Royce Lewis had the worst possible answer about Twins' historic collapse

As we sift through the wreckage of the Minnesota Twins' season, figureheads all throughout the organization are passing around shares of the blame.

Royce Lewis is not among that group.

Tucked away in a very comprehensive piece from Bobby Nightengale is an absolutely brutal quote from Lewis. While everyone is accepting at least a small piece of the blame, including Joe Pohlad, Lewis attempts to dodge it and instead places it elsewhere in the organization.

"It kind of falls on, obviously, the players," Lewis said. "But I didn't realize it was just on us. Now I know that we're going to carry a lot of the load, especially the young guys — the cheap guys is the best way to put it," Lewis said.

Well, that's unfortunate.

Lewis is no doubt calling someone out here, and the fact that it's not entirely clear is a bit troubling. It could be a barb at Carlos Correa, who had a quote about how young players need to learn from this meltdown. He could also be taking a shot at ownership with his quip about being the 'cheap' guy, which is also concerning when it comes to his long term future in Minnesota.

One person he's not blaming, someone who absolutely deserves it, is himself.

Royce Lewis refuses to blame himself for slumping during the Twins historic meltdown

We all know how good Lewis can be when he's healthy. Despite missing the first two months of the season after Opening Day, he was on an absolute tear at the plate and picked right up where he left off even with the time off. It's not rocket science to see that when Lewis is playing at the MVP-level he's shown, the lineup is infinitely better than when he's not in it.

Lewis played the rest of the season after retuning from a second stint on the IL at the end of July, but you'd be hard pressed to believe it based on how he looked. It was the nightmare scenario of Lewis being healthy but also being nonexistent as an offensive threat, as he slumped horribly over the final months of the year.

Over the course of the Twins' collapse, Lewis hit .182/.224/.250 with a .620 OPS. He hit 10 home runs in his first 24 games of the season, but managed just six more the rest of the way. That's absolutely unacceptable from someone who is not only supposed to be one of the best players in the lineup, but someone who talks a big game. That's part of the Royce Lewis experience, but we learned his swagger giveth as much as it takes away.

Hearing him try to pass the buck after being as much a part of the problem as anyone over the last month is deeply discouraging. It's hopefully a teachable moment for a rising superstar who is still green in his MLB career, but the vibes about his reaction to the way the season went are all off.

Some goofballs are trying to blame Carlos Correa for the collapse, and while there's valid criticism of how he played the way he's dealing with the aftermath says it all. Correa chose to fall on the sword for his teammates, telling folks to blame him and only him for how things went despite the fact he rushed back from injury to try and help.

That leadership is sorely lacking from Lewis, which is concerning considering he's supposed to be the future of the franchise. He's still a young player, one with an established track record for talking a big game, but having him not back it up on or off the field is hopefully something he can learn from moving forward.

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