This may be hopeful thinking, but the Twins have the potential to be a playoff team next year. Suppose Byron Buxton and Luke Keaschall, along with the starting rotation, stay healthy, and exciting prospects Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodríguez and Kaelen Culpepper make an impact. Why wouldn't the Twins be contenders? The problem is, that's a lot of "ifs," and if history has taught Twins fans anything, it's important to keep expectations low.
New Twins manager Derek Shelton refuses to say Twins are rebuilding at introductory press conference
"I'm not using the term rebuild," Shelton said. "People are always gonna go to a certain term, but I think we're gonna develop young players."
Twins fans don't want a rebuild. So that's good that Shelton refused to use that term, right? Well, he refused to use the term, yet he said people are always going to use a certain term to define a team, essentially admitting he just doesn't like the word, even though it's likely true. Then he said they're going to develop young players, which all teams do. However, if that's a team's primary goal, rather than winning a championship, they're likely in a rebuilding phase.
As stated earlier, the Twins have a lot of talent on the roster that could take them back to the postseason for the first time since 2023. But a lot has to go right, including the development of young players. Young players and prospects, even ones as heralded as Walker Jenkins, are always question marks. Remember Edouard Julien and José Miranda? They were both young players who were supposed to be part of the Twins' future plans. Now, the Twins would be lucky to get even a valuable relief pitcher in exchange for either of them.
It's easy for fans and media to overanalyze manager statements, but it's clear that Shelton's comments on the term rebuild prove the Twins are, in fact, in a rebuild stage. Shelton also said, “I got the answers that made me really want this job. I won’t get into the depth of that, but I appreciate how transparent Joe [Pohlad] was with me,” which could be interpreted as the team being willing to spend more in free agency this year than the past couple of offseasons. But as a Twins fan myself, I wouldn't get my hopes up too much.