Twins' Biggest Roster Needs for 2025

The biggest need the Twins 2025 roster has is good health. But since that's caught up in a bunch of players already on the roster, I'm not sure how we impact that directly. 

Camargo must not be considered much of an option considering he got ZERO playing time when he was with the team this year.

They need to address a big bat. Right now, the DH is someplace for guys to go to rest. They could use a 26th player bat off the bench, a Nelson Cruz/Jim Thome type who could maybe give you that long fly out in a pinch hitting situation, fulfill designated hitetr duties for the msot part, and maybe play a little in the field, be it a corner spot or first base.,

The Twins need to decide roles for Lewis, Correa and Lee. Put them at a spot and play them there. Lee may need a tad more seasoning to start 2025, but not sure what the alternative is. Also, first base. Do you go internal with Miranda, Julien, Kirilloff as the main pieces. What about Severino? How does he fit into Twins plans.

Is Castro worth $6.2 million to the team. What about Helman as a replacement, Or, better yet, Castillo Payton Eades. This is one hard decision. If you cut Castro, will he command that m uch money in the free agent marketplace?

The Twins could add an innings eater to the rotation pushing Paddack to the 5th spot. Making it a battle between him and SWR with a strong Matthews and Festa in the wings. There is strength in the rotation, but better to have too many than not enough.

The Twins need soemthing left-handed. Headrick MIGHT be an answer. I like the idea that he can face a run thru a batting order. But be ncie to have something better than Fuunderburk or Thielbar next season. Moran should be back, but not counting on him to break spring training.

This will be unpopular opinion, but I would like to see:

Resign Santana and sign Castro

Keep Zebby in the minors for a full year, Festa???  Sign a 4th starter so SRW can slot at #5

Trade Brooks Lee, Austin Martin, and maybe other prospects for a RH outfielder

Quit platooning Larnach and Wallner so much and let them play everyday.

Miranda at 1B and 3B, but if others like his potential - send him packing.

None of this matters if Lewis, Buxton and Correa don't play in the same lineup for over 80 games.

My thoughts are similar to others that I’ve read. Agree with what’s written in the article. 
 

Id add:

RH power bat - we haven’t had this since Cruz was traded

Mid rotation starter - let Festa and Zebby start at AAA

The moves that was made this last season haven't helped us one bit for this season & IMO made us worse. The absence of Margot will help a lot. Trade is our best weapon, let's use it. Our main need is still a veteran mid-rotation inning-eater to conserve our young SPs. Switch Paddack with Jax? maybe. If we can get a good trade to dump Paddack's salary, go for it. Start Varland in the BP. Maybe it's too late to trade for LHRP butt at least try.

Next re-educate our hitters from focusing on swinging for the fences to have good ABs, take what pitchers give you, clutch hitting with RISP not striking out. Of course, if a pitcher serves a big meatball, give it a ride. That'll help our offense the most. IMO these were the biggest reasons for our downfall this season. 

It's not late to pick up a promising young catcher although sooner would have been better than later. Not only for now but mainly for the future. Our systemic depth at catching is pathetic. We have been very lucky to have Vazquez & Jeffers healthy these 2 years. If you want this team to tank by all means trade Vazquez. Unless these needs are dropped in Falvey's lap, I don't see any change.

They need a RH outfield bat who can field the ball (not Martin or Margot). That could be Willi Castro but then they need to find a 2B. I floated bringing back Polanco for < $5M on a different thread.

Castro won't be non-tendered. He has more trade value than Polanco did last season (costs half as much, plays more positions competently, more team control, younger).

18 minutes ago, IndianaTwin said:

Budget question: Has anyone from the Twins actually said they are looking to keep the same budget as this year?

All I've heard is that they they've said they won't be reducing the budget. It's easy to hear that as "keep it the same," but that's not what "won't be reducing means." Said another way, if this year was $130M and they keep their word, they are saying next year won't be $120-$125M, but not precluding it being $135-$140M.

 

(And I get that people are in a bad mood about the FO these days, so we tend to read the worst into a statement. I'm not asking for commentary with my question -- I'm just asking if there've been actual statements that I've missed.)

I found it interesting that this Detroit Tigers playoff roster has a total salary of only $16M after ditching Maeda off of it. While I'd love to have a workable salary budget to compete, the 3 other teams in our division are proving its not the Golden Ticket to the playoffs. Who would have bet in June that 3 in our division make the playoffs, and we're not one of them. No excuses. We didn't get it done. I agree the biggest need we might have is in the Strength & Conditioning department. We ran out of gas? We got tired? That doesn't sound legit to me. We certainly got out managed and out front officed.

55 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

I was watching the Dodgers and Padres last night and found it fascinating that Michael King threw 173.2 regular season innings this year after having maxed out at 104.2 last year. 2.95 ERA and 10.4 K/9 for the year and a 1.57 ERA with 9.4 K/9 in September say he didn't "run out of gas." Is that just his DNA vs Twins pitcher's DNA. He was a reliever up until the end of last year. Wasn't great last night, but was incredible in his first postseason start.

Why are the Twins players wearing down? Something isn't working. I find it very hard (impossible) to believe that they just happened to pick 20 dudes who all wore down. Outside of Royce Lewis who hasn't played near a full season in what feels like a decade, none of them should be wearing down. Need to figure that out if they want any chance of making noise in the playoffs ever.

Thought the same thing. My take is that the search for bats has left the Twins with less athletic players. The pitchers mostly looked capable of going another inning here and there. 

Why are they breaking down? Hard to say and especially difficult to see Royce Lewis, among others, gassed by mid August. Meanwhile Jackson Merrill is wishing for more games as is Bobby Witt Jr., although I would not compare anyone to Jr.

With Santana moving on (if not resigned), the Twins are looking at putting below average defense on the field nearly everywhere. It is tough to get four outs every other inning for pitchers and difficult for the bats to out hit the leaked runs. Some changes need to happen, I'm afraid.

Biggest needs:

Resign Santana, Kepler and Farmer.

Left-handed Pitching!!!!!!!!!!

25 minutes ago, RpR said:

Biggest needs:

Resign Santana, Kepler and Farmer.

it is October, so this is Scary.

🫣

Call me cautious, but I would be totally fine with another year of Santana at $5m.  I am not 100% sold that Miranda is "fixed" and Santana provides indirect insurance for another Lewis injury at 3B.

Many comments about Martin, Lee, Kiersey, Julien, et. al getting long leashes and defined roles.  A reminder that they did not perform very well when given the opportunity last season.  Expecting them to serviceable next year could be setting this team up for another major failure.

Lewis, Correa, and Buxton each playing 135 games would go a long way towards covering up other offense problems this team has.

I expect Castro, Santana, Kepler, Farmer, Margot,Vasquez? to be gone.  And three or four relievers to be (or should be) gone.  That leaves us with needs at 1b,a consistent 2B who can play at a MLB level on both sides of the ball, a 1b at least as good as Santana, a RF better than Kepler, an Allstar utility guy and a handful of relievers. Given the refusal to spend, I’m not expecting many of these needs to be met. The window is closed. 

If you as the FO can’t figure out how to pay Castro $6M, You should be fired. Non tendering him would be criminal. 

I see no way Castro is not here, unless he is traded.  You cannot DFA him.  I could see him being tendered and then traded though, only if they feel a mix of Martin and Lee or some other FA can cover what he can do.  He helped carry the team for a stretch, but then he also fell apart at end of year, like everyone else on offense.  He still provides a ton of value with how Rocco likes to manage because you can pinch hit for many guys and move Castro to where you need on defense.  

I get that Vasquez is making 10 mil, but as you point out hard to justify that price with his offense, so why would another team justify it?  Meaning, only way a team would is if you give up either money to take him, which defeats purpose of moving him, or you give up prospects to take him.  Without clear replacement in wings hard to justify giving up prospects to clear money off the books. 

Every year the bullpen gets retooled as most guys are on 1 year deals. 

The biggest needs are a RH bat and a LHRP. The urgency of getting a RH bat depends on how Lewis performs next season and how many games Correa and Buxton play.. Given the limited payroll, I’d bet that means the FO will stand pat there. 
LHRP is urgent right now given Thielbar and Funderburk did not perform well this season. FO may fall back on Headrick stepping into the void and/or Moran recovering. Headrick wasn’t effective in the one appearance I saw him pitch, but that was first appearance and hard to judge after his injury recovery. Wouldn’t be surprised if the FO goes with these two LHRP even though Moran won’t be ready until later in the season. 
I propose they target Jake Burger from the Marlins. It looks like Jonah Bride could be their 1B, leaving Burger as a backup or DH. Burger would be a nice RH power bat that could be our 1B. Maybe trade Miranda in a one for one swap. Miranda is a couple years younger, so they may see more upside. He could also be insurance at 3B for Norby, who didn’t look good at all during series against the Twins.