LastOnePicked

This is the part that I don't think has sunk in yet. In two years, Jenkins might be good. Culpepper might be good. Lackey might even be good. Who's going to pitch? The pipeline of pitching prospects never materialized here. Even the most promising arms - Abel and Bradley - are from outside the organization. And both of them are still question marks. The Twins absolutely needed to restock their system with high-upside value and they absolutely needed a year to parse through their players on the fringes on the majors. They did neither. In fact, they made both situations worse. Free agents have a role to play, but there's still a costly hit-or-miss aspect to signing top free agents. The misses are costly on a low-payroll team, and even if there's a salary floor in the future there will still be low-payroll teams and the Twins will certainly be one of them. There is a pathway to win in 2027, but it requires a ton of good luck and a sizeable payroll boost. In other words, two things the Twins never seem to get. And if they don't make it in '27, they'll be forced to begin a rebuild during the prime years of their young stars. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The Twins have about as much chance of getting something valuable for Lewis as the Vikings have for getting something valuable for J.J. McCarthy. You have to rehabilitate a bust, or you have to cut bait. Few teams are dumb enough to trade based on prospect hype.

This year alone is proof that that option is not always possible. It's not a terrible idea to sign Jeffers, you're right, but it will not happen. With their lowly revenue, the Twins aren't going to outbid any team for anyone.

I don't think there's any chance they will sign him. Specifically because I don't think he wants to be here - I think he wants to win. Certainly the Yankees will let it be known that they will match/exceed any offer the Twins make. It's going to be funny if he gets a 4 year $80M contract elsewhere, and then a salary floor gets put into place, and then suddenly the Twins have to sign a marginal free agent in early March for $20M a year just to reach the salary floor.

We're an old fanbase. We remember when you could get a HOF CF for just $3M a year. And $2 beers were considered expensive.

If you had a choice, and if you experienced this organization from the inside, you probably wouldn't want an extension here either. Who would? I mean, money talks, but all things being equal, I'd want to play for a winner. And I certainly wouldn't give a discount to a billionaire who hasn't ever once paid for an above league average payroll.

Help me out here. Isn't "trying" the absolute bare minimum qualification for playing MLB? Do we really need participation ribbons and a trip to the Dairy Queen for a professional baseball team? Look, ownership is absolutely to blame for this mess, I agree. But I don't really see the roster doing anything special on the mound, the plate or the field, either.

Not extending the QO to Jeffers would be sheer and utter stupidity. So yes, you're probably right about ownership not making the offer.

True. But at some point, we may have to stop letting the Pohlads weaponize this against us.

This is a little harsh ... but it might not be totally inaccurate. I don't think Buxton ever "sits out" of anything. But I do think he realizes that expectations for him would be much higher on more functional, competitive teams. Buxton's injuries aren't moral failings and his contract hasn't been wasted spending. But he can't be counted on as the team's starting CF, and the organization is going to have to clarify this sooner or later, one way or another.

That would be the very definition of selling low. But they bought him low as well, so maybe it just comes full circle. I don't think Ryan would sign an extension here, so I think you tell him to go get ready for a strong season after the work stoppage. The goal is to win, but as soon as it's clear that's not happening, a trade partner will be found by or before the deadline. The Twins lost incredible trade value this year. The only way to balance that out is to go win in '27. I don't think it will happen, but they made their bed - they clearly have to go all in now and try.

"Their fourth loss in five games leaves the Twins at 68-76, with their postseason odds now down to 2.3%. The contention dream is all but dead." C'mon now. They are still leading the league in giving it their all.

The recent second-half-of-the-season collapses probably each have their own reasons, but maybe the biggest reason that connects them all is that they continue to roll out a roster of previously injured players and just hope they all don't get injured. And when they wind up injured, there's just not the roster depth there to salvage the season. The other reason is this: the Twins are just not that good. They haven't had an elite player at any position in years. They haven't had an MVP, a ROY, a Cy Young Winner, a saves leader or a home run king in a very long time. Many hyped top prospects also went belly-up way too quickly. Clutch situations usually expose talent level pretty quickly. Okay enough to play close baseball, but not strong enough to win. I keep hoping that ownership might take this seriously some day.

This has kind of been hashed and re-hashed to death. Just for clarity's sake, Buxton was very upset after last season and made it clear to Dan Hayes and others that he would drop the no-trade clause if the Twins were rebuilding the entire team around him. Falvey also wouldn't clarify that they would never try to trade Buxton, and by all accounts, this hurt Buxton's pride. But then Tom P. took the reins and Zoll - probably at his directive - made a public statement that the Twins are never going to try and trade Buxton. And that seems to have satisfied Buxton. So, yes, Buxton does want to be here. And yes, he is now untradeable because Zoll has already clarified his status here. But, yes, he could have been traded last offseason. Maybe that would have been good for all involved. Or maybe whomever they got in trade wouldn't have even put up career numbers as good as what Buxton put up in the first half. Who knows? He's here until the end of his contract - that much is now 100% certain. The challenge for the Twins will be to build roster contingencies around his inevitable injuries.

I wrote about this a few years ago - a little post called "Why Winning Matters." It's about what the Twins have meant to me since I was ten years old. And now that my father is fading away, it's about how thankful I am that we had memories together of the Twins winning it all. I want every baseball-loving parent to have that experience with their baseball-loving kid. Period. Every opportunity this organization lets slip by is another generation that loses the experience of rooting for their team on the near-impossible quest for a championship. Trust me, I would love to quit this version of the Twins. Sadly, they're in my blood at this point. But if my crankiness bothers you or anyone else here, then feel free to block or ignore me. It's gotta be easy to do.