Ok I admit it, I couldn’t type that with a straight face.  Of course “reload” can be subjective.

Sources are now indicating the Twins will not move Ryan, Lopez, or Buxton. Is this a good move? a bad move? Time will tell, but without seeing moves this offseason, and I don’t like playing the Monday Morning QB game, my 2 cents.. ok maybe 7 cents.. is.

I would say that this organization could use some big bats that could be acquired by moving at least 1 of them.  and if you are going to move one you might as well move both starters. There is no sense in only moving one.  But of course, if you move both then you have a disgruntled Buxton who will ask out, so in essence you would be moving all three. From a team building perspective, that may be the best move, from a fan retention aspect this would be corporate suicide, at least in the short term..  If players we would get back would all pan out and win for a 5-6 year stretch starting in a couple of years, fans will come back. But there is currently ZERO good will with this ownership group right now. SO 1-2 years of struggling after gutting payroll again would be hard to come back from. Could you flip the script and get good quality positional players for Ryan and Lopez, and top pitching for Buxton? possibly, and if so  would be hard to say no.

Secondly,  another option would be to trade Ryan and Lopez (try and appease Buxton) you get top prospects back, shed money, and then use said shed money to sign other quaulity pitchers. I knwo I am a broken record here, but both Scherzer and Verlander combined could be had for the price of Lopez alone, throw in a Jon Gray for rotation/bullpen flexibility and you are in close to the same position competitive wise but get to take in a good near MLB ready prospect haul.  But thsi wont happen so why consider it,

 

OR standing pat and “reloading”…

Yes, we will have a decent rotation, at least the top half.  Ryan & Lopez are a good 1-2, but what about 3-6? Before getting into money issues, lets look at internal options.

potential starters on 40 man roster:

* Mick Abel.  a 1 time decent prospect, but who really hasnt one much, – unproven with potential.

* Taj Bradley more time in the majors than Abel, was productive in minors but not so much at big league level.  again unproven but has some potential

* Travis Adams. Lets just move on shall we?

* David Festa – can he stay healthy and show any sense of consistency?

* Zebby: clearly more success in minors than majors, after 25 starts and near 6.00 ERA,  can he be counted on? again potential but unproven.

* Bailey Ober: At one time he had proven to be a solid #3!! and a “lets roll” candidate, but a challenging 2025 after a somewhat challenign 2nd half od 2024 you have to have concerns,  but he slots in as a locked in 3-6.

* Kendry Rojas: Zero MLB experience, just 9 games above AA with an ERA north of 7 in those 9.

* SWR: another near certainty for a spot in 3-6,  has shown flashes maybe even extended flashes, but has not had a full consistent solid season.

SO, with team consistently using at least 6 starters, and us having maybe a “locked in” 1-4 with any real experience, unless we add from the outside our rotation I woudl say is a “wing and a prayer”.

Now lets look at our position players.

It is still early, and I would assume some players to be moved here, (I.E. Larnach), but lets look, 

* OF: Assume Buxton and Wallner stay, who do we round out 3rd and 4th OF with? Roden and Martin??  Not an overly spectacular thought.  What if Wallner progresses but Buxton regresses and call that a push. That is not an outfield looking to challenge for a division.  We will have upwards of 3 OF pushing for time this year in Rodriguez, Gonzalez, and Jenkins,  but again relying on young unproven (albeit strong) talent.

* IF, assume something like Lewis at 3B, Lee at SS, Keashcall at 2B. They seem “lockish”. that leaves 1B and utility open.  Julien, Fitzgerald, Gasper are 40 man placeholders on any truly contending team, that leaves Kody Clemens as our everyday 1B? he had some big moments, but overall not what you are looking for in a starting 1B.

* C Jeffers and Jackson. decent. (if we keep Jeffers.. if we don’t trade the others we need to move SOMEONE)

*DH: Currently Larnach (or platoon with Larnach and names from above).

 

So if not trading, our internal “reloading” will come from a combination of:

* Young players unproven over a full year one way or the other… Lee, Keaschall, Roden, to some extent Martin, 

* Not as young as they used to be who have had flashes, but need to rebound… Lewis, Wallner

* Average/mediocre players who would be decent in a limited role or a back up. … Clemens.

* Young unproven prospects… Jenkins, Rodriguez, Gonzalez, 

 

Some may have break outs, some may have comebacks, but some will have injuries, and some will regress. In this game you just cannot count on EVERYONE taking a step forward. Calling this as i sees it, not trading our pitchers keeps us in non contending mode.  Playing the “What IF” game, If Wallner and Lewis have bounce back full healthy productive years, Keaschall can prove to be legit and Buxton stays healthy then this is an offense that can score, even with Clemens, Lee, Roden, Martin  rounding it out. But that is purely selling hope.

Not trading any of the Big Three, as we currently sit, we will have roughly $108M on the books per Spotrac.

FINALLY:

Keeping the Ryan, Lopez, and of course Buxton does not make sense if we are going in with roughly the same roster, it ONLY makes sense if we are also going to ADD to the roster and the payroll. Given what we have seen from ownership, do we really think we will add? let alone significantly?   Like a Munetaka Murakami, or a Pete Alonso signing.  Running it back makes no sense, we either need to RELOAD, or REBUILD. And if we are keeping RYan, Lopez, Buxton, to me that say RELOAD!!!