Cody Pirkl

Image courtesy of Matt Marton-Imagn Images The Twins are on pace to miss the playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons. They’re following their recent trend of playing particularly ugly baseball down the stretch, so it’s time to start considering some changes. After sticking with their current core for so long, it may be time to start dismantling it. A few players stand out as names the Twins should part ways with this offseason. Trevor Larnach With one last trip through arbitration on the docket, paying Larnach what he’ll be awarded in the process makes no sense for the Twins at this point. While he’s rewarded their decision to tender him a contract last offseason with a .768 OPS, he’s been a major reason the offense has taken a step back in the second half. His .594 in August did a number on the lineup, and renews concerns he seemed to have assuaged a couple months ago. It’s also time to give younger players with greater upside more playing time. Emmanuel Rodriguez, Walker Jenkins, and even Alan Roden deserve opportunities in 2027 and beyond. Larnach has no defensive value, requires platooning, and has let the Twins down once again down the stretch in 2026. It’s time for them to see what’s behind Door No. 2. Bailey Ober It’s difficult to watch what’s happened to Ober over the last few years. Still a smart and crafty pitcher, his stuff appears to be bordering on untenable at the big-league level, which is why it’s time for the Twins to move on. While he’s still able to get outs at a decent clip, Ober’s fastball has averaged just over 88 MPH this season, and when he doesn’t have pinpoint command, it’s a difficult watch. Due for his last trip through arbitration this offseason, Ober will likely make at least $7-8 million in 2027 if the Twins tender him a contract. It’s a fair price to pay for his overall body of work, but his upside is completely gone, and it feels like there’s a risk the Twins could come to regret that decision very early in the 2027 season. It may be a case where the Twins are wise to cut bait too early, rather than too late. Royce Lewis Lewis was in a tenuous spot earlier this season after being demoted to Triple-A. A blistering return to the lineup in June changed things, but he’s been pretty quiet since then. He’s a below-league-average hitter on the season and is slashing just .235/.293/.410 since the beginning of 2024, which is 5% below the league-average hitter in that timeframe. Now a utility man mostly playing first base, the bar to clear offensively is much higher; Lewis has fallen to the bottom of the defensive spectrum. He doesn’t hit left-handed pitching at an exceptional rate; doesn’t get on base very well; and his speed and athleticism appear long gone. His free-swinging ways still lead to the occasional hot streak, but the Twins may be best served finding a new home for Lewis this winter. The Twins made changes in the front office and in the manager's chair heading into the season, but kept much of the same core on the field. After another disappointing finish, it’s time to make some changes in the player department. It’s time to move on from a few pieces that have been at the core of their roster for the last few years and turn things over to a new group. View full article

Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images It seemed extremely likely that Trevor Larnach would be non-tendered last November, after another underwhelming season in which the Twins further added to their logjam of left-handed-hitting outfielders. Instead, he’s remained with the team and made their decision pay off—until recently, that is. We're starting to see some signs that the end of Larnach's Twins tenure may not be far off. Larnach was drafted as a bat-first slugger with defensive limitations. The slugging piece has never come to fruition, as evidenced by his career slugging percentage just a touch over .400. The lack of offensive development for a bat-first player made the club's decision to tender Larnach last winter eyebrow-raising. Still, he rewarded the team’s decision with an .812 OPS through July. We’ve seen flashes of strong production from him before, but 2026 has been the most sustained stretch of his career. As good as he’s been all season, though, it seems Larnach’s woeful August has the Twins pivoting in a hurry. He’s posted a .148/.207/.259 slash line in the month, and his playing time is drying up in favor of players like Alan Roden as the team falls further out of contention. The Twins aren’t out of it yet, but their willingness to scale back Larnach’s playing time may show their trust (or lack thereof) in his strong season thus far, and how they feel about him long-term. Larnach is arbitration-eligible for the last time this winter, and he will be due for a sizable raise from the $4.475 million he’s making this season. Many questioned whether the Twins would tender him last offseason because of his inconsistency and wealth of other left-handed-hitting outfielders. The salary increase, as well as a poor finish to the season, could result in a non-tender—not to mention the Twins having more young options for the corner outfield than ever. Roden has already begun eating into Larnach’s playing time. At the very least, Roden is a vastly superior defender in the corner outfield. His lack of offensive production so far can be partially explained by his lack of consistent playing time. Still, there’s a realistic world where he’s as productive as Larnach, if given the opportunity. Roden will be 27 years old in 2027, and if the Twins see enough from him down the stretch, that alone may be enough to find a better way to allocate Larnach’s projected salary. Walker Jenkins needs no introduction to Twins fans. He’s center field-capable if Byron Buxton isn’t healthy, but the Twins will find playing time for him one way or another in 2027. Jenkins is the Twins’ top prospect and one of the best in all of baseball, and if they can’t find him playing time with Larnach on the roster, it’s safe to say Larnach will be the one to go. Another underrated factor in Larnach’s future with the Twins is Emmanuel Rodriguez being back in the Saints’ lineup. A former top prospect derailed by injuries seemingly every season, Rodriguez is out of options next season, meaning he will have to make the Opening Day roster to stay with the organization. He’s not without question marks, but Rodriguez’s skillset is too tantalizing not to give him a prolonged chance to translate it to the big-league level. With all of these left-handed outfield options, it’s hard to make the math work for 2027 when it comes to getting all of them playing time with Larnach in the picture. None of these three names are proven commodities, but it could be argued that Larnach isn’t, either. The most interesting storyline for the rest of 2026 is whether Larnach earns any playing time back at all. If Roden performs or Jenkins comes up, he may lose his near-everyday role for good. If the team falls out of contention and plans to non-tender him, they have no reason to give him playing time. There may even be a world where they want to see Emmanuel Rodriguez down the stretch, at the expense of Larnach. They have plenty of options. It’s easy to see that Larnach has fallen out of favor with the Twins after just under a month of struggles. It once again feels like Larnach’s time with the Twins may be nearing the end. Will that feeling be proven correct this time? View full article

Are the players we got back in that trade barred from ever being mentioned again? I think the fact that they got Roden back in that trade plays at least a small factor in them not simply allowing Jenkins to pass him over for playing time.

"You didn't talk about today's roster until the comments" The very first paragraph I mention how they can't or don't want to make room on the roster for Jenkins. I then discuss how the decisions they've made over the last year have led to their inflexibility and lack of opportinity for players like Roden in the currently constructed roster. I just wrote this yesterday, and the words are right above the comment section in case I forget, so not really sure what you're trying to accomplish by claiming that. If you disagree that the Twins have a logjam affecting the roster and keeping players from getting opportunities they need, that's fine. I don't think that's the common opinion though, and you're not going to make any meaningful argument opening your disagreement by calling it "pointless trash"

My point on the LHHs they target goes beyond the MLB roster. I agree that they should target talent, but it's gotten to a point where LHH talent should situationally be worth less to them, as it should've been for some time. We saw how this works out with Roden. I have no doubt they were targeting talent when they acquired him. It was easy to question how he was ever going to find playing time though, and that's exactly how it's played out. They targeted a 25 year old, and he'll probably be 27 before they can potentially find regular playing time for him if he's on the roster at all in 2027. They could've called Jenkins up a long time ago, but they invested in Roden, who has been behind Wallner, Larnach, and Outman at various points throughout the season. So they had to get a look at Roden or risk getting nothing from him a year after trading for him. They aren't setting themselves up to successfully choose the best players for the future because they aren't building a top of the system that affords LHHs enough opportunity. Hendry Mendez started the season at Double-A despite him dominating there last season because there wasn't room in St. Paul for him. Just another example.

I thought that writing about a team having too many LHHs and being in the bottom 1/3 of the league against LHPs and being on no hitter watch whenever they face LHPs was relevant. Especially when everyone is clamoring for Walker Jenkins. My bad! You say the roster has been mostly sorted as the season has gone one. Go look at yesterday's lineup against a LHP and say that they've rounded into form. I don't get it. Also, I don't know why you read this as the whole piece coming down to complaining about the Varland trade. I mention the three LHHs they acquired at the deadline as well as other moves for LHHs they made after that were problems. Seems like a pretty disingenuous way to minimize an entire article in my opinion. If I wanted to write about how terrible that trade looks, I'd just do it, and it would probably be longer than this one!

I don't understand this takeaway at all. The Twins aren't "turning the platoon advantage on it's head". You say that like they've made some kind of unprecedented breakthrough. They're better against RHP because they can't fill out a lineup with capable RHHs against LHP. They haven't been able to all year because of how they built the roster. Their best hitters are RH so they play everyday. All of their switch hitters are worse against LHP. Most LHHs are much worst against LHP and they've chosen to overinvest in LHHs or switch hitters who are better left-handed.

Bell, Lee, and Caratini are all terrible RHHs, despite the fact that they can stand on that side of the battery's box.

So are you arguing that the rate at which they've targeted LHHs has been successful and that they should keep doing what they have been then?

Image courtesy of Denis Poroy-Imagn Images The Twins should be in the news with several other teams who are calling up top prospects for the playoff push. Instead, the Twins don’t have room—or at least, don’t want to make room—on the MLB roster for Walker Jenkins. Intentionally or not, the front office has spent over a year setting itself up for this exact scenario. The Twins' hoarding of left-handed hitting outfielders is not a new development. The team seems to be constantly searching for more players of this type. As a result, the big-league roster is poorly built, lacking right-handed hitting complements as the team tries to stuff as many left-handed hitters onto the active roster as they can. It's also led to a lack of opportunity for deserving players. Last season’s trade deadline made plenty of negative headlines, but an underrated decision worth criticism was the team’s decision to target three more left-handed-hitting outfielders as they conducted their fire sale. There was zero reason to add in this way, as the major and minor leagues were already oversaturated with these types of players. The team then chose to tender a contract to Trevor Larnach in the offseason and carry James Outman on the Opening Day roster, ensuring they were 10+ deep in that department. The first problem, in a day-to-day sense, is an obvious one: The roster is not equipped to hit left-handed pitching. Not only do they lack internal options to platoon, but they also didn’t target players in the offseason to address this problem. Josh Bell and Victor Caratini are switch-hitters who have historically been better from the left side. This roster-building choice is a big reason the Twins are in the bottom third of the league against southpaws, even with their season-long OPS in those matchups being inflated by uncharacteristic success in the first few weeks of the season. At the individual player level, targeting so many left-handed hitters has created a mess that the front office has to clean up this offseason. After Alan Roden made up half of the Louis Varland trade return, the team optioned him to Triple-A at 26 years old. Why? Because parting with James Outman, who hasn’t posted a .600 OPS since 2023, was out of the question. They couldn’t afford to let a left-handed hitting outfielder get away without seeing him perform as a below-replacement-level player for a third season in a row. Now that Roden is finally on the MLB roster, the way they’ve built it has left him with almost no opportunity. Starting two games per week or so, the Twins don’t even have consistent at-bats for him against right-handed pitching a year after acquiring him in his physical prime. As he struggles to capitalize on his few chances to perform, the team is weighing whether it’s time to swap him out for another left-handed hitter. It’s difficult to imagine calling up someone like Jenkins without completely pulling the plug on Roden, so he can play every day. The Twins are struggling to make this decision, and it’s understandable. A much-maligned trade to acquire Roden has only looked worse and worse over the last year. Demoting him may be the end of his time with the Twins, and they’re not going to recoup anything close to the value they invested in him. Trading away Varland and giving up on half of the return after just over 100 plate appearances would be a terrible look for the Twins’ decision-makers. Meanwhile in Triple-A, Jenkins continues to mash. A halfway functional roster would have made room for him some time ago, but not the Minnesota Twins. Emmanuel Rodriguez is another problem the Twins have to solve. After missing part of the season yet again, he’s healthy and performing, and is out of minor league options next season. This means he’ll have to make the Opening Day roster without taking a single at-bat at the MLB level. It will be yet another left-handed hitting outfielder for the Twins to split playing time between. Also worth noting, Matt Wallner would have likely earned one last shot on a normal MLB roster after posting a .928 OPS in St. Paul with 20+ homers and a reduced strikeout rate. Instead, there is quite literally no path for him back to the MLB roster this season. Hendry Mendez is another left-handed outfielder acquired at the trade deadline. He’s talented enough to carve out an MLB role for himself someday, but if he remains with the Twins, it may require four or five injuries for him to even have a chance. The Twins’ obsession with left-handed hitters has come back to bite them in a major way in 2026, and this is just the beginning. Their choices have limited the offense's ceiling all season and are now limiting their ability to call up top prospects to provide a jolt to the roster when they need it most. They won’t be able to stash four or five left-handed hitters in Triple-A in 2027, and the MLB roster will already be full with them even if they can somehow restrain themselves from acquiring even more over the offseason. For the betterment of the roster, and in the best interest of their individual players, the Twins need to figure out how to get their left-handed hitting logjam under control. Do you agree? View full article

Image courtesy of Jesse Johnson, IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect Trading Joe Ryan was certainly on the table last offseason after the trade deadline sell-off. The team chose to stay the course and aim for contention in 2026. It's worked; Ryan has been an anchor for the Twins so far as they’ve hung around in the wild card picture. But when the organization doubled down on setting their sights on the postseason, the annual questions about Ryan’s ability to help in the second half became impossible to ignore. The Twins have been put in a difficult spot. Ryan’s season took a complete 180 in his last three starts, allowing 16 earned runs in 15 ⅓ innings before heading to the injured list with a glute strain. This ostensibly minor injury could explain Ryan’s downturn, but the context of his historical struggles in the second half of the season is concerning. As the team continues to hang around in the playoff picture, they’re now without their ace, and even if his IL stay is short-lived, it’s fair to wonder what version of Ryan shows up whenever he is activated. The Twins had enough concerns in the rotation without Ryan’s notorious second-half splits showing up again. The team’s acquisition of Dean Kremer as rotation depth is now a necessity. Even with the innings Kremer will add to the rotation, it’s difficult to imagine the team making the postseason without Ryan returning to form. Ryan’s sample size of struggling in the second half has grown to such a point that it’s as much a part of his story as the back-to-back All-Star appearances. The team was fortunate to be in a reasonable spot to buy at the deadline, as Ryan allowing six homers to Cleveland on July 20th would have raised some eyebrows from potentially acquiring teams. That may be irrelevant now, but if Ryan either spends an extended amount of time on the IL or returns as a shell of his first-half self again, skepticism will only grow stronger. The Twins may very well have Ryan penciled into their 2027 plans, and there is a strong argument that they should. If that’s the case, they may need to give special consideration to making sure they have the starting pitching depth and talent to make it through the second half. Injuries in the pitching staff can happen anytime, but Ryan’s drop-offs late in the season are becoming something worth planning for. Even if he's in their plans, the Twins may be open to listening on calls regarding Ryan in the offseason in case another team wants to blow them away. It seems far less likely for that to happen than it has in past years. As the second-half struggles rear their ugly head again, teams are certain to question whether Ryan can be counted on during the most important stretch of the season. The Twins had previously asked for two top-100 prospects in return for Ryan, with some teams reportedly ready to meet that demand. It’s worth questioning whether the Twins would get anything close to that return at this point. The Twins are in a bad spot now as a contending team in need of their ace. They also likely don’t have nearly as much flexibility this offseason if they are open to trading him. Joe Ryan has been a massive addition to the rotation the last several years, but his pattern of second-half struggles threatens to put a real damper on the tail end of his Twins career. How should they move forward? What would you advise? Let us know in the comments. View full article