with their wallets, and that’s all we can do until the Pohlads sell the team. Yesterday was an ideal spring evening to be outside and catch a game. I’d be willing to bet there were more butts in seats at the Saints game than the Twins.

USAFChief · April 23, 2025

I'm a long (looooooooong) time fan, and I can honestly say I have never been more down on this franchise.

Part of it is the changes to baseball itself. I don't enjoy the game as much these days. Fewer balls in play,, zero real starting pitchers, the emphasis on analytics over playing baseball, and on and on. The complete and seeming intentional competitive imbalance.

But mostly, I feel like the Twins have abandoned me. Like every single decision is meant only to squeeze maximum revenue out of me, rather than to try to win.

I haven't abandoned the Twins yet. But I feel pretty close. And I never would have said that, even through some pretty lean times in terms of wins.

I hope a sale happens, happens soon, and new ownership puts me higher in their "things I give a **** about" hierarchy.

And on a larger scale, Major League Baseball itself needs a reset. Find some ways to start playing baseball again, because whatever this is, it aint what i call baseball

. And for heaven's sake, get a reasonable salary cap system in place immediately.

mikelink45 · April 23, 2025

This is about wholesale change - not tweaks - as Fire Dan Gladden says, we need this team to be sold. Pohlads are not going to regain any favorable relationships with Twins - that slide began with the old retraction effort to eliminate the team years ago. They were not committed to the team or fans then and they have not improved over the years.

A new owner will have that honeymoon period where they can tell us that things will change and we will want to believe them.

Prospects are always promising until they prove us otherwise. Maybe it will be different this time - we keep telling ourselves. But are we sure that the leadership team can bring them up and help with the transition to MLB? Past performance does not seem to indicate it. But for the fans sake we need Emma, Walker, Matthews, Festa, Morris, and Keaschall to be the real thing. We keep seeing other teams bringing up really young players and have them prosper. We need that.

The hitting and pitching coaches are easy targets and we keep changing them with the same results so maybe it is time to look at the other management members and ask what they are doing. Can TD examine all the coaches and not just their functions, but their success?

farmerguychris · April 23, 2025

It really just feels like we are in a holding pattern until the team is either sold - and we can:

1-Rejoyce, even temporarily at the potential of a changing of the old ways and the hopes of fielding a team that isn't focused fully on profitability, or

2: they announce that they are electing to not sell and we can really, really stop caring about the team.

LA Vikes Fan · April 23, 2025

Excellent article. Really sums up the malaise surrounding this team. And you're right, one game, even one play, can reignite a team and turn things around. Maybe Buxton's game saving catch last night can be that play. Keaschall might be the real deal and maybe Lewis is the first half of 2024 hitter when he's back in a couple of weeks. Festa might turn into something and there is other pitching on the way. One can see daylight if you squint hard and look all the way down the tunnel.

Still, the bottom line is that the one thing that would spark this team and this fan base more than anything is an announcement of a sale. That can't happen soon enough.

In My La Z boy · April 23, 2025

38 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

I'm a long (looooooooong) time fan, and I can honestly say I have never been more down on this franchise.

Part of it is the changes to baseball itself. I don't enjoy the game as much these days. Fewer balls in play,, zero real starting pitchers, the emphasis on analytics over playing baseball, and on and on. The complete and seeming intentional competitive imbalance.

But mostly, I feel like the Twins have abandoned me. Like every single decision is meant only to squeeze maximum revenue out of me, rather than to try to win.

I haven't abandoned the Twins yet. But I feel pretty close. And I never would have said that, even through some pretty lean times in terms of wins.

I hope a sale happens, happens soon, and new ownership puts me higher in their "things I give a **** about" hierarchy.

And on a larger scale, Major League Baseball itself needs a reset. Find some ways to start playing baseball again, because whatever this is, it aint what i call baseball

. And for heaven's sake, get a reasonable salary cap system in place immediately.

Ditto.
Nothing reminds me of being a kid more than baseball. I used to line up along the first baseline before games at the old Met and wait for Rod Carew to come over for autographs. Most great memories I have include baseball in some way. Loved the frosty malt w/the wooden spoon & knothole day double-headers. I could spend the whole day at the park, and I did quite often. It's supposed to be a kids game. Now it's a billionaires play thing.

Karbo · April 23, 2025

37 minutes ago, In My La Z boy said:

Ditto.
Nothing reminds me of being a kid more than baseball. I used to line up along the first baseline before games at the old Met and wait for Rod Carew to come over for autographs. Most great memories I have include baseball in some way. Loved the frosty malt w/the wooden spoon & knothole day double-headers. I could spend the whole day at the park, and I did quite often. It's supposed to be a kids game. Now it's a billionaires play thing.

Well said. As a young boy in '61 I walked into the Met one early spring day and saw that beautiful green grass and manicured infield and fell in love with the game. I too waited along that 1st base line waiting for autographs. Watched players playing pepper (Why did they stop that?) and dreamed of playing on that field as a Twin someday, and have been hopelessly hooked since.

There were some pretty bad teams at times but at least they had management stressing fundamentals. Anyone remember what they are?

I will stay a fan until I die I suppose, but I sure would like to see them in 1 more WS or 2 before then.

In My La Z boy · April 23, 2025

6 minutes ago, Karbo said:

Well said. As a young boy in '61 I walked into the Met one early spring day and saw that beautiful green grass and manicured infield and fell in love with the game. I too waited along that 1st base line waiting for autographs. Watched players playing pepper (Why did they stop that?) and dreamed of playing on that field as a Twin someday, and have been hopelessly hooked since.

There were some pretty bad teams at times but at least they had management stressing fundamentals. Anyone remember what they are?

I will stay a fan until I die I suppose, but I sure would like to see them in 1 more WS or 2 before then.

Love this! Thanks old Twins friend! I didn't make it to the park until '73. The 1970's were lean years, but we had so much fun, and then Gene Mauch came along and we got better and were fun to watch. 1977 was probably my favorite year in that decade. What an enjoyable team to follow.

jccracraft · April 23, 2025

"the Twins enjoyed a several-month stretch of high-caliber play last season". As others have pointed out on various site, this is not really accurate. Take away 12-1 (?) vs. the White Sox, and we were a 70 win team.

Jocko87 · April 23, 2025

There is still one thing that can fix everything and an inside straight chance of it happening.

I've basically distilled it down to the fact they cannot seem to make hitters succeed at the major league level and somehow make previously successful hitters perform poorly.

If this organization had even a 50% hit rate on any number of young hitters, nothing else matters. A lineup of killers makes almost every decision of the past three years irrelevant. If they were actually fighting to get Martin and Miranda and Julien and so on at bats because they were actually good, nobody really cares free agent money or right sizing.

The draft and development capital invested should have paid much better than this. As the pitching has become exciting, the hitting lets all the air out of the balloon. Many have decided there is no hope in that department but I'm not quite there.

There have been signs lately, and with an entirely new coaching staff and significant changes in approach maybe an adjustment period is reasonable. It's been really bad, but adjustments are happening.

It's the only thing that can save the season. The pitching will be fine. An offense that runs a bit, takes good at bats and remembers how to crush fastballs can still make this season really interesting. There is still time.

chpettit19 · April 23, 2025

8 minutes ago, jccracraft said:

"the Twins enjoyed a several-month stretch of high-caliber play last season". As others have pointed out on various site, this is not really accurate. Take away 12-1 (?) vs. the White Sox, and we were a 70 win team.

Take the Yankees 11-1 against the Twins and White Sox away and they're an 83 win team last year and don't make the playoffs. Yeah, if you take double digit wins away from any team their record gets much worse. Crazy.

My goodness, the Dodgers went 13-3 against Colorado and Chicago. Take those 13 wins away. Clearly they were actually an 85 win team. Dang, now neither World Series team made the playoffs.

As it turns out, every team plays bad teams and most of them dominate those bad teams. It's why those bad teams have so many loses. Because they lose to everyone. Not just the Twins.

Blyleven2011 · April 23, 2025

Us old timers know baseball and this construction of players is not playing baseball , you got to love what you do and do it with passion and you will succeed , most of our players are not realizing this and are just collecting a pay check while they are here ...

The front office has no passion in doing there job , no professionalism toward constructing a team or to the fans , they aquire a player that is no good and continue to play that player who is a detriment to the team , this front office and our great professional coaches has no professionalism ( webster dictionary might be removing the word , because professionalism means sh** these days ) ...

faveys words not mine at time of rebuilding our infrastructure in the minors and cleaning house ...

( his words , we have hired the best top professionals at each position , well that might be true in the minor leagues as they teach and develop players , it certainly is not true at the major league level that they have hired top professionals to continue to teach and develop our prospects talent at the hardest level , all these prospects haven't lived up to their billing , pitching has done better but the position players haven't on offense and defense and the fundamentals ) ...

WHAT COULD THE ANSWER REALLY BE ???

Is it coaching at the major league level or are we being led astray on the talent in our minor league prospects ...

Bodie · April 23, 2025

Ishiba was never a buyer for the Twins. The "rumor" that he was was simply incorrect. Billion dollar transactions take time, and his time was invested in the White Sox, just like his money already was, and is now soon to be much more so. He wasn't "windows shopping" or comparing prices on a car.

You can blame the ownership for many things. Scaring off the part owner of the White Sox is not one of them. Just plain silly.

Craig Arko · April 23, 2025

The expiration of the CBA after 2026?

Bodie · April 23, 2025

30 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Us old timers know baseball and this construction of players is not playing baseball , you got to love what you do and do it with passion and you will succeed , most of our players are not realizing this and are just collecting a pay check while they are here ...

The front office has no passion in doing there job , no professionalism toward constructing a team or to the fans , they aquire a player that is no good and continue to play that player who is a detriment to the team , this front office and our great professional coaches has no professionalism ( webster dictionary might be removing the word , because professionalism means sh** these days ) ...

faveys words not mine at time of rebuilding our infrastructure in the minors and cleaning house ...

( his words , we have hired the best top professionals at each position , well that might be true in the minor leagues as they teach and develop players , it certainly is not true at the major league level that they have hired top professionals to continue to teach and develop our prospects talent at the hardest level , all these prospects haven't lived up to their billing , pitching has done better but the position players haven't on offense and defense and the fundamentals ) ...

WHAT COULD THE ANSWER REALLY BE ???

Is it coaching at the major league level or are we being led astray on the talent in our minor league prospects ...

Too much statistics and not enough scouting (in the classic baseball sense) to put it very simply.

Got the expected/preferred bat speed? Fantastic!!! Keep that up and you don't need to work on making contact! Or improving your glove work. Or base running. Just swing hard and maintain that launch angle!

What would this organization done with an 18 year old Wade Boggs? Does anyone believe that as a modern Twin he would be a multiple time batting champ? Reach 3000 hits? Hell, win a late career Gold Glove?

Launch angle, launch angel, launch angel. (Take a breath) Bat speed!!!!

Not everyone is going to profile offensively as a slugging 1B/LF. But the statistics say that is the way to go. You have Frank Thomas, and maybe that is the way to go (though has Charlie (?) Lau approach at the plate still produced ok....).

But, let's say you have Rod Carew. You'll never convince me that he'd be a better hitter if he constantly swung from the heels.

Baseball as a whole have gone far too far along this road of trying to turn every hitter into Dave Winfield. But somehow they keep getting heaps of Dave Kingmans. One guy drew crowds. The other derision.

Brett · April 23, 2025

Honestly, it’s like no one has seen “Major League”. Put some Ricky Vaughn-esque glasses on Festa and let’s go!

Doctor Gast · April 23, 2025

Twins had one game plan before & that was to hit HRs. But defense, fundamentals, situational hitting, & baserunning have been abandoned. Twins have talked about changing & getting a running game going but they keep playing the same players who aren't good at it. IMO, they started to do this with NYM. They took the series against a rising NYM team that have been undefeated since. Twins have to change in how they play the game (get back to playing baseball), We need players who can get on base, steal bases, drive pitchers crazy & score runs. It seems they have taken Keaschall seriously, we need more than Buxton & Keaschall. Our team would be so much more exciting. & someone break Baldelli's I Pad.

NYCTK · April 23, 2025

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

Take the Yankees 11-1 against the Twins and White Sox away and they're an 83 win team last year and don't make the playoffs. Yeah, if you take double digit wins away from any team their record gets much worse. Crazy.

My goodness, the Dodgers went 13-3 against Colorado and Chicago. Take those 13 wins away. Clearly they were actually an 85 win team. Dang, now neither World Series team made the playoffs.

As it turns out, every team plays bad teams and most of them dominate those bad teams. It's why those bad teams have so many loses. Because they lose to everyone. Not just the Twins.

This is incredibly disingenuous, as the Yankees would only have 67 losses with those 83 wins. A darn good record still. The Dodgers would likewise be 85-61...

Now how does that Twins 70-79 record look ignoring the games against the White Sox last season? Or this season's 5-14?

USAFChief · April 23, 2025

2 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

There is still one thing that can fix everything and an inside straight chance of it happening.

I've basically distilled it down to the fact they cannot seem to make hitters succeed at the major league level and somehow make previously successful hitters perform poorly.

If this organization had even a 50% hit rate on any number of young hitters, nothing else matters. A lineup of killers makes almost every decision of the past three years irrelevant. If they were actually fighting to get Martin and Miranda and Julien and so on at bats because they were actually good, nobody really cares free agent money or right sizing.

The draft and development capital invested should have paid much better than this. As the pitching has become exciting, the hitting lets all the air out of the balloon. Many have decided there is no hope in that department but I'm not quite there.

There have been signs lately, and with an entirely new coaching staff and significant changes in approach maybe an adjustment period is reasonable. It's been really bad, but adjustments are happening.

It's the only thing that can save the season. The pitching will be fine. An offense that runs a bit, takes good at bats and remembers how to crush fastballs can still make this season really interesting. There is still time.

Certainly player development has been a weakness.

But I think thats only a small part of what ails this franchise.

Fire Dan Gladden · April 23, 2025

16 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

This is incredibly disingenuous, as the Yankees would only have 67 losses with those 83 wins. A darn good record still. The Dodgers would likewise be 85-61...

Now how does that Twins 70-79 record look ignoring the games against the White Sox last season? Or this season's 5-14?

In a bubble, your argument has merit. But I don't think cherry picking portions of the season like this is a very accurate picture of a team. So many things go into each game: what happened the day before, what is happening tomorrow, injuries, player availability. A team could have a bad record versus a specific team because their pitchers were on the IL during that time... Any number of things go into each game.

I understand the point you are trying to make, I just think it is a much smaller piece of the overall puzzle than it sometimes is made out to be.

chpettit19 · April 23, 2025

40 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

This is incredibly disingenuous, as the Yankees would only have 67 losses with those 83 wins. A darn good record still. The Dodgers would likewise be 85-61...

Now how does that Twins 70-79 record look ignoring the games against the White Sox last season? Or this season's 5-14?

It's not any more disingenuous than picking out just the Twins games against Chicago and taking those wins off their record. That's the point. The entire idea of taking wins off a team's record because they came against a bad team is disingenuous. That's literally my point.

The Twins won 82 games last year. That isn't all that impressive to start with. They did have a multiple month long stretch in the middle of the season where they won games at a one the best rates in the league. They did play some bad teams during the season. But so did everybody else.

Should the standings be based on your record against teams over .500? Houston was under .500 against teams over .500, should their 88 wins not have got them into the playoffs because they weren't good against good teams? KC and Detroit were both also under .500 against teams over .500. In fact, there were only 3 teams in the entire American League with records over .500 against teams over .500. The Yankees, Orioles, and Guardians.

So, like I said, a lot of teams beat up on the bad teams. It's why they're bad.

Edit to add: Oh, and the Twins played 98 games against teams over .500 last year. Yankees played 93. Orioles played 91. Dodgers 92. Padres 94. Guardians 97. How about we stop acting like the Twins only played crappy teams last year?

Riverbrian · April 23, 2025

3 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

There is still one thing that can fix everything and an inside straight chance of it happening.

I've basically distilled it down to the fact they cannot seem to make hitters succeed at the major league level and somehow make previously successful hitters perform poorly.

If this organization had even a 50% hit rate on any number of young hitters, nothing else matters. A lineup of killers makes almost every decision of the past three years irrelevant. If they were actually fighting to get Martin and Miranda and Julien and so on at bats because they were actually good, nobody really cares free agent money or right sizing.

The draft and development capital invested should have paid much better than this. As the pitching has become exciting, the hitting lets all the air out of the balloon. Many have decided there is no hope in that department but I'm not quite there.

There have been signs lately, and with an entirely new coaching staff and significant changes in approach maybe an adjustment period is reasonable. It's been really bad, but adjustments are happening.

It's the only thing that can save the season. The pitching will be fine. An offense that runs a bit, takes good at bats and remembers how to crush fastballs can still make this season really interesting. There is still time.

Bingo

I've said this multiple times over the years and I will say it again. I will judge this front office on development and development alone. I think we have made good strides on the mound but on the offensive side... I am quite concerned and this front office has had more than enough time to not be where we are.

The Twins are taking the same approach to filling out the offensive side of the roster as the big boys are. Free Agents and Vets are filling out the roster. However, the talent difference is striking. The big boys are signing Soto, Santander and Bellinger... we are signing Bader and France. If we try to play like the Yankees in here... we will lose to the Yankees out there is the line that sums it up from the movie Moneyball. Meanwhile, the Twins are quite simply behind the pace being set by the majority of the other 29 teams in terms of young controllable pre-arb players.

Every time the Twins sign a Bader or a France to a one year deal (Even if Bader or France end up being average or even above average in the ONE YEAR that they are with us)... every time they do this... it should be a neon sign flashing to everyone watching that we have a development problem. If anyone doesn't believe this statement from me... just go to fangraphs/roster resource and look at all 29 teams and count the number of pre-arb players on the 26 man roster of each team. Take note of the development happening with Milwaukee and Cleveland and compare it with the Twins. The Twins are ranked in the bottom third of pre-arb players on the 26 man roster. Even the Red Sox with money flowing out of their pockets have nearly twice the number of pre-arb players than the Twins do.

Here's the bottom line:

If the front office chooses to live and die with lower priced one year contract vets that still cost 4 to 5 to 10 times what a pre-arb player makes. If they choose the path of the one year contract because they didn't develop pre-arb players that make the minimum because they think they have better odds of winning the game today. If they choose this path and fail. They deserve to lose their jobs because they have left themselves with no path out of this mess. The only path is to do it again because they purposely put development for tomorrow in the backseat for today.

You are correct when you say: "If this organization had even a 50% hit rate on any number of young hitters, nothing else matters".

Being ranked as the 7th best farm in baseball means absolutely nothing to me right now. Absolutely nothing. We can't afford to purchase players developed by other teams... we must develop our own.

I'm tired of watching Jacob Wilson, Kristan Campbell, Jasson Dominquez, Eric Wageman, Jacob Mangum, Griffin Conine, Kameron Misner, Drake Baldwin, Javier Sonoja, Masyn Winn, Jackson Merrill, Jackson Chourio, Nolan Schnauel, Colton Cowser, Michael Busch, Joey Ortiz, Andy Pages, Wilyer Abreu, Spencer Horwitz, Pete-Crow Armstrong, Tyler Fitzgerald, James Wood, Spencer Steer, Corbin Carroll, Ezequial Tover, Gunnar Henderson, Anthony Volpe, James Outman, Josh Jung, Maikel Garcia, Triston Cases, Jordan Walker, Brice Turang, Brenton Doyle. Elly De la Cruz, Francisco Alvarez, Matt McLain, Kyren Paris, Yanier Diaz among MANY others playing for other clubs while we choose ONE YEAR GUYS who will be off to greener pastures if they succeed and searching for a minor league deal with another team if they don't.

NYCTK · April 23, 2025

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

It's not any more disingenuous than picking out just the Twins games against Chicago and taking those wins off their record. That's the point. The entire idea of taking wins off a team's record because they came against a bad team is disingenuous. That's literally my point.

The Twins won 82 games last year. That isn't all that impressive to start with. They did have a multiple month long stretch in the middle of the season where they won games at a one the best rates in the league. They did play some bad teams during the season. But so did everybody else.

Should the standings be based on your record against teams over .500? Houston was under .500 against teams over .500, should their 88 wins not have got them into the playoffs because they weren't good against good teams? KC and Detroit were both also under .500 against teams over .500. In fact, there were only 3 teams in the entire American League with records over .500 against teams over .500. The Yankees, Orioles, and Guardians.

So, like I said, a lot of teams beat up on the bad teams. It's why they're bad.

Edit to add: Oh, and the Twins played 98 games against teams over .500 last year. Yankees played 93. Orioles played 91. Dodgers 92. Padres 94. Guardians 97. How about we stop acting like the Twins only played crappy teams last year?

I think you're reading into this point too much. No one's saying to ignore the 12 wins. But it is important context to the actual quality of the 2024 Twins season.

Yes, the Twins DID have a good stretch in the middle of the season. But anyone that was truly paying attention also knew that it was largely a mirage. Like that 12 game win streak? 7 were against the White Sox.

All this to say the 2024 Twins were pretty bad. And the 2025 are, unsurprisingly, worse.

NYCTK · April 23, 2025

1 hour ago, Riverbrian said:

Bingo

I've said this multiple times over the years and I will say it again. I will judge this front office on development and development alone. I think we have made good strides on the mound but on the offensive side... I am quite concerned and this front office has had more than enough time to not be where we are.

The Twins are taking the same approach to filling out the offensive side of the roster as the big boys are. Free Agents and Vets are filling out the roster. However, the talent difference is striking. The big boys are signing Soto, Santander and Bellinger... we are signing Bader and France. If we try to play like the Yankees in here... we will lose to the Yankees out there is the line that sums it up from the movie Moneyball. Meanwhile, the Twins are quite simply behind the pace being set by the majority of the other 29 teams in terms of young controllable pre-arb players.

Every time the Twins sign a Bader or a France to a one year deal (Even if Bader or France end up being average or even above average in the ONE YEAR that they are with us)... every time they do this... it should be a neon sign flashing to everyone watching that we have a development problem. If anyone doesn't believe this statement from me... just go to fangraphs/roster resource and look at all 29 teams and count the number of pre-arb players on the 26 man roster of each team. Take note of the development happening with Milwaukee and Cleveland and compare it with the Twins. The Twins are ranked in the bottom third of pre-arb players on the 26 man roster. Even the Red Sox with money flowing out of their pockets have nearly twice the number of pre-arb players than the Twins do.

Here's the bottom line:

If the front office chooses to live and die with lower priced one year contract vets that still cost 4 to 5 to 10 times what a pre-arb player makes. If they choose the path of the one year contract because they didn't develop pre-arb players that make the minimum because they think they have better odds of winning the game today. If they choose this path and fail. They deserve to lose their jobs because they have left themselves with no path out of this mess. The only path is to do it again because they purposely put development for tomorrow in the backseat for today.

You are correct when you say: "If this organization had even a 50% hit rate on any number of young hitters, nothing else matters".

Being ranked as the 7th best farm in baseball means absolutely nothing to me right now. Absolutely nothing. We can't afford to purchase players developed by other teams... we must develop our own.

I'm tired of watching Jacob Wilson, Kristan Campbell, Jasson Dominquez, Eric Wageman, Jacob Mangum, Griffin Conine, Kameron Misner, Drake Baldwin, Javier Sonoja, Masyn Winn, Jackson Merrill, Jackson Chourio, Nolan Schnauel, Colton Cowser, Michael Busch, Joey Ortiz, Andy Pages, Wilyer Abreu, Spencer Horwitz, Pete-Crow Armstrong, Tyler Fitzgerald, James Wood, Spencer Steer, Corbin Carroll, Ezequial Tover, Gunnar Henderson, Anthony Volpe, James Outman, Josh Jung, Maikel Garcia, Triston Cases, Jordan Walker, Brice Turang, Brenton Doyle. Elly De la Cruz, Francisco Alvarez, Matt McLain, Kyren Paris, Yanier Diaz among MANY others playing for other clubs while we choose ONE YEAR GUYS who will be off to greener pastures if they succeed and searching for a minor league deal with another team if they don't.

This doesn't seem at all fair. The Twins aren't failing to develop players because Harrison Bader is on the roster. They're failing to develop players because their scouting and/or coaching are bad. It's completely independent of one year veteran contracts.

Austin Martin wasn't a terrible player last season because Kyle Farmer was on the team. Trevor Larnach isn't a career 100 OPS+ guy because Harrison Bader is rostered. Jose Miranda doesn't have a 100 career OPS+ because Donovan Solano was on the 2023 team.

Teams hire veterans to fill out rosters, and any team that wants to actually win SHOULD. This isn't some cause for pitchforks to the Twins Front Office, and this is coming from a guy that wants to fire them all.

mikelink45 · April 23, 2025

5 hours ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

Nick: In conversations I've had, even some of the true romantics are starting to peel off and disengage already. The 23-year low in attendance at Target Field last Monday spoke volumes about where the fanbase is at. Is an end in sight?

We see the signs in reduced attendance and in comments on this site. Are there any metrics on page hits or posted comments on TD that suggest we are losing any dedicated fans here? If we start losing TD'ers, and I've seen a few comments, then the Twins are in real trouble.

Since I was an usher in year one and have followed them since day one I can say this team has really pushed me to the brink. Luckily I have a job that has me traveling half the year so I have other distractions, but in the past I had Killebrew, Oliva, Kaat, Carew, Bostock, Viola, Hrbek, Blyleven, Gaetti, Puckett, Pascual, Tovar, and Mauer and Morneau who gave me joy win or not. Then there was the "I love that kid" Wynegar and other players who made me want to be at the game. I loved it when we had Mudcat and I wanted to see Vic Power with defense and energy at 1B.

But now this team has no one who moves me to be excited. Buxton is too injured or too erratic. Correa has shown why other teams worried about his health. Julien had a flash in the pan year, but I really miss Arraez. No energy, no special qualities (I almost used a French phrase there) and if they are blasé' why should I get excited?

Put that into context with all the elements that Nick described plus contraction and the buzz I got attending all the 1991 WS games is hard to sustain. I had hoped that Lewis would be that great and joyful player, but an injury list longer than his stat summary diminishes that potential.

JADBP · April 23, 2025

I guess the bottom line for me is this: The Pohlad's are getting exactly what they deserve. They ran this team into the ground. Whether through mismanagement, through bad player development, though bad signings, through payroll "right-sizing" or through whatever other BS that they have tried over the last 5-10 years, THEY HAVE FAILED. And, fans are paying them back...with their non-attendance! So, the team value is shrinking (who wants to buy an abject loser?) and the owners are likely to have to take out more loans to cover inevitable losses. They are just slowly bleeding to death. Its their own fault.

They are never going to get anywhere close to $1.7 Billion (minus their debt against the team). That ship has sailed. Its their own fault.

And now the truth is out. The family put their fine investment into a death spiral when they put Joe in charge. Its their own damn fault!!!

Doctor Gast · April 23, 2025

1 hour ago, Riverbrian said:

Bingo

I've said this multiple times over the years and I will say it again. I will judge this front office on development and development alone. I think we have made good strides on the mound but on the offensive side... I am quite concerned and this front office has had more than enough time to not be where we are.

The Twins are taking the same approach to filling out the offensive side of the roster as the big boys are. Free Agents and Vets are filling out the roster. However, the talent difference is striking. The big boys are signing Soto, Santander and Bellinger... we are signing Bader and France. If we try to play like the Yankees in here... we will lose to the Yankees out there is the line that sums it up from the movie Moneyball. Meanwhile, the Twins are quite simply behind the pace being set by the majority of the other 29 teams in terms of young controllable pre-arb players.

Every time the Twins sign a Bader or a France to a one year deal (Even if Bader or France end up being average or even above average in the ONE YEAR that they are with us)... every time they do this... it should be a neon sign flashing to everyone watching that we have a development problem. If anyone doesn't believe this statement from me... just go to fangraphs/roster resource and look at all 29 teams and count the number of pre-arb players on the 26 man roster of each team. Take note of the development happening with Milwaukee and Cleveland and compare it with the Twins. The Twins are ranked in the bottom third of pre-arb players on the 26 man roster. Even the Red Sox with money flowing out of their pockets have nearly twice the number of pre-arb players than the Twins do.

Here's the bottom line:

If the front office chooses to live and die with lower priced one year contract vets that still cost 4 to 5 to 10 times what a pre-arb player makes. If they choose the path of the one year contract because they didn't develop pre-arb players that make the minimum because they think they have better odds of winning the game today. If they choose this path and fail. They deserve to lose their jobs because they have left themselves with no path out of this mess. The only path is to do it again because they purposely put development for tomorrow in the backseat for today.

You are correct when you say: "If this organization had even a 50% hit rate on any number of young hitters, nothing else matters".

Being ranked as the 7th best farm in baseball means absolutely nothing to me right now. Absolutely nothing. We can't afford to purchase players developed by other teams... we must develop our own.

I'm tired of watching Jacob Wilson, Kristan Campbell, Jasson Dominquez, Eric Wageman, Jacob Mangum, Griffin Conine, Kameron Misner, Drake Baldwin, Javier Sonoja, Masyn Winn, Jackson Merrill, Jackson Chourio, Nolan Schnauel, Colton Cowser, Michael Busch, Joey Ortiz, Andy Pages, Wilyer Abreu, Spencer Horwitz, Pete-Crow Armstrong, Tyler Fitzgerald, James Wood, Spencer Steer, Corbin Carroll, Ezequial Tover, Gunnar Henderson, Anthony Volpe, James Outman, Josh Jung, Maikel Garcia, Triston Cases, Jordan Walker, Brice Turang, Brenton Doyle. Elly De la Cruz, Francisco Alvarez, Matt McLain, Kyren Paris, Yanier Diaz among MANY others playing for other clubs while we choose ONE YEAR GUYS who will be off to greener pastures if they succeed and searching for a minor league deal with another team if they don't.

Bingo! I've been preaching this for years. Yet nobody listens because it's the opposite of what social media propagates.

chpettit19 · April 23, 2025

21 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

I think you're reading into this point too much. No one's saying to ignore the 12 wins. But it is important context to the actual quality of the 2024 Twins season.

Yes, the Twins DID have a good stretch in the middle of the season. But anyone that was truly paying attention also knew that it was largely a mirage. Like that 12 game win streak? 7 were against the White Sox.

All this to say the 2024 Twins were pretty bad. And the 2025 are, unsurprisingly, worse.

I'm not. I'm pointing out that literally every team plays those bad teams. I am literally providing context. I didn't mention any 12-game win streak. I mentioned months. Like over half the season. Then I mentioned the entire season and how many teams over .500 they played over the entirety of the season. I understand the context. I'm providing more. Like the fact that literally 100% of Major League Baseball teams play and beat bad teams. It's why they're bad. Because everybody beats them.

The 2024 Twins were roughly a .500 team. The 2025 Twins are 23 games into a 162-game season. You're more than welcome to make declarations on what this team is. Anyone is. I'm going to go ahead and wait a little longer than 14% of the season to decide on what any team or player is for the 2025 MLB season. 162 is a lot of games. Enough for me to say that your record is a pretty darn accurate representation of who you are. You can slice and dice things however you want to confirm your biases. Feel free to do it however you want. I'll take a 162-game sample size and say that's what the teams were. The teams were a pretty darn average team.

Vanimal46 · April 23, 2025

2 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Certainly player development has been a weakness.

But I think thats only a small part of what ails this franchise.

Agreed. There’s been a stench over this organization for several years now. As I posted in Brock’s thread, I will accept a disaster season if it ends up addressing the deep rooted issues here.

Sign In

Is There a Light at the End of the Tunnel for Twins Fans?

Twins Video

Follow Twins Daily For Minnesota Twins News & Analysis

Recent Twins Articles

Recent Twins Videos

Community Blogs

Forum Topics

Twins Top Prospects

User Feedback

Recommended Comments

Featured Comments

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

Create an account

Sign in

Do you approve of Twins ownership?