***Official 2025 Minnesota Twins season thread***

[Hollywood42]

The World Series is now complete, so the 2025 Twins thread is unlocked!

2024 was a wild season in many regards, and to be honest I don't really want to rehash it here right now. Hopefully we'll have better days in the year ahead!

I do want to highlight a few key storylines as we enter the new season:

1. Ownership - Shockingly, the Pohlads announced their intent to sell the team a few weeks ago! While I think it's most likely that we ultimately end up with owners that are only mildly better than what the Pohlads were, I'm still very glad to see this happen. Carl Pohlad set the bar incredibly low (which is a huge understatement without getting into all the details, contraction, etc) in the 90s and 2000s, but honestly, the Jim Pohlad era wasn't too bad, he showed a willingness to spend some money at the right times, and he did a good job with bringing in people who know what they're doing and staying out of the way. The Joe Pohlad era, though, was a complete disaster. The dude had absolutely zero situational awareness and made a complete fool out of himself time and time again. So, it's time.

I'd be shocked if the Twins had new owners in place, or anything close to it, by opening day, so I don't expect that key storyline #2, payroll, will see any bump whatsoever this offseason. But needless to say, watching the ownership situation is going to be a major storyline for the next several years.

2. Payroll - Our not-so-good-friend Joe Pohlad got the year started off about as horribly as he possibly could after he announced that we would be cutting payroll in 2024. Man, to go from having a legitimate World Series caliber team and the most successful season we've had since 1991, to cutting payroll just a few weeks later, you can't do much more to absolutely destroy the vibes before the offseason has even got its wheels turning. Payroll played a major factor in this team not having the pitching depth to compete down the stretch, and forcing us to play in the kiddy pool in free agency all offseason long.

While Joe Pohlad made some more pathetic non-committal statements about payroll before the team sale exploration was announced just days later, we did get reports from other team sources that payroll would not drop further than it was last year. Or, put more soberly, our 2024 payroll is the new normal for the foreseeable future. And man, that's a tough spot to be in. If we're working with a $130M-ish payroll, we are literally already at that number after some pay increases to Pablo, Correa, and a bunch of arb guys, and with already factoring in getting rid of the likes of Kepler, Margot, and so on. Which leaves the front office in the impossible situation of trying to carve out an improved roster with literally zero dollars available in the budget to do so.

As such, I don't think anything is off the table this offseason. I doubt we'll see anything like Correa, Buxton, or Pablo traded, but we're going to have to be creative to make literally anything happen, and I don't think Miranda, Lee, Castro, or even Lewis are off the table in trades. When ownership takes free agency signings out of the equation before the 2024 season even ends, you're going to be forced to do things that you don't necessarily want to do. This could be a wild offseason with multiple significant trades to enable the roster turning over at all. Or we could simply do absolutely nothing and rely almost exclusively on what's already in house. I don't think there's much of anything that's off the table.

3. The cold streaks - Because of all of the above, the players themselves are only the 3rd most pressing storyline in my mind. It was clear we had some holes in the first half last year, largely pitching depth related which ties directly into the ownership/payroll topics. But holy cow, that collapse over the last 6 weeks was the worst thing I've ever seen. Literally every single offensive player outside of Buxton/Correa/Wallner/Larnach was awful down the stretch. And as much as I'd like to blame ownership and payroll for inciting that collapse, the reality is that the players we were going to have with or without a larger payroll completely flopped to a historic degree. Now, I wouldn't necessarily say I'm worried about the likes of Lewis, Jeffers, Miranda, etc long term, but you can't exactly feel comfortable with just running it back either. And yet, because of all of the above, that might just be what we're forced to do anyways. A lot is going to come down to if our guys can perform when it counts, and not be so completely on or off, rattling off 7 wins in a row only to completely negate that by going 2-8 over the next stretch. Hopefully some of the coaching staff turnover will help with this, but who knows.


At any rate, much more to come in the upcoming season I'm sure. Hopefully it leaves us with a much more positive feeling a year from now than we have right now!

Links to past season threads-

2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014

[Mightymango]

Kirilloff announcing his retirement is a shock, but given how his injury just didn't seem to improve it much have been more severe than it was let on.

Hopefully whatever he has gets corrected, I do feel for him and his family.

The plan with what to do with 1st base now will be interesting.

[Hollywood42]

A couple more interesting developments on the executive side as president Dave St Peter is stepping down. Derek Falvey is taking over his responsibilities while continuing to act as POBO, and Jeremy Zoll is stepping into the GM roll

For St Peter, I am not upset to see him go. Ultimately team president don't serve much of a purpose from a fan's perspective other than being a mouthpiece for ownership, and that's exactly what St Peter did IMO, just say whatever the Pohlads wanted him to. I'm sure there were things he was doing organizationally behind the scenes, but in a public facing sense, St Peter brought nothing of value, and whatever he did say had no substance

Zoll getting a promotion is cool. He was already an assistant GM and he's already played an integral roll in free agency, trades, and so on, so this is just the logical next step

It'll be interesting to see longer term if Falvey remains president, or if a new president is brought in by new ownership and Falvey goes back to only POBO. Or perhaps, less ideally, he goes to only a presidential role and we fill POBO with someone else. And of course, him leaving entirely is always on the table especially considering new owners coming in, too

Ultimately I don't think any of this changes much of anything in the near term, but interesting nonetehless

[dashcol]

What does everyone think of the potential for Carlos Correa to be moved elsewhere?

I am torn on it myself. If the Twins could get a good pitching return on it, like a quality #1, then I would be intrigued. However, if the Twins went their typical route and go for mid end pitching and a bunch of minor league then I would hate it.

When he is on the field, he is one of the best, but the injury bug almost says to move him while his value is high. We learned that lesson with Kepler.

Freeing up $100+MM would be pretty nice.

[Mightymango]

Originally Posted by dashcol

What does everyone think of the potential for Carlos Correa to be moved elsewhere?

I am torn on it myself. If the Twins could get a good pitching return on it, like a quality #1, then I would be intrigued. However, if the Twins went their typical route and go for mid end pitching and a bunch of minor league then I would hate it.

When he is on the field, he is one of the best, but the injury bug almost says to move him while his value is high. We learned that lesson with Kepler.

Freeing up $100+MM would be pretty nice.

I hope they don't do anything crazy when owner ship is potentially up in the air. Correa when healthy has also become one of the leaders on the team and he actually chose to stay here instead of leaving when his contract was up.

As cheap as the team has been historically, I don't see them doing fire sale things like the Marlins have done.

[Hollywood42]

Zero interest in moving Correa or any other relatively expensive guy like Pablo or Buxton. Payroll is a problem this year, but we can hope (please please please) that it's a temporary problem until new ownership comes in and brings it back up to a reasonable amount. If new owners come about and say this is what payroll is going to be moving forward, then ok, the FO will have to find a way to craft a winning team with those limitations long term, and at that point it's probably not feasible to keep multiple $15M players (as pathetic as that would be)

But until then, why? This team has so desperately needed a position player of Correa's caliber and a pitcher of Lopez's caliber for ages. To finally get them, at the same time no less, then immediately ship them away would be devastating

Aside, I think our rotation is a strength heading into 2025. Lopez/Ryan/Ober in whatever order you want to put them in is a good to great top 3, and we have a good thing brewing in SWR/Festa/Zebby/Paddack/Lewis/etc to round it out even without being able to sign anyone else this year. Honestly, with the payroll situation what it is, I think the best strategy for next year is largely just to run it back with mostly the same group of players and hope that we get better outcomes with a new hitting staff. And then when new ownership comes around and we know more about the long term outlook, then we can take a step back and re-evaluate from there

[BaseRookieCards]

I will go so far as to say that if the Twins move Carlos Correa, my 37 year fandom will be up. I'm tired of this team always playing small market and after the 2023 playoff run when fans came out in a packed stadium to support them and then for the front office to cut payroll was a slap in the face. This team will NEVER be a spender under the current format. The Correa signing, however, represents hope - that the team can land a top free agent and he'll want to stay here and help them build something great. Trade him, and you're basically rebuilding and I am out on that. Tired of it.

[Hollywood42]

Ownership, not the FO - hate where hate is due

Originally Posted by BaseRookieCards

I will go so far as to say that if the Twins move Carlos Correa, my 37 year fandom will be up. I'm tired of this team always playing small market and after the 2023 playoff run when fans came out in a packed stadium to support them and then for the front office to cut payroll was a slap in the face. This team will NEVER be a spender under the current format. The Correa signing, however, represents hope - that the team can land a top free agent and he'll want to stay here and help them build something great. Trade him, and you're basically rebuilding and I am out on that. Tired of it.

[Eckstein197]

Yeah the front office doesn’t set payroll, the owners do

If front offices set payroll every team in baseball would have a 300 million+ budget

[Eckstein197]

Also I have zero interest in these rumors that Jax wants to stretch out and be a starter again

We have enough starter prospects that I don’t want to burn an elite bullpen option on a risk.

The only way that’s a benefit to this team is if all of a sudden Jax is a #2/high end #3 starter. Like the same level as Joe/Ober. Just not sure I see the path. If Jax ends up being a fine back end starter, sure that’s not nothing, but we have so many starter prospects that I would rather just hand the number 5 rotation spot to some combo of Zebby/SWR/Raya/etc

[Hollywood42]

Honestly I think the vast majority of the speculation this offseason is just because we know ownership has given us quite literally $0 to spend and it'll be a super quiet offseason. That leads to articles and headlines that are founded in nothing more than imagination and "what if they did this" type thing, and the way the internet works, people believe they are actual rumors

I don't think the FO has any interest whatsoever in trading Correa, Pablo, or Buxton unless they are completely blown away, and if they're completely blown away, then it's probably an insane deal that we'd all be happy with. The mild rumors of moving someone like Ober or Ryan similarly make 0 sense whatsoever and to me just seem to be born out of "well we don't have anything else to talk about, so imagine this"

The Jax speculation I think is a little closer to reality, but still very low odds of actually happening. The main source of that is an Eno Sarris article where he looks at a bunch of RPs who *could* in theory jump back to the rotation a la Crochet, Hicks, etc, and Jax was listed just because he has elite stuff. The Twins have said they'd consider it, and Jax has said that he's open to it, but I think there's a long, long ways to go before that's actually at all close to happening

That said I don't think it makes a ton of sense to move Jax to the rotation. I do think that even a decent #4 starter is more valuable in a vacuum than a great RP, but team makeup matters too. Our rotation should be good already with Pablo/Ober/Ryan leading the charge and then Sim/Festa/Zebby/Paddack/Lewis/Morris/etc filling in. If we didn't have as much going on, then sure maybe it makes sense to give it a shot, but that's not where we're at. And our bullpen is already top heavy even if we keep Jax there. I do think Duran/Jax/Stew/Sands is a great start to the pen, but as we saw last year, the problem was depth, and removing Jax from the bullpen mix just makes that problem worse

This offseason is going to be a weird one, because we were given 0 payroll room to work with, so the FO is going to have to be creative in order to make really any non-insignificant changes to the roster. And yeah, I think this roster needs a few changes, but I'd rather stay put with largely what we have and rely on the coaching turnover and the players talents while running it back, rather than making moves for the sake of making moves that don't actually make us much better. It's a weird situation to be in, we need to do something, but that something has to make sense too. I wouldn't be surprised if we make a few notable trades with guys like Miranda, Larnach, Jeffers, a young SP, and/or notable prospects, but I also wouldn't be surprised if we do almost nothing and just run it back too. Pretty much anything is on the table, but the undertones of the ownership limitations are just enabling people to run wild with speculation

Originally Posted by Eckstein197

Also I have zero interest in these rumors that Jax wants to stretch out and be a starter again

We have enough starter prospects that I don’t want to burn an elite bullpen option on a risk.

The only way that’s a benefit to this team is if all of a sudden Jax is a #2/high end #3 starter. Like the same level as Joe/Ober. Just not sure I see the path. If Jax ends up being a fine back end starter, sure that’s not nothing, but we have so many starter prospects that I would rather just hand the number 5 rotation spot to some combo of Zebby/SWR/Raya/etc

[Hollywood42]

Snoozefest of an offseason so far, as expected, but this could be massive news - Phoenix Suns minority owner Justin Ishbia emerges as bidder for Minnesota Twins

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/599...-twins-source/

Who knows if this is at all likely or how far along in the process this is, but from what I've read, Ishbia would be absolutely everything you would want in an owner - truly loves the sport, cares about the fans, and willing to invest in the team at a high level. I read they handed out TV antennas to the local community so people that didn't have means could watch the Suns. And while it's impossible to know what level of "interest" this is, I think it's a great sign that the linked article notes they have had a number of meetings with "local leaders" - whatever that is

Ultimately for now it's just one more piece of speculation. But it's significant in that from what I can glean so far, these seem like the absolute ideal owners, and also quite notable that this is the first public news of anyone having this level of interest. Fingers crossed

[dashcol]

Originally Posted by Hollywood42

Snoozefest of an offseason so far, as expected, but this could be massive news - Phoenix Suns minority owner Justin Ishbia emerges as bidder for Minnesota Twins

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/599...-twins-source/

Who knows if this is at all likely or how far along in the process this is, but from what I've read, Ishbia would be absolutely everything you would want in an owner - truly loves the sport, cares about the fans, and willing to invest in the team at a high level. I read they handed out TV antennas to the local community so people that didn't have means could watch the Suns. And while it's impossible to know what level of "interest" this is, I think it's a great sign that the linked article notes they have had a number of meetings with "local leaders" - whatever that is

Ultimately for now it's just one more piece of speculation. But it's significant in that from what I can glean so far, these seem like the absolute ideal owners, and also quite notable that this is the first public news of anyone having this level of interest. Fingers crossed

I do not know anything about him, but it seems like it may be a good fit. It would be nice to see someone willing to open the pockets a little and try to get fans in the seats! I miss the days of tuning into a game in the early 90s and seeing the Metrodome filled!

Hopefully he brings back the idea of home grown superstars that become the face of baseball, Killebrew, Puckett, Mauer, and even Morneau would be great to see a team built around players like that again.

Maybe even find a way to bring someone like Mauer in as your batting coach. I would love to see him at Target Field again, even if not behind the plate.

[Poorboy]

Do you guys think wallner steps up and has his big boy season ?

[Hollywood42]

The swing and miss is always by nature going to be a big part of his game which means we're probably going to see some brutally cold stretches at times in his career, but Wally's legit. Even with some of those cold streaks, he's slugging an even .500 in his career, and yeah you really can't question his power. We're going to really rely on him to produce this year with no payroll allotment this offseason so he'll get every chance to put up big numbers

Originally Posted by Poorboy

Do you guys think wallner steps up and has his big boy season ?

[Poorboy]

Originally Posted by Hollywood42

The swing and miss is always by nature going to be a big part of his game which means we're probably going to see some brutally cold stretches at times in his career, but Wally's legit. Even with some of those cold streaks, he's slugging an even .500 in his career, and yeah you really can't question his power. We're going to really rely on him to produce this year with no payroll allotment this offseason so he'll get every chance to put up big numbers

I’m ready for it !!!!!!

[TGutta]

Carlos Santana signs with Cleveland, after they traded Josh Naylor to Arizona.

I try hard not to be a super pessimistic fan, but this off-season has been quite discouraging. Can't help but think at this point they will run it back with the same infield, minus Santana this year. The only real rumors we have been hearing about are listening to offers on Correa and Pablo. If they aren't able to shed the salary that they need to by trading a Vazquez or Paddack, you have to wonder if they do end up pulling the trigger on a bigger name. Only for the sake of saving salary, the sale of the team can not come soon enough.. I have a bad feeling that Target Field is going to be VERY empty this coming summer..

[theplasticman]

Originally Posted by TGutta

Carlos Santana signs with Cleveland, after they traded Josh Naylor to Arizona.

I try hard not to be a super pessimistic fan, but this off-season has been quite discouraging. Can't help but think at this point they will run it back with the same infield, minus Santana this year. The only real rumors we have been hearing about are listening to offers on Correa and Pablo. If they aren't able to shed the salary that they need to by trading a Vazquez or Paddack, you have to wonder if they do end up pulling the trigger on a bigger name. Only for the sake of saving salary, the sale of the team can not come soon enough.. I have a bad feeling that Target Field is going to be VERY empty this coming summer..

Yep. This sucks. I will channel all my Twins game money into more Timberwolves tix for next season. We'll do a 1/2 season plan next year. 16 games this year (so far).

[Hollywood42]

Well, let's keep the perspective. This team is far from perfect, but it's also not a bad team even as-is today. There are a few areas that need to be improved in order for us to be legit, but we have a competitive roster right now without any major glaring holes - yes things like another mid rotation starter, bullpen arm or two, and corner OF/1B would be nice, but we have a few options for pretty much everything in house. I think we're really jaded right now - understandably so - based on how the last 6 weeks of the season went. But the 75+% of the season up until that point was good to great! Yes it's still incredibly frustrating how much ownership took the winds out of our sails after 2023, but it also seems like that has overshadowed that we do have a pretty good roster as-is now

Re. Pablo and Correa, don't get worked up over that. Every single offseason there are rumors that the FO is "listening" on our best players, and every single offseason it's the speculatory articles and emotional fan bases that take that and run with it. This FO has always listened on every player even when they also say they have no intention of moving those players. And that's actually what you want your FO to do! They've been on record in the past, say when Buxton was the subject of this topic, that they didn't really have any intention of moving him unless they got an absolute steal, but teams that approach us about Buxton would often pivot to other players which helps spark other trade conversations that may not have happened otherwise. It is true that the FO needs to clear some payroll to appease ownership, but I don't think they have any intention or desire of actually moving Pablo or Correa unless they get an insane offer. I'm pretty confident they would rather take "bad" salary dump deals of Paddack/Vaz before they settle on even a lukewarm deal for Pablo/Correa. No reason to make a permanent long term decision for what is hopefully a short term problem

All that said, yes, can't wait for the Pohlads to sell and get out of down. The more I read about the Ishbia brothers, the more they sound like the dream ownership - fingers crossed!

Originally Posted by TGutta

Carlos Santana signs with Cleveland, after they traded Josh Naylor to Arizona.

I try hard not to be a super pessimistic fan, but this off-season has been quite discouraging. Can't help but think at this point they will run it back with the same infield, minus Santana this year. The only real rumors we have been hearing about are listening to offers on Correa and Pablo. If they aren't able to shed the salary that they need to by trading a Vazquez or Paddack, you have to wonder if they do end up pulling the trigger on a bigger name. Only for the sake of saving salary, the sale of the team can not come soon enough.. I have a bad feeling that Target Field is going to be VERY empty this coming summer..

[fireballmike]

Max Kepler signs with the Phillies.

[Hollywood42]

Sale news - "‘Robust market’ could have new Twins owner in place by Opening Day" https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/604...e-opening-day/

“We’ve been pleased with the level of interest, not surprisingly,” the source said. “The goal is to pick a winner before Opening Day.”

...

The source believes it will be a complete sale of the Twins with an immediate takeover in control, unlike the Minnesota Timberwolves

Very exciting. Still will be a little nerve wracking until we know who the next owners will be, but this timeline is much quicker than I (or any of the writers) expected. I was assuming that the best case scenario would be sale happening sometime mid-season. By Opening Day is obviously way too late to make up for nothing happening this offseason, but as far as I'm concerned, this can't happen fast enough

[Mightymango]

Originally Posted by Hollywood42

Sale news - "‘Robust market’ could have new Twins owner in place by Opening Day" https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/604...e-opening-day/



Very exciting. Still will be a little nerve wracking until we know who the next owners will be, but this timeline is much quicker than I (or any of the writers) expected. I was assuming that the best case scenario would be sale happening sometime mid-season. By Opening Day is obviously way too late to make up for nothing happening this offseason, but as far as I'm concerned, this can't happen fast enough

Very interesting. I agree it can't happen soon enough. This offseason almost feels worse as a fan than last year as the team seems to be in limbo. The only pick up being a 29 year old switch hitter that will amount to nothing most likely. I just want to see ownership that actually cares about success or at least caring about putting a team on the field that people want to see.

Right now it feels like there are two AAA clubs in the metro area, one just gets to play against "real" teams.

[theplasticman]

Anyone get that survey from the team yesterday? Filling that out was brutal but I made sure to be honest. We only went to a handful of games in 2024, where in 2023, we made it to around 20. I hope things change.

We're instead enjoying partial season tix to the Wolves. It's been a fun experience for my son and I. They even gave us a few free games this year including one in a suite vs the Celtics.

[Mightymango]

Originally Posted by theplasticman

Anyone get that survey from the team yesterday? Filling that out was brutal but I made sure to be honest. We only went to a handful of games in 2024, where in 2023, we made it to around 20. I hope things change.

We're instead enjoying partial season tix to the Wolves. It's been a fun experience for my son and I. They even gave us a few free games this year including one in a suite vs the Celtics.

I did not for whatever reason. Only went to a couple of games though because of kids and other summer activities. Mine would have been painfully brutal.

[Hollywood42]

I will say - I think people are (completely understandably) way too low on the team itself right now based on how last year ended plus the ownership situation. We have a lot of talent as is and should be a good solid team this year even without ownership allowing us to do literally anything this offseason. We forget the Twins were one of the better teams in baseball for something like 80% of the season last year, and essentially the entire core of that team will be back this year as well

There are certainly reasons to question things like what we'll get from Miranda, Julien, or Jeffers to name a few, and I'm not at all saying this is an amazing team that doesn't need to make any moves to be legit. I just think the vibes are really effecting people's ability to look at this team in an unbiased way

Originally Posted by Mightymango

Right now it feels like there are two AAA clubs in the metro area, one just gets to play against "real" teams.