Derek Falvey is not the scapegoat you're looking for

 Well, shoot. It's tough times in Twins Territory. The Pohlads aren't going anywhere, which stinks, because the 2025 Twins are also not going anywhere. There are concerns over the 2026 version as well. Fans are pointing blame in all sorts of areas, and I would assert that the Pohlads have deserved most of it. I think failing to come out of the All Star Break with any juice should spell the end of the line for Rocco Baldelli as well. I'm less on board with the bloodlust for Derek Falvey's job, however. 

I think there is a bit of a sense of entitlement in Minnesota. Perhaps it is universal, but it seems locally, there is a demand for results, without an appreciation for progress. Minnesota isn't ever, like it or not, going to attract top talent in the middle of the country in the coldest market in most leagues, including baseball. People that live here love it. People that don't live here think it sounds awful.

With that frame of reference, I am approaching the hire of Derek Falvey -  a neophyte to running an entire organization when he was hired - and his development in the role through the lens of making the organization better. Not necessarily making it perfect, but making it better. In that regard, you have to be fairly bullheaded to argue that the Twins aren't a stronger organization than they were when he started. 

When Falvey was hired, he was advertised as having a strong ability at pitcher development. The team was coming out of the "total system failure" years, so generating some internal pitching candidates was imperative. At the time of Falvey's hire, the prior rotation included Ervin Santana, who was a nearing the end of his useful ability, Hector Santiago, who was most importantly not Ricky Nolasco (even though he was worse than Nolasco) and Tyler Duffey. Kyle Gibson and Jose Berrios were there, mediocre or bad, respectively, so Falvey doesn't get credit for their continued development. 

What I will note, however, is the number of pitchers in the year end ranks of the Twins system after 2016. Jose Berrios worked out, and the next pitchers were Tyler Jay, Stephen Gonsalves, Kohl Stewart, JT Chargois, Alex Meyer, Lewis Thorpe, Taylor Rogers, Jake Reed, Fernando Romero, Mason Melotakis, Felix Jorge, Alex Robinson and Lachlan Wells (the late Yorman Landa was also on the list). Chargois and Rogers build real careers in the bullpen, but the rest of the list. Yeesh. 

By 2022, through a pandemic, and mostly stocking a farm system with their own players, the organization featured Jhoan Duran, Joe Ryan, Josh Winder, Ronny Henriquez, Louis Varland, Cole Sands and Cade Povich, who already have started their MLB careers, including a couple of all stars, and some other bullpen aces. Not all with the Twins, but certainly a reflection of an improved ability to recognize and add pitching talent.

Previous iterations of the team couldn't muster decent arms for a bullpen, and the Twins, obviously, have done a good job with that. Just as importantly, they were able to acquire top starters when they weren't able to graduate starting prospects. They were willing and able to go get Sonny Gray, Pablo Lopez, Jake Odorizzi and Kenta Maeda over the years. That's a far cry from Kevin Correia and Ricky Noelasco.

The best season the Twins have had since 2002 occurred when the Pohlads loosened the pocketbooks, and the team added big league depth, more than anything. When the safety net was gone, the Twins had no wiggle room and have fallen on hard times. It wasn't Falvey's choice to slash the payroll. And through it all, the pitching staff has kept the team relevant.

A major issue with the Twins' dark times in the 90s and 2010s was that they ended abruptly, with injuries and contract expiration. Terry Ryan was never a big trader (the Twins made more trades in the final week of July than TR did in his first few years in charge of the Twins), but he didn't have much to unload either as those dynasties came undone. While seeing the squad get blown up was a cloud, the silver lining is that the Twins' real tradable assets in the bullpen will shorten the this downturn. Having tradeable assets is a reflection of the Twins ability to acquire talent.

Falvey's regime has had its warts, to be certain. They can't develop hitters at all. The best right handed hitter to come up under the Falvey era is... Ryan Jeffers? Matt Wallner may eventually be the lefthanded hitter, but it's not a great track record. A little money to spread on veteran bats would go a long way. And money isn't up to Derek Falvey. 

Derek Falvey has performed as asked, and is a victim of goalposts being moved by both his bosses and the fanbase. There may be changes this offseason, but we shouldn't be so bothered when Falvey remains in his role. 

A common thread.

I've always loved baseball. I think I can pinpoint a conversation with my Little League assistant coach, when coaches were still standing in the field with us, as I was playing second base. "Baseball is a thinking man's game, Ryan. You have to think before every pitch, where are you going to throw the ball if it gets hit to you? Do you need to tag up if you are on base? You always have to be thinking." As a kid who possessed no apparent athletic talent, but wore a thick pair of glasses before he could walk, "thinking" sounded just great to me. 

It probably resonated a bit more because the coach was my dad.

Around this time, my active imagination was already world building for sports teams. A distinct memory I had was taking a 64 count box of crayons, pulling out two at random, and inventing a team, location and nickname, to go along with the random combination of colors. I asked my brother which one he liked best, and he picked one that featured two shades of green, and I had named the "Miami Palms". From then on, he and I created a tabletop game, and kept track of the Palms and their statistics. After thinking, "statistics" were the natural track for baseball fascination.

I kept evolving that game, my brother grew disinterested as he actually developed some athletic ability and real human friendships. I didn't stop loving baseball, but by this point, the local team was pretty depressing. The Palms offered an outlet to my baseball enjoyment, the thinking, the statistics, and they sure were better than the Twins. The game was a game of chance, too, with not much decision input from me, it was also an outlet for fandom.

From that initial conversation with my dad, through the development of the Palms, and on to now, one thing has remained true; the Pohlad family has owned the Twins. I've been a Twins fan since I can remember, despite my feelings about the Pohlads. The news that the Twins were going to remain under Pohlad control was a punch to the gut, and definitely ruined the week for me.

But the Pohlads have always been there. I've never been a fan of the Pohlads. I've always been a fan of the Twins. I like the players, the people I see on the field. The game experience is great, and I always root for the front office, and for their decisions to work out. The owners are a condition they are doing their best to work around. The employees of the team are who I imagine my money goes to when I buy tickets or hats or whatever.

The news sucks, because it appeared that a change was coming. There was no guarantee a change would be better, but we all craved a change. Nobody expects things to turn around for the organization now, and if anything, there is a strong belief that things are going to get even worse this offseason. I have to hope Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez won't be sent away, like Kevin Tapani and Scott Erickson before them. But I'll still pull for the guys here to win.

It might be dark times in Target Field in 2026. It could be dark for a long, long time. But I'll still love baseball, and unfortunately, I'll still love the Twins. I'll let you in on a little secret. To get me through the bleaker times, I still mess around with my old game, and my old made up team. I have a feeling I will be spending more time with that team in the near future. Let me know if you want to learn how to play too.

It's not as bad as it seems.

 We were all shocked, gutted, in some cases, by the deadline teardown of the Minnesota Twins. As I stated before, none of the trades really struck me as awful, but in conjunction with one another, they were a gut punch. I've seen multiple pieces talking about the Twins' deadline, and all of them have a different move (or lack of a move, in Joe Ryan's case) marked as the biggest surprise. I don't like it, but I'm coming to accept it, using a principal that I've had to embrace with the world in general. Find out more information, rather than the worst negative headlines, and maybe it won't seem so bad.

The first part is admitting that it was bad. There was the true salary dump of Carlos Correa, which will raise questions about the Twins willingness to honor long term contracts going forward. The trade of Louis Varland just hurt, because he was a hometown kid that didn't truly need to be traded for financial reasons.

Looking at the chronology of the last few days before the deadline, and the assets that were left by August 1st, I feel better about where the team is heading, however, even with those particularly painful moves.

The team needed to come out swinging after the All Star Break in order to remain in contention, and perhaps even get the team to add to the roster rather than strip it down for parts. This was a failure of culture, as much as it was an insufficient roster. Not being able to compete with the Rockies and Nationals out of the break is not a good look for Rocco Baldelli, as everyone on Twins Daily will tell you. But it also shows that Carlos Correa's veteran leadership may have lost some of it's sway.

Jhoan Duran netted two top 100 prospects, and, they were off to the races. The next several trades involved pending free agents, which made sense. After Duran was traded, the known price for bullpen arms was high, and Brock Stewart was dealt for a Major League outfielder. After this, Correa, who had been in extensive discussions with Derek Falvey about the direction of the team, signed off on a trade back to the Astros.

Correa had a conversation with Griffin Jax, who, upon learning of the sell off and the pending departure of Correa himself, requested a trade that doesn't sound like it would have come otherwise. By that point, the only trade left was the one for Ty France and Louis Varland, which is only made if the Twins really like the return. Allen Roden is not far removed from being a top prospect, and Kendry Rojas is now a top 10 prospect in the Twins system, and the top left handed starter in the system.

In the wake of everything, then, ask yourself this. How much worse are the Twins in 2026 than they were on July 29th? The bullpen is obviously less than it was. The lineup has one major subtraction, in Carlos Correa at short, but it has been otherwise unchanged. The rotation subtracts Chris Paddack (who was walking after this year anyways) but returns the top three arms of Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez and Bailey Ober. They can now select from Simeon Woods-Richardson, David Festa, Zebby Matthews, Mick Abel and Taj Bradley at the back of the rotation. I would venture to say that the rotation, as of right now, looks better for next season than it would have otherwise. Abel and Bradley, don't forget, were added when relievers (albeit good ones) were traded away.

The obvious flaw with the team this year was the offense. In that regard, it shouldn't be a surprise that the Twins added major league ready outfielders that are highlighted for their hitting ability. Roden is already here, and James Outman is a former Rookie of the Year candidate. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to anticipate Brooks Lee replacing Carlos Correa (at least this year's version of Correa) and suddenly, the offense isn't terribly handicapped either, compared to the 2025 version. It might even be deeper.

There is obvious, well founded consternation about the team's intent for the offseason. There have been reports out there that in the Correa trade, the Twins had asked about Christian Walker, who would have vastly improved the first base prospects. Any discussions for Joe Ryan included the Twins asking for Jarren Duran or Wilyer Abreu, who would have become one of the best hitters in the Twins lineup. They were looking to sell, they did sell, but they weren't looking to tear it down completely.

Headed into 2026, the team is going to be looking ahead with a new ownership group. I don't necessarily think the Twins are suddenly going to have an enormous payroll, but the new group will have more room to work with. Heck, the Pohlads will have room to work with. Bullpen arms come cheap on the free agency market, and former starting prospects make good relievers too (see: Glenn Perkins, Trevor May, LaTroy Hawkins, Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax and Louis Varland). The Twins have built bullpens before, and will do so again. 

And maybe they will trade a starter, if they get the right price. I imagine that price will involve a young, controllable hitter to buoy the lineup. I believe that this front office believes these Twins can compete in 2026, and their sell off didn't seriously impinge on that, and in some ways, it helped. 

It sure sucked getting there, though. 

The end of an era

 The Twins were falling rapidly out of contention, and we knew the rental players were going to be on the market. There was talk about Joe Ryan that was swiftly shut down, and the controllable pieces at the back end of the bullpen, which the Twins made clear would take quite a haul to make them available. Chatter grew louder, and ultimately a day begore the deadline, Jhoan Duran was traded to the Phillies. 

And then it got worse. 

On deadline day, the Twins traded almost the entirety of the rest of their bullpen, and certainly all of the best parts of their bullpen. Not only that, every position player that was on an expiring deal, save for Christian Vasquez, was traded away. 

And then, Carlos Correa was given away, and the Twins window of contention was abruptly and rudely was slammed shut. I was under the belief that as long as the team had Byron Buxton and Correa under contract, still only 30 with at least a couple of years under contract, the window was open. It's closed now. Who knows when it will be reopened.

It sounds like, from various sources, that the Astros asked about Correa's availability, and when Derek Falvey, to his credit, was honest with Correa, he waived his no trade clause and a off to Houston. The only thing the Twins got was salary relief and bad vibes. 

I can't talk about all the trades that happened, because there were so many. The crazy part is that, through the day, through the week, I can kind of get the individual trades. The rental players, obviously, make sense. Trading Jhoan Duran at peak value makes some sense, even if it doesn't feel good. And that could have been where it ended.

But then trading away Correa made sense, at that point, from a business standpoint. And then when he was gone, they could have been done. The best return on the day, from my standpoint, came on the last two trades, Griffin Jax and Louis Varland being sent to Tampa and Toronto, respectively. At that point, it felt like piling on, though, to most Twins fans.

I can argue for all of the moves that were made. None of them are particularly egregious, but taken in concert they are like a punch to the gut. I think it was someone on ESPN.com that stated that selling is one thing, but trading 10 players from the active roster tells you that the team wasn't actually that bad. That hurts too. The team was underwater on 1 run games, and it's parts were very good. Instead of getting real help for the last two years, the payroll was slashed and the team became driftless.

The lack of funds from ownership is something that we all hope changes when the Pohlads sell the team, but I am frankly not optimistic. The debt issue is very real, and the cash flow doesn't automatically improve with new owners. The sell off probably doesn't happen if the Twins can get up for important series against, of all teams, the Rockies and Nationals, but even that didn't happen, and will likely be the last straw for Rocco Baldelli, contract extension or not.

Carlos Correa is gone. This window is closed. Soon, ownership and probably the manager are going to be out the door. A new era for the Twins is coming, and it has to be better than this one was.