There has been one instance of Derek Falvey trading a veteran for prospect(s) over the offseason. Just one. Can you think of it?

It was Gio Urshela, after 2022. Urshela was traded to the Angels for 19-year-old pitcher Alejandro Hidalgo, just hours before the non-tender deadline. This move suggests a high likelihood that Urshela would have been released, rather than the Twins paying him an estimated $8 million via arbitration. The trade was more about finding value than about getting worse in the present for future rewards.

Falvey’s avoidance of selling present value for future value communicates an intention not to spend any year in a state of non-competitiveness. Sure, the team has gone through periods of non-competitiveness, but it’s never seemed to be part of an intentional plan. There hasn’t been a single offseason that has seemed like throwing in the towel on the following year.

There have been trades of established players. But—except Urshela—they have all brought back big-league talent. There have been minor moves, like 2024’s trade of Nick Gordon for Steven Okert or 2021’s much-ballyhooed LaMonte Wade Jr.-for-Shaun Anderson swap, but most of the Twins’ most significant offseason moves have been these challenge trades, trading MLB talent for MLB talent.

The Twins wanted to sell Josh Donaldson ahead of 2022, but instead of prospects, they received Urshela and Gary Sánchez, and they included Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ben Rortvedt to facilitate the trade. Jorge Polanco was traded for prospects Gabriel Gonzalez and Darren Bowen, but the Twins also received Justin Topa and Anthony DeSclafani in the deal, filling holes on the big-league roster—you know, in theory.

In both the Donaldson and Polanco trades, the primary motivation was to move salary, but the Twins used the trades to solve existing problems with their plans to contend immediately. Urshela took Donaldson’s spot, and Sánchez filled a backup catcher role after Mitch Garver was traded for Kiner-Falefa and prospect Ronny Henríquez, for example. The money was quickly reinvested. Carlos Correa signed shortly after the Donaldson trade, and within a week, the money saved in the Polanco trade was allocated to Carlos Santana and Jay Jackson.

Even if Urshela was seen as a worse third baseman than Donaldson, the moves served a purpose: to build the team in the short-term and (often) in the long term. As a perfect example of this, the trade that sent Luis Arraez to Miami netted Pablo López, Jose Salas, and Byron Chourio. The Twins dealt from a perceived surplus of lefty corner bats for a badly-needed frontline starter, and they stocked the farm a bit in the process.

Ahead of 2022, it was clear that they were ready to move on from Taylor Rogers, but instead of prospects, they brought in two experienced pitchers with more team control, in Emilio Pagán and Chris Paddack. Perceptions of the quality of these trades run the gamut, but it’s clear that the intent has never been to outright cut back on talent in the hopes that the trade would bear fruit three years later.

Beyond trades, the Twins have tried to shop each offseason in free agency, sometimes getting creative (like ahead of 2024), sometimes biding their time and hoping talent falls through the cracks (like ahead of 2018, 2021, or 2025). The late signings of Addison Reed, Logan Morrison, and Lance Lynn before 2018 didn’t work, but they still trudged on, adding Nelson Cruz, Jonathan Schoop, C.J. Cron, and (late in the offseason), Marwin Gonzalez ahead of 2019. Even after a disastrous 2021, in an offseason in which they dumped the biggest free-agent contract the organization had ever signed, they still added Correa, because they weren’t throwing in the towel on 2022.

I’m not sure that it’s the right tactic. At some point, a team has to cut its losses and stop taking half-measures. The reluctance to sell a player without getting commensurate MLB talent may have kept players around longer than they should have been with the Twins (Max Kepler, maybe?). But the Central has been open for the entirety of Falvey’s tenure—at least to win enough games to catch a Wild Card berth.

If nothing else, it’s a noble pursuit. And if, as fans worry, the next step of the process begun on July 31, 2025 is to further hack away at this roster, Falvey will be in uncharted territory. We’ve never seen this team jpack it in ahead of the season. There’s no history to base it on or use as speculation.

Falvey has been insistent that he still does not intend to rebuild, and that he does not intend to continue to sell. He’s told the media that he wants to add to his group, not subtract, which is in line with his behavior in previous offseasons. Whether you believe him is up to you.