Twins

Souhan: Franchise-altering decisions await Twins ahead of trade deadline

Now that Royce Lewis and Carlos Correa have joined Byron Buxton in the hot hitter category, the team should keep the crew together and hope for good health.

By Jim Souhan

The Minnesota Star Tribune

July 25, 2025 at 10:00AM

Royce Lewis (23) is celebrating hits more often these days, as is Carlos Correa, raising the question of whether the Twins should be sellers at the trade deadline or keep the group intact to see what happens. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

In many decades of writing about sports, I’ve never before written the following sentence:

The front office of a Minnesota team should act selfishly, impetuously and irrationally.

If you are Twins President Derek Falvey or General Manager Jeremy Zoll, now is the time to lose your heads while those all around you are keeping theirs.

Now is the time to go for the royal flush, to hit on 18, to try to smash your 3-wood 250 yards over water to a front pin.

The 2025 Twins haven’t earned the right to expect trade deadline help. They haven’t earned the right to be considered contenders.

Falvey and Zoll should pretend they are anyway.

The Twins don’t need to trade for help. They need to give the current roster an extended chance. They need to emulate the current dominant force in the American League Central: the Detroit Tigers.

Last year, the Tigers traded away three veterans at the trading deadline, then lost the first two games of August to extend their losing streak to five.

Then they went 34-17 and made the playoffs, defeated Houston in the first round and pushed Cleveland to the brink in the divisional playoffs.

This season, the Tigers’ young players embraced elevated expectations and ran away with the division.

There is no reason this Twins’ roster can’t do something similar, now that Royce Lewis, Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton are healthy and producing offensively.

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The Twins can’t justify trading assets to improve this team, but they won’t need outside help if they enter a brief phase of rare injury luck.

If the Twins can get their best players all healthy at the same time, here is what their roster could look like in the playoffs, in a league that looks wide open:

LINEUP

CF | Byron Buxton: One of the game’s best players, having his best season.
2B | Willi Castro: A standout wherever he plays.
3B | Royce Lewis: Who again looks like the superstar-in-waiting he was in 2023.
1B | Luke Keaschall: Perhaps the best pure hitter in the organization.
RF | Matt Wallner: Who is inconsistent but capable of carrying the team. Or Trevor Larnach.
SS | Carlos Correa: Who is breaking out of a season-long slump and is known for his playoff exploits.
C | Ryan Jeffers: Who is reasserting himself as one of the better all-around catchers in the game.
LF | Harrison Bader: An excellent defender who has held his own at the plate this year. Or Trevor Larnach.
DH | Kody Clemens: Hits for power and has thrived in the clutch. With Brooks Lee or Ty France in reserve.

ROTATION

Pablo López | Ace
Joe Ryan | All-Star
Bailey Ober
Zebby Matthews or Simeon Woods Richardson

BULLPEN

Jhoan Duran
Griffin Jax
Danny Coulombe
Louie Varland
Brock Stewart
Cole Sands

The Twins have All-Star-caliber players at almost every key position — ace, closer, setup men, center field, shortstop, third base, catcher and second base/utility (with Castro).

That team could be better than the Tigers team that made an improbable run last year.

Why would keeping this group together be selfish?

Because it could be viewed as an act of self-preservation. If this team doesn’t make the playoffs, the incoming Twins owners could decide that missing the playoffs in four of five seasons and underachieving in 2025 is reason to make wholesale changes.

While I sense that wholesale changes would be popular with much of the fan base, I see an organization that has generally improved the state of the franchise in the past decade, strengthening the farm system and creating a player-friendly atmosphere.

Had López stayed healthy all season, this team would probably be in the middle of the wild-card race instead of buried.

Buxton’s health alone is reason to roll the dice this summer and try to win, against all odds.

If the 2024 Tigers can do it, the talented-if-underachieving 2025 Twins should at least give it a shot.

Don’t waste Buxton’s season. Don’t overlook the resurgence of your core players — Lewis, Correa and Jeffers. Give this group a chance, whether it deserves one or not.