The Twins are heading into a winter where the hard calls won’t just be about underperformers. Some of the trickiest decisions may involve players who have actually helped them. That’s the tension surrounding Trevor Larnach and Bailey Ober, two of Minnesota’s longest-tenured names, each sitting at a different crossroads as the team starts thinking beyond 2026.
Larnach has put together what is arguably the strongest offensive season of his career. Through 101 games, he is batting .272 with 19 doubles, 10 home runs, 42 RBIs and a .788 OPS.
He’s been one of the more dependable bats in the lineup and has helped keep Minnesota in the playoff picture. At the same time, his future with the club has been complicated by the fact that the Twins reportedly came close to trading him at the deadline before Astros ownership stepped in at the last moment.
That matters because Larnach is also in a spot where his value and his role may no longer line up cleanly. He is making $4.475 million this season in his second year of arbitration, and FanGraphs has valued his 2026 production at about $16 million.
That’s a strong return for the Twins, but it also points to the next problem: he’s getting closer to free agency, and another raise is coming through arbitration after this year. Minnesota can keep him, but doing so means paying more for a player who could become harder to fit as younger pieces push forward.
The roster pressure is real. Emmanuel Rodriguez is out of options and must be on the Opening Day roster next season, though he could also be traded this offseason.
Walker Jenkins is nearing his MLB debut and is expected to be a major part of the future. Alan Roden, acquired at last year’s trade deadline, brings at least some of what Larnach does, while being younger and cheaper.
So this isn’t just about whether Larnach has played well enough. It’s about whether there’s enough room for him in the long-term plan.
Ober’s situation is more straightforward on the surface, but no less uneasy. He came into the year trying to bounce back from a rough 2025, and there have been some signs of improvement.
Before his start Monday night against Atlanta, he had a 4.64 ERA and 4.78 FIP, both better than last season’s 5.10 ERA and 4.90 FIP. Even so, the overall results still haven’t gotten Minnesota where it needs to be.
His numbers underline the concern: a 91 ERA+, a 16.1% strikeout rate and a 6.0% walk rate. The trend line is even more troubling.
After a complete-game shutout in May and before that brief but solid outing Monday, Ober had gone through nine starts with an ERA approaching 6.00. The velocity drop is impossible to ignore, too.
His average four-seam fastball has fallen from 91.7 mph in 2024 to 90.3 mph in 2025 and all the way down to 88.1 mph this season.
At that level, hitters can sit on the pitch. Ober’s four-seam fastball has been slugged at a .542 clip this season, and the whiff rate on the pitch has slid from 22.2% two years ago to 14.8% this year. He has never lived entirely off the heater, but when that pitch stops threatening hitters, everything else gets harder to land.
He is also entering his final year of team control. Ober is making $5.2 million this season, and FanGraphs has valued his production at $7.8 million.
Even if the Twins remain unconvinced by the performance, arbitration next season could still push his salary near that figure. That turns the question from “Can he help?”
into “Is he worth the roster spot and the price?”
And that’s where the decision gets crowded. Minnesota already has several pitchers who can make a case for rotation work next season.
Taj Bradley, Joe Ryan, Connor Prielipp and Dean Kremer are in the rotation now and could stay there. Pablo López and Mick Abel are expected back as long as their recoveries go as hoped.
Kendry Rojas is likely to keep developing as a starter, while David Festa and Zebby Matthews are still in the mix, though health for Festa and performance for Matthews have pushed them to the edge of the picture.
So the Twins may have to decide whether they need a veteran starter at all, or whether one of the younger arms is ready for a bigger role. Either way, it makes it tougher to justify keeping Ober simply because he has been around.
That’s the strange parallel between these two cases. With Larnach, Minnesota could be weighing whether to move on from a productive 28-year-old in his prime because the future outfield is getting crowded. With Ober, the concern is whether a pitcher whose stuff has slipped is still worth the salary and the role that come with another year of control.
The Twins don’t have to settle anything today. But the questions are already here, and every game keeps adding another line to the file.
In Other News...
Joe Ryan Just Gave Twins Fans Reason To Watch September Closely
Joe Ryans road back from the injured list took a meaningful step this week, and for a Twins club that has spent plenty of time piecing together the back end of the rotation, it was the kind of update worth circling. The right-hander, who has been out with a strained left glute muscle, got back on the mound for the first time since his Aug. 4 outing and worked through a short bullpen session as he continues his recovery.
Derek Shelton called the throwing session encouraging, which is about as much as Minnesota can ask for at this stage. The larger question is still when Ryan will be ready to rejoin the staff, and for now there is no set timetable, leaving his return one of the more closely watched developments as September unfolds. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Playoff Push May Force A Big Walker Jenkins Decision
A series win over the Braves kept Minnesota at 62-65 and still hanging around the AL Central and Wild Card races, which is exactly the kind of late-summer position that forces a front office to weigh upside against patience. The Twins have enough ground to make a run and not enough margin to ignore obvious help, especially with the lineup still looking for a jolt as September approaches.
Walker Jenkins is the name sitting at the center of that decision. The top prospect has handled Triple-A well enough to make the conversation real, and a call-up would give Minnesota another bat with some defensive value if the club decides the playoff chase is worth pushing a prized young player into the mix before it is ready to do so on its own timetable. [Read more 🡒]
Twins May Need To Start Planning For Life After Buxton In Center
Byron Buxton has spent his entire major-league career in center field, and even with the defensive regression that has shown up over the past two seasons, he still looks playable there for Minnesota heading into 2026. The decline has been most noticeable on balls hit laterally and in the value of his arm, which is enough to make the position worth watching more closely than it once was.
Walker Jenkins is the reason that conversation is starting to feel more than theoretical. The top prospect is performing well in Triple-A and is viewed as the organizations center fielder of the future, with 2027 looking like the clearest path for that changeover. For the Twins, the question is no longer whether Buxton can handle the spot right now, but how long they can afford to wait before planning for the next one. [Read more 🡒]