The 2026 Minnesota Twins: What Is Their Identity? [OPINION]

As much as I may want to sometimes, I just can't quit the Twins.

I've stuck with them through the 1994 strike, the shredding of the budget in the late 90's, the attempt by the Pohlads to have the team contracted in 2001, the threat of moving to North Carolina, watching Johan Santana and Torii Hunter walk over money, the 2023 'right-sizing' of the payroll and the 2025 fire sale.

Some of you go back even further than I do, to the days of Calvin Griffith running Rod Carew out of town and all of the fun, budget-based decisions of the 70's and early 80's.

It's cute when I hear people say they are NOW DONE WITH THE TWINS. Really, the owner offering up the team as a mercy killing wasn't the last straw, it was trading Louis Varland?

With all that being said, I'll be on my couch Thursday afternoon eagerly awaiting the start of a new season... even if the season appears to be over before it starts.

WHO DO THE TWINS WANT TO BE? 

I know the Twins will be bad this season and I can handle a bad team. What I cannot figure out is what this team thinks their identity is.

With Matt Wallner and Trevor Larnach in the outfield and Brooks Lee, Luke Keaschall and Josh Bell in the infield, it does not appear that defense will be this team's calling card. In fact, it will likely be below average this season.

With legit starter Joe Ryan joined by Bailey Ober (6-9, 5.10 ERA last season), Simeon Woods-Richardson, Taj Bradley and Mick Abel, the rotation has some potential upside but also a low floor especially at the start of the year. So, it does not appear that their starting pitching will be a big strength.

The bullpen was torn down in the Great Fire Sale of 2025 and has no clear pecking order one day before the start of the season. Suffice to say, the bullpen will probably not carry this team to October.

The team doesn't have a ton of speed (a below league average 114 steals last year), doesn't have a ton of power (191 home runs last year, three above league average and 83 behind MLB-best New York Yankees) or hit for average (.238 last year, league average .245).

They aren't a veteran-heavy, swaggering team like the Phillies or Yankees and they aren't an upstart team of young hotshot prospects like the Athletics or Orioles. They just kind of... are.

So, what is this team's identity? What kind of growth are we looking forward to and why are we running back essentially the same team as last year when you consider the results from 2025?

I don't mind watching a losing baseball team- it happens. I just fear we are going to be stuck with a fundamentally -bad- baseball team like we saw last year.