Neal: Twins’ next big move is to make room for prospects. That means some veterans will have to go.

If you think the Twins’ roster wrecking at the trade deadline was complete, stop. There’s a good chance more is coming over the next calendar year.

Who will be behind the next stage of the remodeling effort? Outfielder Walker Jenkins, shortstop Kaelen Culpepper, outfielder Emmanuel Rodriguez, lefthander Connor Prielipp and righthanders Mick Abel and Taj Bradley.

All are at Class AA Wichita or Class AAA St. Paul and are either in line to make their major league debuts in 2026 or they’ve had a mere taste of the majors. The Twins will have to clear paths for these players, because the group that was expected to contend in the AL Central fell short.

The Carlos Correa era was a failure. The Twins collapsed down the stretch in 2024, and it appears they are still in recovery mode. When a team underachieves for a second consecutive season, changes are natural. The deadline deals mostly dealt with moving expiring contracts and getting out from under Correa’s $200 million deal. Blowing up the bullpen? I wasn’t a fan of that.

The next moves, either during the offseason or by midseason next year, should make way for their top prospects to get to Target Field.

Therefore, the clock is ticking for a few Twins players to prove they can be part of the program going forward. Here are my top five:

1. Trevor Larnach, 28. The former first-round pick has produced a 0.1 WAR in 2025. He entered Wednesday batting .242 with 16 home runs and 49 RBI. His .727 on-base-plus-slugging percentage is right with his career mark of .726. He has struggled to hit lefties. Many believe you are what you are once you reach 1,500 plate appearances, and Larnach has had 1,535.

3. Matt Wallner, 27. Wallner has hit 16 home runs but has managed only 27 RBI, which seems impossible to do. As Wallner approaches 1,000 career plate appearances by the end of the season, he has become an enigma. He has a .801 OPS, which is good. His walk rate of 12.7 percent is a career high. His strikeout rate of 29.2 percent is a career low, down from 36.4 percent last season. He does a few things right, but there’s no production to show for it. The Twins lineup is begging for a basher. Wallner can be that guy. Right now, he’s not.

4. David Festa, 25; Zebby Matthews, 25; Simeon Woods Richardson, 24: The Twins now have 10 starters who could be a factor in 2026, eight with major league experience. Festa, Matthews and Woods Richardson are in their second major league season, but nothing is promised to them with so much nearly-ready talent lined up behind them.

5. Brooks Lee, 24. Wait. Lee has hit a two-run triple, a grand slam and an impressive opposite-field homer in the past week. How can he be on this list? His body of work is concerning. He’s been adequate in the field. His career OPS is below .700. And his hard-contact rate is among the worst on the team. Maybe the last week is a sign he’s turning a corner. But Luke Keaschall looks like the second baseman going forward. The Twins aren’t giving up on Royce Lewis at third. And the Culpepper train is chugging down the tracks.

Lewis was a candidate for this list but just missed it. He gets a year to relearn how to hit a ball hard.

The Twins haven’t shared their vision of how they will compete once the league approves the restructuring of the ownership groups. Since the funds could help pay down the $400 million in debt the club is carrying, they should go after quality free agents during the offseason.

That’s why it matters that Jenkins has an .890 OPS at Wichita while Culpepper’s is .897; that Prielipp, who hit 98 mph on the gun at St. Paul on Tuesday, can be part of a remodeled bullpen; that Abel and Bradley are expected to pitch for the Twins before the end of the season. The pipeline is going to flow.

The trading spree at the deadline is over. But the roster remake is not.