The Minnesota Twins are looking to have a successful 2025 season while ignoring the 2024 season that ended poorly. Despite last year’s struggles, the Baseball Prospectus projects the Twins to win the American League Central Division by roughly five games over the Kansas City Royals. This forecast has the Twins avoiding the collapse they experienced at the end of the 2024 season. While there is a lot of optimism surrounding the 2025 Twins roster, these expectations do not come without concern.
Twins Set Sights on Realizing Projected Achievements
Slow Offseason
Minnesota did not make their first major league signing for this offseason until February 4 when they brought back left-handed reliever Danny Coulombe on a one-year, $3 million deal. While Coulombe had an exceptional year with the Baltimore Orioles in 2024, he is solidifying a bullpen that is already a strong point for the team. Essentially, he is looked at as replacing Caleb Thielbar as the left-handed specialist of the bullpen.
After their first signing, the Twins made their second major league signing of the year when they signed outfielder Harrison Bader to a one-year deal with a mutual option for a second year. Spending 2024 with the Mets, Bader hit .236/.284/.373 with 12 home runs and 51 RBI. The Twins expect Bader to be part of the platoon of outfielders they will rotate through, similar to their approach in 2024.
Twins, OF Harrison Bader agree to 1-year deal with mutual option for 2026, per @MLBNetwork insider @JonHeyman. pic.twitter.com/WzrYVRbhXt
— MLB (@MLB) February 5, 2025
Even though the moves the Twins have made are few and far between, the additions they made will benefit the club. Bader is a former Gold Glove Award winner and has a good insurance policy for the Twins in case Byron Buxton goes down with an injury. They missed this after losing Michael A. Taylor to free agency before the 2024 season. Coulombe is also returning to the Twins as a better pitcher than when he left in 2022. After developing a cutter while in Baltimore, Coulombe’s performed in 2024 with a 2.12 ERA and an impressive 0.674 WHIP. He will certainly be an important asset in setting up closer Jhoan Durán.
Injuries
It is no secret that the three most valuable offensive players were hampered by injuries in 2024. Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, and Royce Lewis missed a combined 216 games; roughly 44% of the season. Before going on the injured list in August, Buxton was having a strong season hitting .275 with 16 home runs and 49 RBI. Correa was put on the injured list on July 12 due to plantar fasciitis in his right heel. This injury caused him to miss 51 games. Correa’s team-leading WAR of 3.7 makes him essentially irreplaceable. Lewis couldn’t make it past opening day after a quadricep strain. The quadricep strain and other injuries kept Lewis to only 82 games. Lewis’ tenacity to produce runs and extra base hits makes him an integral part of the Twins’ lineup.
If the Twins three stars can enter 2025 healthy and minimize their injuries, they can avoid the downfall they had last September. Having Buxton, Correa, and Lewis in the lineup as often as possible is imperative to the Twins’ projected success by Baseball Prospectus.
Ownership
A lot has been written about the Twins’ current owners, the Pohlad family, keeping down payroll and essentially keeping the team from signing impactful players. While the Twins will never be able to keep up with the spending of major market teams such as the Dodgers, Twins fans expect an investment in a team that won its first playoff series in decades in 2023. The investment in the team did not happen in 2024 as acting owner Joe Pohlad openly stated they were going to keep payroll below $130 million.
Despite payroll being a hindrance, the Twins have a history of being efficient with their money while focusing on developing young talent. Regardless of ownership, the Twins’ front office has been able to overcome a locked payroll going all the way back to their resurgence in the early 2000s with Terry Ryan running the team. With reports suggesting that the team will hopefully lock in a new owner by opening day, Twins fans can hope that a new owner will bring a higher monetary investment. This culture change would allow the Twins to bring in even more talent to support their impact players already on the roster.
Twins Fans Can be Optimistic
The Twins have the talent to win the Central Division in 2025. This is one of the reasons the end of the 2024 season was frustrating for many. Despite there being areas of concern for Twins fans, there are many reasons for people to be optimistic about this team. With all the parts of a winning team in place, those predicting a successful 2025 campaign for the Twins have all the reason to be correct.
Main Photo Credits: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
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