There were an announced 80,000 fans or so, combined, at the Twins’ four-game series against the Detroit Tigers at Target Field last weekend and they all got a good, close look at the team’s future.
The young Twins left in the wake of the team’s trade deadline purge did manage to stave off a sweep with a blowout victory over their American League Central overlords on Sunday, so that’s something — if not quite enough to make whatever vision the team has for the future make complete sense.
Now, instead of relying on matriculating prospects to adequately fill gaps between proven veterans, the Twins are counting on the young guys — none of whom have shown they can do it consistently — to be the proven producers. To be the best players on the team, and not just in a relative sense.
If they can, the Twins might have a chance to win because of a Cadillac rotation led by Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober. If they can’t, it’s gonna be tough sledding for the Local 9.
When the Twins cut around $30 million out of the payroll before the 2024 season, it signaled that management — or ownership, or both — were ready to roll the dice on those prospects being ready to complete a competitive lineup with top-line veterans Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa and Carlos Santana.
The hope was that first baseman Jose Miranda and second baseman Edouard Julien were ready, and that Royce Lewis would stay healthy and productive. Didn’t happen, and after Correa, Buxton and Ryan went down with injuries late, the team collapsed, winning only 12 of its last 39 games.
Minnesota Twins’ Brooks Lee runs the bases after hitting a grand slam during the third inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Yet with this summer’s sell-off, management isn’t just doubling down on that strategy, it’s tweaking it further by simply removing the top-line veterans part. Correa, closer Jhoan Duran, utility man and 2024 all-star Willi Castro and setup-man Griffin Jax are gone. That leaves Buxton, who looked a little like royalty in exile at the top of the Twins lineup last weekend.
The eye test, if not just plain common sense, says it won’t work — not anytime soon. Not if the goal is making the playoffs.
If it bears fruit at all, it will be at least a few years down the road, the way it did in 1987 after prospects like Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Tom Bruansky and Frank Viola grew into major leaguers and helped win the team’s first World Series. But that is a rare return on investment.
Manager Rocco Baldelli will regularly pencil four of the Twins’ own first-round picks (Royce Lewis Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner and Brooks Lee), and one second-round pick (Luke Keaschall), into the lineup the rest of the way, and only Keaschall is an official rookie (and tearing it up).
For the rest, it’s time to lock in.
These guys play a lot of baseball and get a lot of at-bats over the course of 162 games. At some point soon, the numbers will reveal the truth. By the end of next season, only Keaschall won’t be passing the milestone of 1,000 major league at-bats.
They will never have a better chance to prove themselves than over the next 38 games. They will be in the lineup and most likely playing all nine innings, regardless of the situation.
The good news is all of those players were at the center a six-run third that broke open Sunday’s 8-1 victory over the Tigers. After a Buxton homer, Larnach hustled out a double, Keaschall singled, Lewis walked and Lee brought them all home with his first major league grand slam.
It’s been almost three weeks since the sell-off, and Lee was asked Sunday if he feels the young roster is learning how they have to play in order to win games.
“I think so,” he said. “We’re young (but) we have one of the greatest players in baseball (in Buxton) and we have to take advantage of that. But, yeah, I think we’re figuring out our identity. We’re going to have to hit and play good defense, and I think today was a good example of that.”
If we see more of it over the next 38 games, maybe Twins fans will be able to approach 2026 with some enthusiasm.
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