Scoggins: How can fans ever trust the Twins again?

The Twins play their first home game Friday since Falvey’s Frenetic Fire Sale became the talk of Major League Baseball. Since the “Get To Know ’Em” marketing blitz already has been used, the team should give away Kramarczuk’s brats free to fans who can correctly identify all the new names on the roster.

Don’t worry Pohlad family. This won’t cost more than 50 bucks.

The vibe at Target Field this weekend will be instructive. Will there be anger, indifference, curiosity? Will those who have already purchased tickets show up? Or will the Twins be greeted by swaths of empty seats, more so than usual?

It’s been a week since team president Derek Falvey treated the trade deadline like an auctioneer at an estate sale — What are you going to give, what are you going to give! — and it still feels surreal.

Teams make trades all the time. Teams rarely, if ever, take apart a roster in-season like a kid disassembling a Lego set.

The Twins lit on fire whatever plan they had in place to save money and start over with a different plan. The fire sale represents a painful cavity. The real regret, and reason for frustration with the organization, is the lack of brushing regularly that led to the cavity.

My mind keeps wondering back to October 2023. Not even two years ago. Standing in the clubhouse, watching Twins players, coaches and team executives celebrate a playoff series win by spraying champagne and beer.

A loss to the Houston Astros in the ALDS was disappointing but did nothing to dissuade optimism. I scanned archives this week to read end-of-season quotes from Twins players. Here is a sampling, and you might want to consume antacid before continuing:

Carlos Correa: “We’re going to be in this spot once again for a long time. If you look at the group of players that we have here, they’re young. They’re going to be here for a while. We can build something special.”

Joe Ryan: “Everyone’s energy is reignited. It’s my second year, but just now experiencing [the playoffs] for the first time, it’s been pretty special. The crowd, the whole postseason, has been amazing. It just really revitalized the group.”

Ryan Jeffers: “There are more smiles than there are frowns. It hurts, but we know the core we’ve got in this locker room of us young guys that have done a lot this year, have improved and grown. We’re upset. We’re frustrated. But we’re excited to turn our sights to what we have in store for us.”

Pablo López: “I couldn’t be more excited for what is to come.”

Building something special. Revitalized. Excited for the future. Again, that was 22 months ago.

Fans have every right to feel angry, confused, dejected. Operations that descend this far this quickly are normally monitored by NASA.

The Twins finally achieved real momentum on the field and with fan support, and ownership pulled the plug out of the socket. Joe Pohlad’s “right-size” quote became a harbinger for a two-year march to Falvey’s Frenetic Fire Sale.

Timing is everything in professional sports. Organizations usually find themselves in distinct phases. There are true contenders, fringe contenders who reside in good-but-not-great limbo (See: Minnesota Wild), and rebuilders.

The Twins were positioned in that middle group two years ago. Not great, but not far away. Ambitious teams pounce. They see an opportunity and go for it. The Pohlad-owned Twins dialed it back.

A fire sale of this scope is an indictment on more than ownership. Blame belongs everywhere. Development of young hitters under Falvey’s front office and Rocco Baldelli’s management has stalled. The ledger also includes failed free agency signings, too many listless performances on the field and the likelihood of missing the playoffs this season for the fourth time in five years.

Players shouldn’t get a pass either. They played like a team stuck in mud, spinning its wheels and going nowhere. Their underwhelming performance called for changes.

Falvey just went a lot further than anyone anticipated. He tried to put a positive spin on his roster makeover in a letter to season ticket-holders that went over like a mosquito attack. Sorry, fans aren’t gullible.

Everything seems so unsettled right now, a franchise staring into a vast unknown. The roster has been reset with prospects. The team is still up for sale with no public indications from the Pohlads when that might happen. The futures of Falvey and Baldelli are uncertain, although they likely will need a miracle to survive an ownership change.