Five Takeaways From the Minnesota Twins’ 2025 Season

Among position players in 2025, Buxton finished with the 17th highest fWAR (5.0). Buxton, Ketel Marte, and Jeremy Peña were the only players in the top 30 with less than 130 games played.

Perhaps Buxton’s most impressive stat was his 24 stolen bases without being caught a single time. He was arguably the most efficient base stealer in baseball this season. The player with the next most stolen bases without being caught is Miguel Vargas, who swiped only six bags. Another player of note is Trevor Story, who stole 31 and was only caught once.

Beyond the stolen bases, the only players with a better baserunning run value were Elly De La Cruz and Corbin Carroll. Buxton achieved that grade with significantly fewer baserunning opportunities as well.

I know I am just throwing out stats, but I want it to be abundantly clear that this was a sensational season from Buxton. Unfortunately it has been overshadowed by the Twins’ underwhelming team performances. He has become this generation’s Joe Mauer. Do not be surprised if in 2040 there is a statue of Buxton outside of Target Field.

2. Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez’s Days in the Twin Cities are Numbered

After starting with a fun takeaway, this one… is not so fun. Following the fire sale that occurred at the trade deadline this season, it now appears that no one is safe. Entering into a full rebuild often means that your most valuable pieces are shipped off to help bring in a plethora of young talent.

Other than Buxton (who has a no-trade clause and expressed he has no desire to leave), the next most valuable players on the Twins are Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez. Both have two years of team control left. Ryan with two years of arb and Lopez with two years of a team friendly deal.

There were reports that the Twins were listening to calls on Ryan at the deadline. No one was willing to meet their asking price. If you were keeping tabs on the Twins’ deadline situation you were probably able to gather quite a bit from Ryan’s visits with the media.

There were a couple of clips where Ryan appeared to be open to the possibility of getting traded. It is really hard to blame him and now with it being clear that 2026 and potentially 2027 will be rebuilding years, he is likely on his way out.

Of the two, Lopez seems a bit less likely to be moved. He doesn’t have as much trade value as Ryan due to the increased cost. Ryan is projected to make roughly $6 million in arbitration where as Lopez carries a $21 million dollar price tag.

Twins fans should be prepared for a long offseason that does not feature a lot of good news. The front office showed their hand this season and it will likely be more of the same this offseason.

3. Don’t Hold Your Breath on a Change in Finances

As was the previous takeaway, this is going to be another tough pill to swallow for Twins fans. The ownership group has made it clear that cutting payroll is a priority.

The Twins are currently projected by Spotrac to have an Opening Day payroll of just $106 million. That ranks 22nd in baseball, if anything they will be ranked even lower come opening day.

A lot of the takeaways from this season unfortunately tie back to the sequence of events that occurred at the trade deadline. The front office showed their hand. They will likely sign a couple of veterans for cheap this offseason but do not expect a significant investment to be made.

Here is a quick history on the Twins payroll for those who are unfamiliar. In 2022, the Twins had a payroll of $173 million and that ranked 14th in MLB. In 2023, that increased a hair to $177 million, but they fell to 18th in the league.

Entering the 2024 season, they slashed almost $20 million in payroll falling to $160 million and 19th in baseball. They cut payroll again in 2025, falling to $140 million which ranked 23rd in baseball.

The Twins are set to have their lowest payroll since 2017. Every single action taken by the front office since last off season has told fans that they have zero plans on investing in the roster.

4. The Kids Might be Alright

Possibly the only good thing about the front office not investing in the roster is that the younger players have a clear path to playing time. That was the case in the second half of the season. A handful of young performers showed us that the kids might be alright.

The most obvious standout performer was Luke Keaschall. He only ended up playing 49 games due to injury but still finished with 1.6 fWAR. That mark was fourth on the Twins among position players. He hit .302/.382/.445 with 4 HR and 14 SB. When he was healthy, he looked like the best bat on the team.

Keaschall has some concerning underlying metrics but those certainly didn’t matter in 2025. Moving forward it looks like the Twins have a ball player and long-term answer on the right side of the infield.

Two more notable names were on the minor league side. Walker Jenkins and Kaelen Culpepper put together excellent seasons in 2025. Culpepper was the Twins’ minor league hitter of the year. He posted a 138 wRC+ across High-A and Double-A. He showed that he could be the Twins answer at shortstop sooner rather than later.

Jenkins, on the other hand, was able to finish his season in Triple-A. He lit up Double-A with a 154 wRC+ but struggled in Triple-A to finish the year. He did however find his footing over the final month of the season in Triple-A. Playing 17 games in September, Jenkins posted an .830 OPS with eight extra-base hits.

Other notable performers include Austin Martin who looked like a legitimate utility man. A 113 wRC+ in 50 games while playing infield and outfield is very promising.

The Twins also saw Simeon Woods-Richardson post a 4.04 ERA in 22 starts. It is not always pretty with SWR but he continues to produce and get outs.

Expect to see the young guys get plenty of run in 2026.

5. Rocco Baldelli Was the Scapegoat

Last but certainly not least, the final takeaway from the Twins’ dreadful 2025 season: Rocco Baldelli was the scapegoat for an absolutely abysmal and dysfunctional front office.

Most Twins fans would likely agree that Baldelli is not the best manager in the world. There are definitely times where lineup decisions and in-game management leaves a bit to be desired. However, to act as if the 2024 collapse and the 2025 season are Baldelli’s fault is asinine.

If you were to break up the blame for the last two seasons among ownership, Derek Falvey, Baldelli, and the players it should be as follows. The majority of that blame should fall on ownership and Falvey.

The payroll issues have already been addressed. Furthermore, Falvey has not spent wisely or made the moves necessary to build upon an already solid roster. It is admittedly hard to do with the financial restraints but as the President of Baseball Operations, you need to find a way.

The next chunk of blame should really fall on the players. Bailey Ober and Chris Paddack were abysmal in the rotation this year. Carlos Correa was making over $30 million a year to post a wRC+ under 100. Brooks Lee and Edouard Julien were supposed to be building blocks but look like replacement level players.

Baldelli should be low on the blame list. He’s far from perfect, but when you take a step back and look at the 2025 season, he was far from the problem.

The hiring of Derek Shelton, if anything, shows the contempt from the front office. Going from Baldelli to Shelton – who never won more than 76 games in Pittsburgh – seems far from an improvement.