The current uncertainty about what will happen with the ownership of the Minnesota Twins has put the trade deadline in a state of flux.
What hasn’t changed is this constant theme of a roster and franchise living in purgatory for years.
Even with long-term ownership being unclear at this point, the Twins need to hit the reset button with this iteration of their roster.
In 2024, the Twins were 76-64 after a win on September 5, and FanGraphs gave them a 95% chance to make the postseason. An unspeakable collapse that resulted in a 6-16 finish in their final 22 games left Minnesota on the outside of the postseason looking in.
Two years before that, the Twins were tied with the Cleveland Guardians for the division lead on September 4. A 10-20 finish in which the ground caved in beneath their feet sealed Minnesota’s fate as a team that came up short of the postseason.
In either scenario, an offseason marked by a roster and staff reset would’ve been warranted. Instead, Minnesota stuck with its status quo and essentially ran things back.
After a deflating first half in 2025 and a team that is currently 10.5 games back despite the first-place Detroit Tigers going 1-9 in their last 10 games, the writing is on the wall for the Twins.
For some inspiration, they can look at what the Chicago Cubs did in 2021.
Unlike Minnesota, that Cubs team had won a World Series recently. In 2016, the Cubs defeated Cleveland in seven games. Five years later, they had most of the same core in place.
A reality check had set in for Chicago, and it was a brutal one.
That same core wasn’t good enough anymore, but fans had become attached. The front office made the difficult yet correct decision in having a fire sale and a complete reset.
They traded Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Javier Baez.
Chicago sent three franchise cornerstones packing at the 2021 trade deadline.
They even traded players that weren’t in Chicago for long that same year, like closer Craig Kimbrel, relief pitcher Andrew Chafin, and outfielder Joc Pederson.
The Cubs faced an uncomfortable truth that they needed a complete reset.
Of course, they didn’t hit on prospects with every trade, but the Baez trade landed them budding superstar Pete Crow-Armstrong, and dealing Rizzo landed them one of their top current prospects in Kevin Alcántara. The Chafin trade landed the Cubs their current flame-throwing, dynamite closer in Daniel Palencia.
Whether it’s players performing well but are also on expiring contracts like Harrison Bader, Willi Castro, and Danny Coulombe, or players performing poorly on expiring contracts like Ty France and Chris Paddack, everything should be on the table for Minnesota.
That doesn’t exclude key pieces like Griffin Jax, Jhoan Duran, and Joe Ryan, who all have team control plus are valuable.
If Minnesota took an honest look in the mirror, it would see a team with promising talent, but it will never be good enough to be the belle of the ball and win a World Series as constructed. It isn’t a fun world to live in, but it’s a hell of a lot better than continuing in purgatory, like the Twins seem content to do year after year.
While they shouldn’t take anything for the likes of Jax, Duran, and Ryan, they should be all ears at this point in trade discussions. If anything remotely close to reasonable in Minnesota’s eyes comes its way in trade talks for those types of players, take the deal.
Minnesota will likely set a high asking price and won’t budge on those names, and that’s just fine. Coming to terms with where they sit in the MLB landscape, even with those players’ needs, needs to be recognized, though.
A full reset and a collection of excellent prospects, while wheeling and dealing during this deadline, is the proper route to take.
Using the Cubs as an example again, the sour taste left in the mouth of parting with damn near everyone in 2021 was not fun for Cubbies fans or the organization. However, that yielded a much-needed organizational reset, and a front office that has since added to its collection of young talent now at the major league level.
Chicago is having a hell of a year, but it took the acceptance in 2021 that sending a large part of the roster away was the best path, even though it resulted in some lean years to follow.
Now, the Cubs are well-positioned for years to come.
Minnesota can continue living on the fringe of American League contention. It can clinch playoff berths here and there, but it never really poses as a serious threat to some of the juggernauts that exist.
Hammering down some truth serum and zooming out the microscope to realize that this is an organization living in purgatory and that it can’t continue that way, won’t be a fun revelation, but it needs to happen nonetheless.
The Twins need to sell and sell in a big way at the deadline, hitting the reset button.
It won’t lead to fun seasons in 2026 and 2027. Still, if they play their cards right and secure the right returns now, they’ll be set up in a much better position for the future, rather than continuing to go through the motions now.
