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The vitriol in the comments on this article is one of the main reasons I have paid less and less attention to this website. This is the Twins giving a former all-star player a chance to make a difference. He potentially fills a position of need. They signed him to a MiLB deal, without a roster or 40-man spot guarantee. He is blocking nobody. Today, this signing really means nothing other than the positivity of Liam Hendricks still being alive and attempting to continue his career. Tomorrow, he could be a valuable member of the bullpen.

The division is weak. Because the Twins have a decent-strong SP, they have a punchers chance to be successful. Great pitching can offset horrible offense. If they get above expected production from a few guys at the plate, there is a potential path to the playoffs. Do I think it is going to happen? Highly doubtful. But everyone is in first place until opening day.

Falvey haters are gonna hate. They will still blame him for everything that went wrong, ignore everything that went right, and forget that his hands were tied to his ankles while trying to make decisions.

Every organization's fans overrate their team's prospects. It happens here ad nauseum. The Twins are traditionally slow with their non-pitching prospects. I expect things to be extremely slow with the upcoming labor strife in 2027. Unless this team is making a solid run at the playoffs, I do not expect to see Culpepper, Jenkins, or any of their other top prospects called up this year, regardless of how they perform in MiLB. They will not waste any potential clock time.

Thank you for the clarification, but I think I still disagree with your premise. All of the players I mentioned would be coveted by any other team in baseball (again, excusing LAD from this discussion). Jeffers is probably a top 10-15 catcher in this league, at worst he is somebody's #2. Ober would be (at worst) the 4/5 starter an any other team. Sands would be the (again at worst) the 2nd setup or coveted long-man in any bullpen. Arguments for SWR (again a 4/5 in any rotation), Lewis (top backup), Bell (top backup) could also easily be made. I do not think that there is a lack of interest from other teams, but they have not been moved for a multitude of other reasons, current public feelings towards the team and ownership being at the top, followed by an internal belief they are closer to competing than the general public feels. A strong argument can be made that the Twins should completely blow this team up and move everyone of value, but doing so would 100% destroy this already beleaguered fanbase for the next 3-5 years.

Apologies, but if you are saying that the Twins only have 3 players that would definitely play on any other MLB team, that is an absurd statement. Any team in baseball would take Jeffers. Outside of LA, any team would take Ober, Wallner, and Sands on their roster. There are strong arguments to be made for others (Bell, Keaschell, SWR, Lewis) Do not disregard players because they are not upper-tier.

Stop bringing facts to an emotional argument.

Other than the constant complaining on this website, is there any reason to believe Falvey's job is truly in jeopardy? Has there been one public comment or innuendo that has said Falvey is on notice? Has any Twins "insider" provided a source that says Falvey is on a hotseat of any type?

There should be no more discussion here about "ignorance" of the owners. Tom basically came out and said everything that TD fanbase has been screaming about for years. We know they know we know. Tom spoke a lot of powerful words about the past failures of ownership and how he wants to change that. We all know words are just words. But, I am CAUTIOUSLY optimistic for two reasons: 1) The public announcement they were not trading Ryan/Lopez. This is a win move, not a cost-saving move. There seems to be enough truth here that pundits have pulled Ryan and Lopez off of their "top trade target" boards. 2) The signing of Josh Bell. Argue about the quality of the signing all you want, but this is also a win move, not a cost saving move. The Twins were never going to sign Pete Alonso, but Bell is probably the best 1B FA they were able to sign without breaking the bank. Tom's biggest hurdle is rebuilding trust. You can be honest a thousand times, and one lie can ruin that trust. No matter how many good or strong or positive moves he makes, we-as-fans will always be waiting for the other shoe to drop. If he is legit, it is going to take an immense amount of time to repair the damages of the past. The only way to speed that time up is to win.

Festa for Casas seems very reasonable IMO, especially if the Red Sox get Alonso.

I am in the camp you can't have too much pitching. As it stands today, SP1-SP4 are locked. Let the fight happen for pecking order of SP5-SP7. Once things shake out, trades can be considered. Wait at least through Spring Training and see where other teams needs are. If the organization is truly going to keep the big 4 trade options, then their best chance to be competitive this year will come from the rotation.

With the Twins currently considering trading two quality players (Ryan and Jeffers) due to the financial considerations that they make $5-7M this season, discussions about signing players like this (as logical as they sound) are pretty much moot.

In a bubble, I agree with your first sentence. Strong SP (which the Twins currently have) goes a long way in a weak division. But with ownership content to be just competitive enough to keep the fans interested, they will not make the necessary financial investment to improve this team. That being said, I am more convinced than ever that there is a big blow up coming. I do not expect to see Lopez, Ryan, Buxton, or Jeffers on the roster come Spring Training.

Keeping Lopez/Ryan at this point only makes sense if the Twins are going to make at least some sort of effort to compete. Their trade value will only go down as time goes on. Trading them this offseason will at least give them compensation for these two. Everyone and their Grandma knows that the team has no intention of investing payroll dollars for 2026. Fan perception, along with local and national media opinions, really can't get any lower for this team. They might as well blow it up, flounder through 2026, see what the new Labor Agreement looks like, and go from there. I would not be shocked to see this team hold back all of their top prospects this year for service time management reasons.

This is not an either/or situation. You can play the youth and have quality veterans at the same time. 1B, C, IF all have holes that would not be "blocking" a younger player. Be real about where the anger is directed.

This has less to do with talent and more to do with money. The penny-pinching Twins won't spend the $100k to risk on a player that most likely they will not keep.

@Maybe Next Year Listen to him on the radio and you will understand. Nothing personal, but arguably the worst radio personality in all of MLB

Only if you are a fan of your manager: - praising low exit velocity off the bat - repeating exactly what the bench coach just said - being 100% anti-analytics - monologuing about non-related baseball items while occasionally paying attention to the game

Good lord, are we really panicking about the upcoming youth based off of an extremely small sample size? I am as ticked off about the current situation with the Twins as anyone, I do not need to retread the last 18 months here, especially how the trade deadline was handled. But this is not the mid-90's. The cupboard is not bare. You can sit here on the comment board and continue to wail and moan about the current status of the Twins. You can complain about Falvey, Rocco, anyone else you want to blame for the current situation. Feel free to live in a world of negativity (beware that studies show that negative people have shorter life spans). I have barely touched the articles and comments over the last three weeks here because it is a broken record. The same stories spouting the same tone. The same people post the same old comments regardless of whatever the story content is. The Pohlads do not care about the fans. They do not care about the product. They treat the team as a business, not a social responsibility. You need to accept this and move on. You need to accept the fact that winning is nowhere near the top priority for the organization right now. Winning will not even be on the radar until after the new CBA. All of the b**ching and complaining will not change that. The past is the past. I advise you to enjoy the game for what it is right now. Be excited for Keaschall and Lee showing some life. Be excited to see Buxton be healthy and finally play like everyone expects him to. Be excited to know that there is a young crop of potential SP that could lead this team back to contention fairly quickly. Be excited to know there are still 3-4 players coming up in the next 12 months that could re-vitalize this team. (The sad part is that the same people will read this comment, thumbs-down it, and say the Twins have need to fire Rocco and Falvey before anything good can happen with the younger players and the team, entirely missing the point of this comment.)

Without the emotional "fire everyone because they stink" comments, I have a question: What are they systemic issues that make the Twins struggle in their ability to turn prospects into MLB hitters? Please be specific. Is it approach? Are they not focusing on the correct areas that other teams do a better job with? Everyone hear screams for change, but there is very little discussion on specifically what that change should be. Don't say "they focus on analytics too much" as every team has a huge analytics department. Another question that is probably tougher to answer: How do the Twins compare with their player development compare to other teams? Better, worse, or middle of the pack? Do we-as-fans have an unfair expectation when it comes to our own prospects?

I don't know if I would call it a joke right now, just very young and inexperienced. There are still a few impact names relatively close in the minors. The bigger issue is the inability of Twins ownership to allow the the team to spend money on the right guys through this growth process. Like I said before, the next 24 months will be very painful.

The market for Ryan was fairly small at the deadline. The offseason will allow for more suitors. The effort to move Ryan was there, somebody will meet their asking price this offseason. If the Twins feel the need to sign a veteran SP, it will be somebody just hanging on at the tail end of their career that can be had for a song. There is no reason to believe this is anything other than a complete teardown. If 2026 was a focus, they would be making aggressive offensive moves (acquiring help-now players) instead of passive moves (dumping salary). This team will probably be the 2nd worst team in MLB next year. The only potential positive spin is the number of high-profile rookie to 2-year players that could turn things quicker than expected. I, like a few others, believe the Twins will only be concerned about going as cheap as possible until the new CBA takes effect and the long-term MLB financial situation (read: salary cap) is worked out. At that point, they will probably revisit selling the team. It is going to be a very long, very painful, upcoming 24 months for Twins fans.

Sorry, gotta disagree here. I am convinced that (barring injury) Lopez and Ryan will be moved this offseason. As the FO is not allowed to spend any money on anyone, the lineups you see today will essentially be the lineups you see next year (if not in name, in quality). We may see more prospects in 2026, but not enough turn the tide. 100 losses next year is possible if not likely. The only potential saving grace here is the glut of SP prospects. Success from that group might mean the difference between 105 losses and 90 losses.

Not sure now is the time to panic on the new prospects, especially the the SP. I mean we are talking about an incredibly small sample size. They are coming into a new team, with new coaches and different expectations. Approach changes, pitch mixes, you name it. If they were 100% MLB-ready, lights-out SP, they would not have been traded.

You forgot the Basic+ Supreme package: Dan Gladden's mic is turned off (The dead air changes nothing, but you don't have to listen to him repeat whatever the play-by-play just said).