The Twins’ news cycle has been easy to miss with the World Series front and center, but there’s plenty going on around the organization.
One of the bigger notes is a familiar face heading back into the spotlight. Paul Molitor will throw out the first pitch before World Series Game 2 at American Family Field in Milwaukee. Molitor, who is now a Twins TV and radio analyst, spent 15 seasons with the Brewers and is in the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a member of that franchise.
His Milwaukee run stretched from 1978-92, and it was a decorated one: five All-Star selections, two Silver Slugger Awards and 59.9 bWAR. After that, he spent 1993-95 with the Toronto Blue Jays, where he added another Silver Slugger and won the 1993 World Series. Molitor then finished his playing career with his hometown Twins from 1996-98, picking up a Silver Slugger in 1996 as a designated hitter.
Molitor later returned to the dugout in Minnesota, where the Twins hired him as manager after the 2015 season. He earned AL Manager of the Year honors in 2017 after the club reached the postseason for the first time since 2010, but after a tough 2018 season, the team moved on and replaced him with Rocco Baldelli. In recent years, Molitor has been on Twins radio and was added to the TV analyst rotation ahead of the 2026 season.
The pitching staff also has a new voice. The Twins let go of pitching coach Pete Maki at the end of the 2026 season, and last week the team named Brian Reith as his replacement.
And there’s another former Twin closing the book on his career. Mitch Garver announced his retirement after 10 MLB seasons. Garver played for Minnesota from 2017-21, then spent the 2022-23 seasons with the Texas Rangers before finishing with the Seattle Mariners from 2024-26.
Garver’s peak came in 2019, when he put together a massive season: 4.1 bWAR, a .995 OPS and 31 home runs in 93 games, good enough to earn a Silver Slugger Award. He also picked up a World Series ring with Texas in 2023.
In Other News...
Twins Face One Big Offseason Question About Their Top Prospects
Tom Pohlads suggestion that the payroll could rise in 2027 gives the Twins a little more room to think long term, but it does not solve the immediate offseason puzzle in front of them. Minnesota still has one of the stronger farm systems in the game, and that depth creates choices as much as it creates optimism, especially when the front office is weighing how to reshape the major league roster after a season that left plenty of room for change.
The question now is how aggressively the Twins want to use that prospect capital. Catching depth and a crowded outfield give the club some flexibility, and that is the kind of surplus rival teams tend to ask about first in trade talks. Minnesota has enough young talent to improve from within, but it also has enough to dangle in pursuit of help that fits the big-league roster more cleanly, which is where the real offseason pressure starts to build. [Read more 🡒]
Tommy Nance Gave The Twins A Bullpen Decision To Make
Tommy Nances 2026 season gave the Twins a useful reminder that bullpen depth can shift fast when a pitcher stays on the field and keeps getting called on. After making Torontos Opening Day roster and working a career-high 59 appearances, he went through a year that was mostly healthy aside from some midseason forearm discomfort, and even when fatigue started to show late, he was still available often enough to matter. For a Minnesota bullpen that is always trying to sort out who can handle real leverage, that kind of durability is not nothing.
Nance also knows there is still room to sharpen the way he shows up for those moments. He plans to make adjustments in the offseason as he tries to be quicker getting locked in, with an eye on carving out more high-leverage chances once he gets to the Twins in 2027. The path forward is pretty clear from here: keep the body right, get the command where it needs to be, and make it easier for Minnesota to trust him when the game gets tight. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Face A Tougher Bullpen Call With Eric Orze This Spring
Eric Orzes place in the Twins bullpen is set to come with a little more urgency this spring, because the club has to decide not just whether he helps them now, but how much patience it can afford to show if he does not. His 2026 season trended down from what he showed in 2025, and Minnesota will spend camp trying to determine whether a change in environment, and a fresh voice in the coaching staff, can help him get back on track.
Brian Reiths arrival adds an interesting layer to that evaluation, since he has seen Orze before and now gets another chance to judge what the right role looks like for him. The broader challenge for the Twins is roster management, because Orzes status makes him tougher to stash if he does not win a job outright, and that puts even more weight on how he looks in spring training compared with the clubs other bullpen candidates. [Read more 🡒]