For a Twins season that spent plenty of time in the middle of a historically ugly AL Central, the bigger mission was never just the standings. It was about figuring out who might matter when the next competitive team comes together. The problem is that 2026 never gave Minnesota enough of a look at a few players who could wind up in that core.
Mick Abel was the clearest example. He won an opening-day roster spot in a surprise move, showed the kind of overpowering stuff that can change a game, and then an elbow injury shut him down for the rest of the year.
His final start came on April 14, when he threw seven shutout innings and struck out 10 against Boston. The Twins had viewed him as a possible future rotation piece, but health now joins performance as part of the equation.
The encouraging part is that Abel is on track to be fully healthy for the start of 2027, and he should get every chance to begin that season in the rotation. If he reaches the level of a playoff-caliber starter, Minnesota’s rotation suddenly becomes the team’s strength.
It would also make the Jhoan Durán trade look a lot better, especially with former top prospect Eduardo Tait, the player the Twins got Abel with, still having a very disappointing run in the organization.
Alan Roden is in a trickier spot. It’s not even clear whether he’ll still be with the Twins after the offseason.
When Minnesota acquired him at the 2025 trade deadline, the club appeared to buy into his on-base skills and his defense in the corner outfield, but injuries may have derailed those plans. His left-handed bat also makes him an awkward fit on a roster that already has questions.
Even so, his fewer than 100 plate appearances in the majors this season were encouraging, and the skill set is there if the Twins can make the roster fit work.
What makes Roden so hard to pin down is how little of him the Twins have actually seen. He’s barely more established than younger players such as Emmanuel Rodriguez and Walker Jenkins, with fewer than 250 MLB plate appearances as a soon-to-be 27-year-old.
He’ll be fighting for playing time with several top prospects who play the same spot and also hit left-handed. He does have some first base experience, which matters because Minnesota doesn’t have an immediate answer there.
But his bat doesn’t look like the usual profile for a corner infielder, and it remains unclear whether it can hold up against the demands of that position. At this point, the Twins could really use more MLB data on Roden.
And then there’s Emmanuel Rodriguez, whose season was once again interrupted before it could really get going. Injuries kept him from playing anything close to a full year, and he still hasn’t appeared in even 100 games in a single season.
In 2026, he managed just 71 games combined between the minors and the majors. His swing-and-miss issues remain a concern at the big-league level, but there were signs in his 13-game debut: his plate discipline and his ability to drive the ball showed up.
Rodriguez is out of options in 2027, which makes him essentially a lock for the opening-day roster. The talent is obvious.
The question now is whether he can stay healthy and make enough contact to stick. The Twins won’t have the luxury of sending him back to St.
Paul for more seasoning, so they’ll have to rely on him to stay afloat with very little track record to lean on.
In Other News...
Twins Fans Can Trace This Collapse To Three Brutal Moments
The Twins 2026 season did not unravel in one clean, dramatic stretch so much as in a handful of moments that kept piling up until the playoff path looked almost gone. A familiar name was part of that story, as former Twins pitcher Randy Dobnak turned in back-to-back strong outings against Minnesota in less than a week, a reminder of how quickly momentum can slip away when an ex-player is on the wrong side of the matchup.
From there, the damage only deepened. An extra-inning loss to Detroit on Sept. 2 cost Minnesota a chance to hold onto third Wild Card position, and four days later the Twins were beaten badly by the White Sox in a result that made the slide feel a lot more like a collapse than a rough patch. By then, the seasons direction was hard to miss, even if the final details were still waiting to be written. [Read more 🡒]
Twins First Offseason Pitching Move Says Plenty About Their Depth
The Twins have started their offseason pitching housekeeping by bringing back a familiar arm, re-signing right-hander Chris Vallimont to a minor-league contract for 2027. It is the kind of move teams make when they are thinking about organizational depth first, adding a pitcher who knows the system and gives the club another option to stash in the upper levels if the need arises.
Vallimont has already taken the long road through recent seasons, with stops in minor and independent leagues after his lone major league look with Baltimore in 2023. For Minnesota, the signing does not point to a rotation battle or a bullpen lock, but it does underline how much value the front office places on keeping experienced arms in the pipeline while bigger offseason decisions are still ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Rocco Baldellis Next Opportunity Could Reframe His Twins Legacy
Rocco Baldellis time away from the dugout may not last long. The former Twins manager, now working in the Dodgers front office as a special assistant to Andrew Friedman, has surfaced in the conversation for Seattles managerial opening as the Mariners begin sorting through a disappointing season and looking for a new voice to lead the club forward.
For Twins fans, it adds another layer to Baldellis already complicated legacy in Minnesota. He spent seven seasons in charge, went 527-505 and won the division three times, leaving behind a rsum that still prompts debate about how his tenure should be remembered. A move to Seattle would not just be a fresh start for Baldelli, it could also offer another chance to reframe what his run in Minnesota ultimately meant. [Read more 🡒]