Greggory Masterson

Of course, the last couple were foisted in after yesterday’s moves, but how many names on this list do you think have no realistic chance to play in the outfield for the Twins this season? It’s not that Martin doesn’t have the power needed—it’s that his lack of power means he really, really needs to get on base a lot, pushing .380 like he did down the stretch this season.

I should note, this list isn’t intended to be in the order of most to least likely to contribute, or the level to which they’ll contribute. As I went through it, it was more who was front-of-mind for me personally. In retrospect I probably should have sorted it in some specified order.

Image courtesy of © Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images Let’s just cut to the chase, because there's a lot to discuss. The Twins already have a ton of outfielders. When I asked Twitter this week about how many internal options the Twins have in the outfield, the smallest estimate I received was 12. For reference, the Twins had 12 players play outfield for them all of last season, which included two who were traded away at midseason, three who were acquired midseason, and one Mickey Gasper for an inning in March. How would you handle all these names, even those who you’re going to comment “It’s not even worth discussing ______!” in the replies about? 1. Byron Buxton Not much to discuss here. Very good player. Should be the Opening Day center fielder. I suppose they might have to trade him if they upset him enough to waive his no-trade clause, and he might be moved to a corner if one of the guys further down covers center field better than he does at 32. 2. Matt Wallner More than likely, he’s the Opening Day right fielder. However, he’s coming off his worst MLB season, with a just barely-above league-average .776 OPS (.202/.311/.464 110 OPS+), and his already shaky defense has taken a step back, despite his rocket arm. He seems to be a valuable asset in a lineup that lacks power, but he’s also on the wrong side of 27 and is best suited as a DH. His DH days might be closer than he’d prefer, given other exciting names further down the list. 3. Trevor Larnach If Larnach is still on the team in March, he’s probably the primary left fielder or DH, but it’s become canonized across the Twins’ fanbase that he’s likely taken his last swings as a Twin. He has a pedestrian career slash line around league average with a .727 career OPS, but spotted against righties, he’s an above-average hitter with no speed or defense to add to his profile. With an estimated $4.7 million due in arbitration for next year, odds seem high that he will either be traded, but the Twins have a history of holding on to lefty corner outfielders even when fans believe they’ll be traded any day now. 4. Alan Roden Roden was acquired as part of the Louis Varland trade and would be far more exciting on many other teams. Instead, he’s one of 10 current Twins on the 40-man roster who have played left field and are left-handed. He profiles as a solid glove and solid hitter with more on-base potential than power, but he’s struggled in his 55 games as an MLB player. The Twins have a combination of MLB depth in the corner outfield position and high-upside players behind him (whom he has had only 153 more plate appearances than). So, his path to playing time in the medium- and long-term may be at first base, where he played some in college. 5. Austin Martin The once-top-prospect seems to be settling into a big-league role finally, if the last two months of 2025 are any indication. Martin seems resigned to left field, where his lack of power is a weakness, but if his .374 OBP from 2025 holds up, he can at least be a platoon option, whether that be with Roden, Larnach, or any of the names below. He can also play center field or second base in a pinch, and he’s fast enough to pinch run in games he didn’t start. 6. James Outman Outman was probably the biggest head-scratcher of an acquisition from the Twins’ 2025 trade deadline. The return for reliever Brock Stewart. Outman placed third in Rookie of the Year voting in 2023, but his .529 OPS since is 50% below league average. He also did not impress in center field for the Twins, despite his positive reputation as a defender. The fourth lefty on this list (thus far), he needs to improve his fielding, hitting, or both to carve out a role. He also may be moved—traded or released—if the Twins decide that his replacement outweighs sunk cost. 7. Kody Clemens Clemens is currently penciled in as the Twins’ starting first baseman by most, but (should they bring in some other names to cover the position) he may be an option in a corner. He’s looked fine defensively in limited action in right and left field, so it’s not the worst solution—especially early in the season or if the team catches the injury bug. But names further down the list could probably make his outfield skillset obsolete, even if he is platooning with Martin in left field come March. 8. Walker Jenkins Okay, finally, one of those names further down the list. Jenkins is one of the top prospects in the sport, and even with significant time lost to injury, the 2023 number five pick has made it to Triple-A, holding his own as a 20-year-old for a month in St. Paul. He’s preferably a fixture in the Twins outfield for the next decade. He should be able to play center field enough to at least be Buxton’s backup, which may squeeze Outman out of a job. His hit tool has shone, and if it translates to the majors—especially if he can add some power—he’d be in position to take starting reps away from corner guys like Larnach and Roden and situational reps from Martin and Clemens. It might even happen early in the season, but it’s good not to count chickens before they hatch. 9. Emmanuel Rodriguez Rodriguez’s situation bears similarity to Jenkins—he’s a left-handed top prospect who could play center and hit enough to man a corner but has been slowed by injury. But the way he’s gotten there is different, as he’s a three-true-outcomes hitter with power, plate discipline, and a lot of strikeouts, which contrasts with Jenkins’ more pure hitting approach. He’s also been more plagued by injury, playing just 295 games across five minor league seasons, though the 22-year-old has raked at every level. It’s not hard to see both Jenkins and Rodriguez covering the corners by midseason, health permitting, reframing the roles of whoever is still in the organization between Wallner, Larnach, Roden, Martin, and Outman. Clemens, too. Sure. Wallner could slide to more DHing, playing right field when any of the other three need a day off, and Martin could continue to platoon, but there are a lot of question marks. 10. Carson McCusker and DaShawn Keirsey Jr Before you run off to comment that you stopped reading here, let me draw your attention to the fact that it took me nine starting-caliber outfielders to reach the end of the bench major leaguers. Also, more interesting names are coming. Keep reading. McCusker, is reasonable bench options as a one-trick pony. He can slug as a righty. Technically, he could be a 26th man, but there’s a solid chance he will be designated for assignment this offseason, like DaShawn Keirsey Jr, who originally shared this spot in the article with McCusker before his release. 11-12. Utility Players with Outfield Chops: Ryan Fitzgerald, Ryan Kreidler, and Payton Eeles Both of these guys are currently fighting over the utility infield position, but each has played some outfield to expand their utility. They likely won’t ever be primary guys out there, but they could factor into the picture. Payton Eeles was originally list here as well, but he was traded Friday morning. I'm being thorough. Okay, on to the minor leaguers. 13. Gabriel Gonzalez One of the most recent additions to the 40-man roster, Gonzalez had one of the better turnarounds among Twins minor leaguers last season. Acquired in the Jorge Polanco trade, Gonzalez struggled at High-A in 2024, but he hit his way to Triple-A late in the season, hitting .329 across three levels. A righty, he provides the Twins a platoon option, provided that he continues to hit at St. Paul in 2026. He likely factors more into the second half, but he could fill a needed role, should the Twins have roster room to carry a platoon partner (alongside Martin; or in place of Martin) for their bevy of lefty hitters in the corner outfield. 14-16. Gonzalez-Adjacent Prospects: Kala’i Rosario, Ricardo Olivar, Kyler Fedko These guys’ paths to the Twins’ plans are the least clear, but each righty outfielder could fill the same platoon role that Gonzalez would, should they hit well. The odds are low, but between injuries and underperformance, there’s a world in which any of them play into the Twins’ plans and will spend much of the year at Triple-A, one string of fortune from the majors. Rosario and Fedko each had unexpected 25-25 seasons, and Olivar can catch some. Fedko also saw some time at first base in 2025, adding utility. 17. Hendry Mendez Mendez was the return for Harrison Bader, and he might be the farthest name on this list from the major league outfield, but the 22-year-old was just added to the 40-man roster, which raises his odds of major-league action just out of necessity. Gilberto Celestino played 23 games in 2021 simply because he was a warm body on the 40-man. Mendez had a great year at Double-A, like the three names above, but he’s also left-handed and might be more in the plans at first base than in the outfield. 18. Luke Keaschall You didn’t expect to see Keaschall on this list, did you? He is an interesting case in this discussion, because in many organizations, he’d already be classified as an outfielder. He played 141 innings in center in 2024 but ceased doing so due to a torn UCL. The Twins have committed to him at second base, where his offense is more valuable, but his future may be in left or center. Given the myriad other options, he’s likely to stay on the dirt—at least for now. But I told myself if a player had at least a 5% chance of being in the Twins outfield, I’d list them, and there's a world in which Keaschall does end up spending some time in the outfield, even just in platoon lineups. 19. Mickey Gasper He played an inning there last year. Listen, some things had to change when Eeles was traded and Keirsey was released. This is my fault for dragging my feet on this article. 20. Royce Lewis Maybe Derek Shelton sees part of recapturing the old Royce Lewis is doing some exposure therapy and having him run around in the outfield a bit. Exorcise those center field demons. It could happen. So how would you handle all these names? Who starts, who sits, who is headed to St. Paul (where there might be an outfield logjam made of these names, too)? Who would you trade? Who would you cut? Is there a single righty in your picture? Did I somehow miss your favorite option? View full article

Well obviously yes, they traded Andrew Vasquez at the deadline in 2019. Who could forget that?

Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images There has been one instance of Derek Falvey trading a veteran for prospect(s) over the offseason. Just one. Can you think of it? It was Gio Urshela, after 2022. Urshela was traded to the Angels for 19-year-old pitcher Alejandro Hidalgo, just hours before the non-tender deadline. This move suggests a high likelihood that Urshela would have been released, rather than the Twins paying him an estimated $8 million via arbitration. The trade was more about finding value than about getting worse in the present for future rewards. Falvey’s avoidance of selling present value for future value communicates an intention not to spend any year in a state of non-competitiveness. Sure, the team has gone through periods of non-competitiveness, but it’s never seemed to be part of an intentional plan. There hasn’t been a single offseason that has seemed like throwing in the towel on the following year. There have been trades of established players. But—except Urshela—they have all brought back big-league talent. There have been minor moves, like 2024’s trade of Nick Gordon for Steven Okert or 2021’s much-ballyhooed LaMonte Wade Jr.-for-Shaun Anderson swap, but most of the Twins’ most significant offseason moves have been these challenge trades, trading MLB talent for MLB talent. The Twins wanted to sell Josh Donaldson ahead of 2022, but instead of prospects, they received Urshela and Gary Sánchez, and they included Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ben Rortvedt to facilitate the trade. Jorge Polanco was traded for prospects Gabriel Gonzalez and Darren Bowen, but the Twins also received Justin Topa and Anthony DeSclafani in the deal, filling holes on the big-league roster—you know, in theory. In both the Donaldson and Polanco trades, the primary motivation was to move salary, but the Twins used the trades to solve existing problems with their plans to contend immediately. Urshela took Donaldson’s spot, and Sánchez filled a backup catcher role after Mitch Garver was traded for Kiner-Falefa and prospect Ronny Henríquez, for example. The money was quickly reinvested. Carlos Correa signed shortly after the Donaldson trade, and within a week, the money saved in the Polanco trade was allocated to Carlos Santana and Jay Jackson. Even if Urshela was seen as a worse third baseman than Donaldson, the moves served a purpose: to build the team in the short-term and (often) in the long term. As a perfect example of this, the trade that sent Luis Arraez to Miami netted Pablo López, Jose Salas, and Byron Chourio. The Twins dealt from a perceived surplus of lefty corner bats for a badly-needed frontline starter, and they stocked the farm a bit in the process. Ahead of 2022, it was clear that they were ready to move on from Taylor Rogers, but instead of prospects, they brought in two experienced pitchers with more team control, in Emilio Pagán and Chris Paddack. Perceptions of the quality of these trades run the gamut, but it’s clear that the intent has never been to outright cut back on talent in the hopes that the trade would bear fruit three years later. Beyond trades, the Twins have tried to shop each offseason in free agency, sometimes getting creative (like ahead of 2024), sometimes biding their time and hoping talent falls through the cracks (like ahead of 2018, 2021, or 2025). The late signings of Addison Reed, Logan Morrison, and Lance Lynn before 2018 didn’t work, but they still trudged on, adding Nelson Cruz, Jonathan Schoop, C.J. Cron, and (late in the offseason), Marwin Gonzalez ahead of 2019. Even after a disastrous 2021, in an offseason in which they dumped the biggest free-agent contract the organization had ever signed, they still added Correa, because they weren’t throwing in the towel on 2022. I’m not sure that it’s the right tactic. At some point, a team has to cut its losses and stop taking half-measures. The reluctance to sell a player without getting commensurate MLB talent may have kept players around longer than they should have been with the Twins (Max Kepler, maybe?). But the Central has been open for the entirety of Falvey’s tenure—at least to win enough games to catch a Wild Card berth. If nothing else, it’s a noble pursuit. And if, as fans worry, the next step of the process begun on July 31, 2025 is to further hack away at this roster, Falvey will be in uncharted territory. We’ve never seen this team jpack it in ahead of the season. There’s no history to base it on or use as speculation. Falvey has been insistent that he still does not intend to rebuild, and that he does not intend to continue to sell. He's told the media that he wants to add to his group, not subtract, which is in line with his behavior in previous offseasons. Whether you believe him is up to you. View full article

Image courtesy of © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images The Twins are (pardon the pun) short at the shortstop position. Brooks Lee is, frankly, the only player in the organization who has shown any indication that he may be a viable MLB shortstop in 2026, and even he has played at replacement level across 712 plate appearances in two seasons, slashing .232/.279/.357, with middling-at-best shortstop defense (-3 OAA across 803 innings, about 90 games’ worth). Behind him are a slew of semi-viable backup shortstops who have proved even less. Ryan Fitzgerald made his big-league debut late in 2025, posting an OPS 10% above league average (at .758) in 52 plate appearances. He plays shortstop, but he’s not great defensively. The Twins recently claimed Ryan Kreidler, a 28-year-old with a good glove but no bat, who has 211 plate appearances across four big-league seasons. Those 211 plate appearances are 211 more than Twins fans’ folk hero Payton Eeles has, and although many are clamoring for him to take a utility role in 2026, scouts are mixed on him at shortstop. There’s always Kaelen Culpepper, who rose quickly through the Twins’ farm system and is poised to open the 2026 season in Triple A, or at least reach that level early. Scouts see him as able to stick at shortstop, at least early in his career. His bat was impressive, with an .844 OPS across High A and Double A. He may be the Twins’ shortstop before long, but he doesn’t appear ready now. His late-season struggles could carry over into 2026, and he shouldn’t be counted on as depth yet. Thus, even in a year like this—when payroll room seems tight once again—the Twins would benefit from bringing in a veteran shortstop as a utility infielder, since there’s a reasonable chance that none of the four aforementioned names are even on the 40-man roster on Opening Day. Beyond that, though, are the questions about Lee. The Twins might not just need a utility infielder; they might need someone to play more like every day. If they have any genuine interest in competing in 2026, it would behoove the team to have someone else who wouldn’t be an outright disaster as a starting shortstop, even if they aren’t above average. Unfortunately, starting shortstops aren’t easily obtained in free agency. A player like Bo Bichette or even Ha-Seong Kim is priced out of the Twins’ market. And speaking of Bichette, many viable MLB players age out of shortstop viability by the time they hit free agency in their late 20s or early 30s. Free agents like Willi Castro, Luis Rengifo, Chris Taylor, Amed Rosario, or Kyle Farmer have their shortstop days in the rearview mirror. Those who can still play shortstop often don’t hit much. Did you know Farmer played more at first base than shortstop this season—and that he was the designated hitter twice as often as he was the shortstop? I learned that doing this research. Father Time comes for everyone. Here are the two names that fit in the happy medium space the Twins might be trawling. If it’s not one of these two guys, or someone acquired via trade, they’re going to have to roll with what they’ve got. Isiah Kiner-Falefa It’s the return of the king! The Twin-for-a-Day is probably the most reasonable candidate for this role. He’s getting older, but his performance really hasn’t changed much since the Twins originally acquired him ahead of 2022 to act as their placeholder shortstop. He was approximately the same caliber of fielder at shortstop as Lee in 2025, and both were roughly 25% worse than league-average hitters—though Lee’s profile was more dependent on slugging, while Kiner-Falefa’s was fueled by on-base ability. That Lee compares so closely to Kiner-Falefa is probably an indictment of Lee’s play early in his career, but it also puts into perspective the shallowness of the organization’s shortstop ranks. Kiner-Falefa is a known commodity whom the Twins have shown interest in before. He’s spent much of his career in a utility role and has played every position except first base in the majors. However, he’s going into his age-31 season, and his once dependable (if slightly below-average) defense at shortstop may be slipping. On the bright side, he’s looked fine at second and third. His ceiling has never been high, and once the floor is gone, it’s gone. Still, at the price the Twins would be willing to spend, he might be the best line of defense they can afford. Miguel Rojas No, seriously, that’s how thin this market is. After this point, the Twins will be sifting through a collection of sub-replacement-level players who appeared in fewer than 60 games this season, such as Jorge Mateo, Paul DeJong, Zack Short, or Orlando Arcia. MLB Trade Rumors lists 10 free-agent shortstops heading into 2026, and one of them is Tim Anderson. Tim Anderson had 17 hits this season and started 11 games at shortstop. Rojas was a Game 7 hero, and will be written into Dodgers lore forever. He was a part-time player this season. He managed to play a solid shortstop in limited action, but was an excellent second baseman. Depending on who you talk to, he’s either a great leader and beloved in the clubhouse or the worst teammate imaginable, but he could be a veteran presence. He intends to play in 2026 and then retire. Alas, he has made it clear he wants that 2026 season to be in Los Angeles. Jumping into a clubhouse of strangers on a team that might be rebuilding isn’t how most players envision their final year. So, yeah, even if the Twins wanted to, it seems like a long shot. So maybe it’s truly Kiner-Falefa or bust, if the Twins decide they need infield depth. But how many other teams are in the same position and don’t want to spend big on Bichette or Kim? Could Kiner-Falefa see a fairly robust market? I don’t know. This seemed like a more interesting topic when I signed up for it. I suppose it’s more “interesting” in the Minnesota vernacular. The trade market could be more interesting, but as Derek Falvey noted at last week's press event introducing Derek Shelton, trades for role players like these can be tricky, too. View full article

I think you might have paid more attention to tone than content here.

Image courtesy of © Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images Byron Buxton has been one of the most talented players in baseball over the past decade, full stop. He has the hardware to prove it. On Thursday night, the Twins announced that Buxton received one of the league’s three Silver Slugger Awards given to American League outfielders, alongside MVP hopeful Aaron Judge and rising star Riley Greene. Buxton ranked fifth in home runs (35), sixth in batting average (.264), second in slugging (.551), third in runs (97), seventh in stolen bases (24 of 24), and most importantly, second in OPS (136 OPS+) among AL outfielders, trailing only Judge. It wasn’t a sure thing, but it was certainly deserved. Eight seasons ago, the two-time All-Star also brought home hardware, but instead of with his bat, it was with his glove. Buxton was awarded the Gold Glove in 2017, his first full year as a pro, as well as the even more exclusive Platinum Glove, awarded by Rawlings to the single top defender in each league regardless of position. Buxton’s 2017 defense registered 27 outs above average per Statcast, the most value accrued by an outfielder since its inception in 2016 and the third most at any position. Think about that for a moment. Buxton once had the ability to be the best defender in baseball, and now he’s among the league’s best hitters (his .878 OPS was the fourth-highest in the American League and ninth-highest in MLB). And he’s still playing an admirable center field, one of the toughest positions to cover in baseball. In total, 21 other players have won both a Silver Slugger and a Gold Glove in seasons primarily playing center field. This includes those who, like Buxton, did not win both awards in the same season. Admittedly, most of them did; 12 of the 21 won their first center field Silver Slugger and Gold Glove in the same year. Buxton is tied for the longest drought between the two awards with Torii Hunter, who won his first Gold Glove in 2001 but had to wait until 2009 for that elusive Silver Slugger. Here’s the full list of players to win both awards as center fielders, in alphabetical order: Carlos Beltrán, Ellis Burks, Eric Davis, Andre Dawson, Jim Edmonds, Jacoby Ellsbury, Ken Griffey Jr., Tony Gwynn, Torii Hunter, Adam Jones, Andruw Jones, Matt Kemp, Andrew McCutchen, Willie McGee, Dale Murphy, Kirby Puckett, Grady Sizemore, Ichiro Suzuki, Andy Van Slyke, Vernon Wells, Bernie Williams. It's a good mix of Hall of Famers and “that dude was cold.” Some takeaways from that group are below. Griffey leads the group in total awards with 17, tying Andruw Jones for the most with 10 Gold Gloves and leading the group in Silver Sluggers. Second in Silver Sluggers was Puckett with five. Other players who, like Buxton and Hunter, had to wait to obtain both were Edmonds and Andruw Jones (both seven years) and Williams (five). Buxton joins Burks, Ellsbury, Gwynn, and Suzuki as the only players with exactly one of each, though the other four won both of theirs in the same season. Also, Gwynn and Suzuki were not primarily center fielders, but both had one season in the middle of their primes during which they played primarily center field (Gwynn just 86 games, but we'll count it), and both took home both awards. Fun! There are a few extra players who have won both awards, but one was at a different position, such as Robin Yount winning a Silver Slugger in center field but a Gold Glove at shortstop, or Cody Bellinger winning a Gold Glove as a right fielder and a Silver Slugger as a center fielder. It should be noted that Silver Sluggers are awarded to outfielders generally, which puts center fielders at a disadvantage, given that the position is typically filled by players known more for their gloves. Winning the award means they outhit not just other center fielders but also the more offense-focused corner outfielders. Another aspect to keep in mind is that from 1961 to 2010, Gold Gloves were similarly given generally to outfielders, which often resulted in only center fielders receiving the award. There were seasons in which, if you were a starting center fielder, you had a 25% chance of winning a Gold Glove. Of the list given, only four received their award after center field was singled out in the voting (Ellsbury, Adam Jones, Kemp, McCutchen). But this accomplishment has a bit of a cloud over it. As noted, Buxton is tied with Hunter for the longest gap between first Gold Glove and first Silver Slugger. Hunter, though, won eight Gold Gloves in those eight years. Jones racked up seven during his seven-year wait, and Edmonds had six during his seven-year wait. Buxton still doesn’t have another Gold Glove. He won his Gold and Platinum Gloves in his first full season in the big leagues, but that was also his final full season in the big leagues until 2025—eight years later. It’s hard not to play the what-if game. Obviously, he wasn’t hitting enough at 23 to compete for a Silver Slugger, but his 136 OPS+ this season is quite close to the 131 OPS+ that he’s carried for the past seven seasons, since the start of 2019. That’s good enough to compete for a trophy, and his defense was elite for much of that stretch. But we know why that gap exists. Buxton averaged just 89 games between 2019 and 2024, even prorating 2020’s truncated season. And although he put up flashy rate stats, you can’t win a Silver Slugger with 19 homers and 32 RBI, even if a 1.005 OPS and 4.9 bWAR accompany it in 61 first-half games (can we please take a moment to marvel at Buxton's 2021?). Apparently, it wasn’t even worth an All-Star nod. It’s hard not to dream about what that gap could have contained had Buxton stayed healthy. At age 23, he was the best defender in baseball. At age 31, he was one of the handful of best hitters in baseball. And we saw flashes of both between them, but not enough to take home any hardware. From another point of view, though, it’s actually remarkable—in a positive way—that he’s been able to put together a rebound like this. Just two seasons ago, this player didn’t play a single inning in center field due to health reasons. From 2018 to 2023, 92 games was his high-water mark. He had hand, knee, hip, and brain injuries that kept him from the field for months at a time. And after all that, as a 31-year-old, he was still one of the top offensive assets in the game while playing an admirable center field at an age when even great center fielders get moved to a corner position. Heck, many fans just two years ago pleaded for him to retire for health reasons. Buxton is a marvel. If you can’t see that, I don’t know what to tell you. Congratulations, Buck. View full article

Image courtesy of © Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Randal Stewart Stephenson has been down on his luck for some time. Now, you may have read the title and thought this was going to be some sort of hackneyed joke about how some guy from out in the sticks thought all his problems—probably his drunkenness, ongoing divorce proceedings, and children who won’t answer his calls or drop-ins at their office jobs on what he calls “Dadsual Fridays”—would go away when the man he likely called “Rockhead Baldummy” was axed. Or maybe he was a “Doc Roc” type of guy. Maybe he even had some weird saying like “Spreadsheets put me in my bedsheets because I’m bored and don’t want to watch baseball anymore.” Or he called his microwave TV dinner choices his “2 o’clock pitching decisions.” You know the type. And that’s the type of lout I set out to find. But Uncle John Bonnes recently rightsized the website, and I only had the funds for one interview. “Stew,” as his friends call him, is not that type of lout. I had one chance to talk to some ne’er-do-well about the Woonsocket Rocket, and I blew it when I spotted Stew Stephenson at the Lino Lakes Casey’s. Because, sadly, Stew’s not some sot, just a guy who’s run into some back luck that coincides with Baldelli getting the hook. He’s been liquor-free since ‘03! A couple weeks back, Stew totaled his own car by colliding with a deer on I-35W, then borrowed his in-laws’ Escort—only to immediately put a rock through the window after it fell off a gravel truck. His lovely daughter Emily also lost her retainer this week. Life has been less Field of Dreams and more Final Destination. He'd hoped his misfortune would be over this week, but he’s gonna need at least another week to get back on the winning track. His thoughts on Baldelli? He’s not a Twins fan. Or a “base ball” fan at all. You could hear it in the way he said that he thinks it’s still spelled with two words, like it’s 1845 Hoboken. In fact, when I brought up Baldelli’s name, he said “Oh I love that guy. From the Sopranos, yeah? Love when the little dude gives a big boom to things, too.” He then segued into a ten-minute monologue about authentic Italian cuisine, which, in his telling, consists of chicken alfredo and pepperoni pizza. This was punctuated by an offensive faux-Italian accent that landed somewhere between Luigi from Nintendo and Jared Leto in House of Gucci. I won’t reprint the anti-Italian slurs he threw in for seasoning, but let’s just say you shouldn’t repeat them around Aaron Sabato. If anyone from the Twins is reading this, I would like a press pass. I’m a real journalist who knows fancy words like “communiqué” and “embargo.” “Pope’s American, not Italian now. I hear he’s a Black Socks fan,” he eventually said. I can tell from the way he pronounced “Black Socks” that he definitely doesn’t know that it’s spelled “Sox,” but I digress. Trying to get him back on track, I asked him his thoughts on the Pohlad family, and he responded that he recently bought his lovely daughter Emily one of those instant-print Pohloid cameras. “She said it makes her feel like she’s living way back in the 2000s, which hurts a little,” Stephenson said. Just another loss for the home team. I asked him for his general thoughts on the team, in an attempt to get anything useful out of him, and he said “I saw on Twitter they’re bringing the trees back. Shame they removed them from the field. Who was it that had them remove them? Craig Monroe? You know that guy stole a belt once?” How he knew the name Craig Monroe is beyond me. I don’t think I want to do these kinds of assignments anymore. View full article

Jrejjory*. You have to make sure to pronounce all 3 Gs

Finally a Gregg with 5 Gs

Sweet Lou, Ol' Gregg, and Comrade Cody break down the Twins' decision to cut ties with longtime manager Rocco Baldelli. They take suggestions for who should replace him, what's next for Rocco, and what the heck is Josh Willingham up to these days? Listen using Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twins-off-daily-podcast/id1741266056 Listen using Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4tb78XlurcPTYYSsARdbD7 Listen using iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-twins-off-daily-podcas-167548600/ Listen using Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/nvclbt0w Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@twinsdaily View full article

They’ve stolen at a 83% clip, at least when I wrote this, which is far above the 72% current breakeven benchmark

Gregg Cavan? More like Gregg Craven!

Image courtesy of © Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images You read that right. This September, the Twins have stolen 34 bases. The next-highest total for a team is 25, by the Baltimore Orioles. And it’s not like the Twins have been inefficient, either. They’ve only been caught six times, successfully stealing 85% of the time, which ranks them as the ninth-most efficient team in the league during that period. Since the trade deadline, they have the second-most stolen bases, at 57. They've been caught only 12 times, an 83% success rate, which ranks eighth in efficiency. Only the New York Yankees have stolen more bases since the deadline (58). Granted, part of the runaway by the Twins (pun intended) could be chalked up to some teams taking their foot off the gas at the end of the season, opting to take fewer risks now that their teams are either out of contention or locked into a playoff spot, but to have 36% more stolen bases than the second-highest team over the course of a month is notable—especially for a team like the Twins. From the 2024 season back to 2018, the Twins have ranked 30th, 24th, 30th, 25th, 30th, 30th, and 27th, in that order, in stolen bases per year. Over the past 10 seasons, the Twins rank dead last in baseball in stolen bases. This year? They’ve snuck up to 15th, with 112 steals, 57 of those (over half) coming in August and September. Those 112 are the most bases the team has stolen since 2012, and if they steal four more in their final three games, they’ll be tied for their second-highest total since 2000. That’s a heck of a development. After the trade deadline, the team has made a concerted effort to lean more heavily into the running game—a move that has been echoed around the league, due to rule changes regarding pickoffs and base sizes. But beyond the league-wide shift toward running more, the Twins’ formula—slugging teams to death—hasn’t worked. As a whole, the team is below-average offensively (.708 OPS and 97 wRC+, both 17th in MLB), which necessitates that they attempt to score runs some other way, or at least vary their approach. A lot of this effort has been spearheaded by Byron Buxton, who is 24-for-24 stealing bases this season and has accounted for 21% of the team’s total stolen bases in his healthiest year since 2017. However, only seven of those have come in August and September. Royce Lewis has been the standout in this late-season effort, going 11-for-12 since the deadline, more than doubling his career steals total, and Austin Martin, the belle of the post-deadline ball, is 11-for-14. Luke Keaschall has also helped in the effort, going 9-for-12, and Kody Clemens (perfect on five attempts) and Matt Wallner (four of five) have sneakily added to the total. Actually, almost all of the Twins who have played a game since the deadline have attempted a steal—the lone exception being depth catcher Jhonny Pereda. Yes, even Carson McCusker and Ryan Jeffers have tried to steal (unsuccessfully), and lead-footed Christian Vázquez and Brooks Lee have both been successful in their only steal attempts. Some of these attempts are failed pickoffs that the opposing teams have thrown away after successfully catching the newly aggressive Twins leaning, but that’s baked into every team’s throwing numbers. It’s been fun to watch everyone get the green light. Yes, much of this effort has been spearheaded by the fastest guys still on this team. But some of those fast guys are new additions—like Keaschall and Martin—who replaced other fast guys like Harrison Bader and Willi Castro, and they’ve been given the green light far more often than even the fastest guys have in the past. And the slow guys? Sure, they’re allowed to run now, too, though that’s not necessarily a new development. Last season, Trevor Larnach, Carlos Santana, Jeffers, Vázquez, Wallner, and Lee, among the slowest players in baseball (with the exception of Wallner, who is more middle-of-the-pack but with poor acceleration) managed to go 20-for-22 stealing bases, stealing off pitchers who stopped paying attention to them. I think this is where I’m supposed to say that the Mariners’ rotund first baseman Josh Naylor is 29-for-31 this season and that stealing bases isn’t all about being fast, or whatever. The biggest development in this regard is probably Royce Lewis’s emergence as a base stealer. Once a prospect with 70-grade speed, Lewis has been slowed by repeated lower-body and core injuries, including tearing his ACL twice in a little over a year, to the point that he’s now in the bottom third of the league in sprint speed as a 26-year-old. Despite his speed, scouts had questions about his ability to consistently steal bases in the big leagues, and he wasn’t an electric base stealer before the injuries, successful on just 74% of his steal attempts between Single-A and Double-A. For years, the reasoning for the Twins not utilizing the running game was that they were simply slow. Now, though, they're not exactly fast, but they're also not the slowest team in baseball. They've just been given the green light far more often. The other argument against them running was health, and that's reared its ugly head this season, with Buxton appearing shaken up after a couple of steals and Keaschall ending his season with an injured thumb that may require offseason surgery. So I guess they were onto something there. Some of this success may be a gap in the scouting reports. If a team has spent a decade stealing almost no bases, they’re naturally going to see less attention from pitchers and catchers. You'd guess that by this point in the season, those would start to change, but they’ve only increased their number of steals and gotten more efficient as the season has gone on. It’s fascinating, and it may be the proof of concept that the team needs to lean more into the running game in 2026—if they can stomach the risk, when they may be trying to compete for real again. View full article

My working theory is that they’d prefer not to keep him on the 40 man roster over the offseason because they don’t plan on protecting him from the Rule 5, but they also don’t want to waive him in November

Because they're in the organization, and ignoring that or pretending to know that they won’t have a role is silly, though most mentions of their names here are accompanied by something like “if they’re still around.”

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images After the 2025 trade deadline, the Twins had spots to fill. Pitching got the most attention, but the Twins also needed to fill the holes left by Carlos Correa, Harrison Bader, Willi Castro, and Ty France. One of the beneficiaries of those vacancies was Austin Martin, and he’s really the only hitter to have successfully seized that opportunity. Since coming up at the beginning of August, he's batted .294/.385/.390 across 136 plate appearances, with solid defense in left field. It wasn’t a foregone conclusion that Martin would see success. He struggled in 93 games in 2024, both offensively (his .670 OPS was 10% below average) and defensively. There wasn’t even a clear path to playing time this year (despite the departures of Bader and Castro), given the presence of Byron Buxton, Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach, Alan Roden, James Outman, and DaShawn Keirsey Jr. in the Twins outfield picture. But Martin parlayed his .319/.431/.398 line at Triple-A St. Paul into a call-up, and he hasn’t looked back. So, how does his unexpected emergence change things going forward? Well, first, his presence adds yet another name to the list of corner outfield options that seems to get longer by the day. The aforementioned Wallner, Larnach, Roden, and Outman (and I suppose Keirsey and Carson McCusker, should they survive a winter's worth of roster pruning) will all vie for time in right or left field next year. Other options like Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and Gabriel Gonzalez all await their chance at. Also, Kody Clemens can play out there, if that excites you—and Luke Keaschall might have to play out there, whether that excites you or not. It’s unclear how much Martin’s play will change the Twins’ plans on any of those names right now. Few would have been surprised if Larnach were traded (or released) this offseason, even before Martin's hot stretch. Outman, Keirsey, and McCusker all seemed to be in line for more minor roles, if they’re even in the organization, and Martin isn’t going to divert any top prospects from the track they’re already on. But it does give the Twins breathing room. Roden and the prospects, for instance, aren’t going to be thrust into roles the team doesn’t feel that they’re ready for just to fill space. Martin provides one line of protection there. It’s doubtful that the Twins feel any need to add a corner outfielder in free agency for that buffer—if they ever did at all. Beyond just being a warm, capable body in the corners, Martin fills another couple of roles. He’s right-handed, unlike any of the names listed above other than Buxton and McCusker. He makes a nice platoon partner with whichever lefty outfielder you prefer in left field, if you aren’t convinced that Martin can handle a full-time gig. That underscores a lesser need to acquire another outfielder this offseason—a right-handed swinger, in this case. Martin can also cover center field, if needed. It’s not pretty, but it’s likely better than what the team could get from Roden (or Clemens, who did play out there once this season), especially if the team elects to move on from Outman and Keirsey. Even if the Twins open the season with Martin covering the spot on Buxton’s days off, hopefully, Jenkins and Rodriguez would be able to step into the backup role before too much of the season elapses. It’s another fringe role that Martin can fill without the team spending any precious payroll space. He’s also an emergency infielder, which doesn’t really make that much difference, but I think we’re contractually obligated to say that anytime Martin’s name comes up. Given the rest of the depth and options, though, it seems pretty low-risk to simply roll with Martin penciled into an everyday role (or something approximating it). The weird thing about his emergence is that it doesn’t have an enormous effect on the rest of the plans. Almost all personnel decisions—outside of perhaps bringing in a free agent righty—will proceed as planned, without regard to Martin’s play this season. They’re more dependent on the team’s evaluation of those other players and their individual performances. Even if Martin is the team’s Opening Day left fielder in 2025, next season probably isn’t about him. It’s about Wallner having a bounce-back or Jenkins or Rodriguez settling into a role. Martin’s ceiling isn’t astronomical. He is a potentially good (but not elite) defender at a bottom-of-the-defensive-spectrum position whose offensive viability is predicated on his ability to flirt with a .400 on-base percentage with little-to-no power. He can still carve out a big-league career. He can still provide value on a good team. He might be a viable, league-average regular, if the team gives him a full season to play most days. And even if he’s squeezed out of the “starting role,” he can carve out a niche within a team—even one stocked with corner outfielders. Starting against lefties (and some righties) and pinch-hitting in situations in which the team needs a baserunner, and pinch-running when the team needs a stolen base—that’s a viable career. Martin, who has just one minor league option year after this season and will be 27 next year, might not have been in line for even this much of a big-league future if he didn’t make the most of his opportunity this summer. Outside of having one more reason to not go get a veteran righty outfielder, Martin provides another option to fill in the gaps of a roster that has many, many question marks, and it’s great to see him making the most of it. View full article