#minnesota-twins

#minnesota-twins

The left-handed hitting veteran has been suspended for 80 games after testing positive for the banned substance Epitrenbolone, which violates Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. With this suspension, should Kepler sign with a team this offseason, he will miss the first 80 games as well as be ineligible for the postseason. Should Kepler go unsigned this winter, the suspension does not start on Opening Day; it begins when he signs with a new team, should that happen post Opening Day.

Minnesota became sellers at the trade deadline this year as they parted with 10 players from their Major League roster. Among those traded were Carlos Correa, Brock Stewart, Griffin Jax, Harrison Bader, Louis Varland and Jhoan Duran. But now as the Twins look to rebound under new manager Derek Shelton, indications are they will attempt to add to their roster rather than flip remaining trade chips.

The Twins just underwent a big sell-off at the summer trade deadline. That led to plenty of speculation about further selling this winter but that appears to not be in the cards.

Hartwig, 28 this month, has a limited big league track record. He tossed 42 innings for the Mets over the 2023 and 2024 seasons. He allowed 24 earned runs, giving him a 5.14 ERA. He struck out 18% of batters faced and issued walks at a 10.1% rate, both subpar figures, but induced grounders on 46.5% of balls in play. He averaged in the mid-90s with his four-seamer and sinker while also mixing in a cutter, slider and changeup.

Rojas, who came to the Twins alongside outfielder in the trade sending reliever Louis Varland to Toronto, is a 22-year-old southpaw (23 next week) who climbed three minor league levels in 2025, topping out with his first taste of Triple-A work. The Cuban-born lefty breezed through High-A and Double-A before running into some trouble in his first 32 1/3 innings at the top minor league level. He yielded 26 runs in that time (7.34 ERA) and walked 14.7% of his opponents.

Hallberg, 39, heads to the Twin Cities after eight seasons in the Giants organization. He coached and managed in the minor league system for a couple years before joining the MLB staff in 2020. Hallberg has spent the past four seasons as a base coach in San Francisco and interviewed for their managerial vacancy over the 2023-24 offseason. (The job went to Bob Melvin.)

Beauregard makes the jump to the Twin Cities after three seasons with a division rival. He'd been a hitting coach with the Tigers between 2023-25. The 42-year-old had previously been a collegiate hitting coach and a minor league hitting instructor in the Dodgers organization. His stint on A.J. Hinch's staff was his first in the big leagues. Beauregard worked as a co-hitting instructor with Michael Brdar, who'll remain in that role for a fourth season in Detroit.

The now-30-year-old Dobnak was a remarkable story back in 2017-19, going from an undrafted free agent playing in a tiny independent league (and driving Uber on the side to make ends meet) to pitching for the Twins in the postseason in less than two years' time. After pitching for Division-II Alderson Broaddus University in his college days, Dobnak signed with the Utica Unicorns of the United Shore League. He started only six games before the Twins caught a look at him and signed him.

The Twins seem to have winnowed down their candidates for manager to a group of four. Dan Hayes and Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic report that they're still considering Derek Shelton, James Rowson, Ryan Flaherty, and Scott Servais. While Hayes and Ghiroli leave open the possibility the Twins could broaden the field, that seems to be a long shot. All four of those coaches had been tied to the Twins' search, though it hadn't been previously reported that Servais and Flaherty had formally interviewed.

The Twins gutted their roster at the trade deadline, fired their manager after the season and still haven't divulged any information on their new limited partners who bought a heavy share of the club. To call morale "low" among fans would be an egregious understatement, and the looming offseason doesn't offer much reason for optimism. Guaranteed Contracts Other Financial Commitments $30MM owed to Astros through 2028 as part of Carlos Correa trade ($10MM annually)

As Hayes mentions in the article, cutting down on pro scouts is a league-wide trend. He uses the Cubs as an example, linking to a November 2024 article from Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic detailing that club's move to more analytics and less reliance on traditional scouting. Hayes writes that the Twins, like the Cubs, have been relying more on video in recent years with far less travel for in-person scouting.

After finishing last week on a high note, the Twins decided to take that momentum and promptly lose six straight games, including four to the bottom-dwelling Chicago White Sox. Thankfully, it's mathematically impossible for the Twins to have their first 100-loss season since 2016, but they are well on their way to their worst season since that year. The Past Week on Twinkie Town: Elsewhere in Twins Territory: In the World of Baseball:

Ryan Jeffers left Friday night's game with a head injury, and the diagnosis has now gotten worse. What was originally called just a head contusion has turned worse for Ryan Jeffers. He now has a full-blown concussion and is being placed on the injured list. It was unlikely that Jeffers would have reached a new career-high in games played this season. He sits at 114 with the team having just 20 to go.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Andrew Benintendi went 4 for 5 with two homers and five RBIs as the Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 12-3 on Tuesday night. Kyle Teel and Lenyn Sosa also homered and Brooks Baldwin had three hits for the White Sox, who have won three in a row. Davis Martin (6-9) won his third straight decision, giving up three runs on six hits in six innings.