It really is about player development, mostly for the top 25% or so of the minor league players. I love the minor league articles throughout the season but people get way too excited about great stats from guys like Rosario, McCusker, etc. becoming key major league players. While their hitting stats are good, if they are bad at in the field, their hitting stats have to be great at every level to make it as anything more than a brief look in MLB (often not even given more than a few AB's to "prove" they belong).
Thus, the important guys to look at on the farm this year - hitters Jenkins, Culpepper, Houston did great. Rodriguez injured again. The problem this year was pitcher development as the Twins generally are not taking most of their pitching with the top pick. Thus, we need some Zebby Matthews type development. Sure Soto and Ellwanger were injured again and we traded Hill (not smart in my opinion). Prielipp and Quick were the two best stories on the pitching side. But it seemed we didn't advance many of our pitchers into what I call "important guys" in 2026. We should revamp our pitching coaches in the minor leagues as we don't have much of a pitching pipeline right now.