Why the First Half of 2025 is the Most Pivotal Point in Twins History

If a new ownership group takes over early, then yep...it's pretty important. 

I'm wondering which top prospects you are willing to trade? Are we talking top 30? 20? 10? 3? Can anyone think of a realistic trade where the Twins part with Walker Jenkins? There are several laughers on BTV where a team empties the scrubs on their team off to Minnesota and magically pick up Jenkins. What possible player would people want for Jenkins? Rodriguez? Keaschall?

Falvey is free to make trades right now if he feels the team would be better off with a transaction or two. I'm hopeful for a positive vibe from the exchange of ownership but I'm not seeing it much differently than 1984, which was ok.

Wouldn't finding a way to avoid a second half collapse be a more important thing to be concerned about since we had 2 of those in the last 4 or 5 seasons now.

We have had two families own the franchise going back to the early days in Washington.  Both had well earned reputations as penny pinchers, but both gave us the occasional winner and kept the team going.  With the exception of Carl P. wishing he could cash out through contraction, no threats of leaving have been seriously attempted since they moved here from Washington.  Coming here from Washington, moving into the dome from Metropolitan stadium, changing ownership from the Griffiths to the Pohlads, moving across the city to Target Field, and now selling the team after 40 years to only the 3rd owner in, what, close to a century?  There have been a lot of pivotal years in Twins history, this being right up there (in my top 5), but THE most pivotal?  I think the jury is still out on that one.  What might move the needle to the top of the list is what direction any new owner(s) take from here on out.  Will it be just another business investment for a billionaire, or will it be something the owner(s) will truly be interested in and willing to put more into?  The latter would be the needle mover to me.  Let's hope Cody turns out to be right. 😉

I hope Carlos is walking around barefoot to build up some foot strength. Maybe ditch the shoes he's been wearing might help. 

Nice article.  Interesting thoughts.  Other than the potential for new owners, which is huge, it still is just the Twins.  Same old boring baseball.  They talk about a winning windows.  What winning windows?  They've missed the playoffs 3 of last 4 years.  Twice they choked it away.  If we get new owners they need to dump Falvey and Baldelli .

5 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

If we get new owners they need to dump Falvey and Baldelli .

Cosign. They've accomplished nothing but a fluke year in a juiced ball season. And the team and farm are in such a mediocre state currently. 

7 years is plenty to determine Falvey just doesn't have the sauce. And Rocco pinch hit Margot so frequently that he set a major league record in futility. 

New Owners, New Organization. 

I guess I don't understand what a good start has to do with selling the team. Owners are not idiots and going to spend a couple of billion dollars based on 20, 30, 40 games. Now it is probably super important for the FO since this will be their 9th year and have 1 playoff series win, new owners might want some fresh blood and in all reality would they be leaving a team in a better position then they inherited?

It is probably important to be good to fill the stands in the summer, because IMO if the Wild and Wolves make runs in the playoffs and the Twins are below .500 and playing boring baseball, well it might be hard to get people to target field.

Last season we still had a great core & Lopez was searching for his path in the early '24 season but that wasn't the cause of our collapse in the beginning. Falvey made it very clear after the '23 postseason that his all-or-nothing approach was the reason for the team's success, even though the main contributors down that stretch did not adhere to that philosophy. They stressed that they were sticking to focus on that approach & the record amount Ks was not a problem. The reason for the team's early slump was the league's drastic adjusting to our approach resulting in a lack of offense- Miranda, Kiriloff & Correa were mashing but Margot, Santana & Farmer were horrid, Vazquez was improving but was not good. The whole team was bad & Lewis was gone. What saved us was Baldelli's change of hitting direction to a less SO-prone one. 

I agree that that slump put us behind the eight ball to win the division but we still had most of the '23 core together that kept us in the hunt for the wildcard. But not filling the holes at SP & LHRP drained our rotation & BP resulting in poorer performances. Miranda & Kirilof's mashing was gone due to not playing them at 1B thus keeping them healthy & productive but instead putting them into positions where they had to really work their shoulders & landing them on the IL. The lack of chemistry plunged them into a nosedive that nobody could correct.

'25 depends again on making the right trades. Do we trade for a very promising young MLB-ready catcher to aid this ailing prime position? Do we trade the right players that can be replaced to help the club? Or do we trade away players that we really need & hard to replace (Castro, Vazquez, Lopez, Correa, Buxton, Ober, or Ryan)? Why do I get that sick feeling that Falvey will be "creative" again? Trading away players we desperately need to acquire players we do not, taking up valuable active roster spots from our well-deserving players who need the playing time to better themselves & the team. How does adding a player for one year help the team the following year? With this kind of move, we don't have worry about making the playoffs. I don't care how we look on paper, we'll be out of it before we get started.

I think what's most likely is we'll be out of contention by the trade deadline. Buxton, Lewis and Correa will miraculously get hurt and sit out the second half and the team will trade off veterans on expiring contracts. If new ownership is going to raise payroll and make a splash, I think it would happen next off-season. New owners, new payroll and clean slate. Can't come soon enough!

I like the article angle, but I think the importance of this season is not because of on-field issues, which every team has every season, but the off-field issues:

-When does the team sell?  If reports are true, and the team sells within the next few months, what steps do the new owners take?  Invest capital to improve the team?  Trade everyone and rebuild?  Do they keep the administration, or do they go out and get different people?  This is, by far, the single most important item to impact this team since the contraction discussion.

-What is the impact of the new broadcasting deal?  Does the potential increased viewership create a long-term capital base for this team?  Does it blow up in their face?  What are the secondary impacts that may come from this (merchandise, ticket sales, advertising)?

-How does the CBA expiring after 2026 impact the Twins view of longer term deals?  Do they try to lock up their younger players not knowing what changes are on the horizon?

Regarding on-field issues, this is really a make-or-break season for many players:
Miranda, Julien, Varland, Topa, and Paddack are playing for their Twins life
Wallner, Castro, Larnach, Sands, and SWR need to prove last year was not a fluke and they belong
Lee, Martin, Festa, Matthews, and Kiersey need to play well enough to not get run over by the incoming players behind them

I doubt the new Twins owners move on from Falvey.  I do think Our manager is on the hot seat.  But the Twins overall are historically better then the Twins have been over their cumulative history under Falvey.  The Minnesota Twins overall have a below .500 record and have a .519 win % under Falvey.  620-574.  I think he will still be here after the Twins are sold.  I wonder what they could do with a 180 million payroll.  

As far as most pivotal moment in history for the Twins, bottom of the 9th game 6 comes to mind.

It totally depends on when new ownership takes over. If the Twins have new owners by mid-season, then the first half is pretty important. Staying in contention would at least let us see how new ownership will be different than the Pohlads at the trade deadline. If the Twins don't get new owners until later in the season, I think that next off season will tell us a lot about the future of the team.

9 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

TWINS history is 64 years ……… considerable amount of time relative to MLB but not really approaching a Century.

I’ve lived in Cincinnati for 34 years but still appreciate my upbringing in Minnesota…..sure seems this “most pivotal point in Twin’s history” stuff is grossly overstated. Maybe if you’re 26 years old it may seem that way but regardless of the level of importance it seems this is a very dramatic take on this years Team & potential activities around this year’s Team.

Twins history yes, franchise history no, and the franchise is what I was talking about.  In any major league sport a franchise that has had only two family ownerships and one franchise move in about a century is very rare; my point was that it is impossible for me to pick any one year in its history as THE pivotal year.  I don't separate the Twins from the franchise because the same owners owned the franchise in both areas; what they did in Washington naturally spilled over into MN after the move, just as everything the Pohlads have done will spill over onto whoever the new owners are going to be (or is that whomever? :) )

Anyway, I was only trying to say that I believe we are a rare commodity in sports, having had consistent, if not necessarily wonderful, ownership and a very lengthy run in MLB.  Therefore I find it very hard to pick any one pivotal year, although as I said before, it is in my top 5.  

By the way, I am not anywhere near 26; I was 11 during the '65 World Series which is when I fell in love with baseball and the Twins.  🫠