This story was excerpted from Matthew Leach's Twins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Welcome to 2026. It’s now my second year on the beat. Like many of you (hopefully), I enjoyed a quiet holiday break that included plenty of college football. One day, as I was watching games, I decided to do an AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit.
What follows is a selection of questions and answers from that session. Hope you enjoy, and here’s a link to the full session.
What caliber of relievers do you think the Twins are planning to sign? Do you think they sign anyone better than Cole Sands or Justin Topa, or is it more waiver wire pickups? -- episu19
Let's start with this, because it's pretty obviously the biggest unknown: I fully expect the Twins to add one or more Major League relievers between now and when camp opens. Obviously, they were never going to play in the Edwin Díaz neighborhood, but there's a lot of room between waiver wire pickups and spending $20 million per year on a reliever.
I'll put it this way: I'll be very, very surprised if the bullpen on Feb. 11 consists of Sands, Topa and a bunch of guys who are clearly a step down from them.
Are there any aspects of next year's team where you think you have more optimism than the average fan? Is that backed by some statistics or analytics fans might be overlooking, or is it just vibes? (Nothing wrong with vibes.) -- unevenmike
I have a weird feeling that a new coaching staff might unlock something in the young core. I'll admit it's purely vibes-based. But I do think that Royce Lewis, in particular, is a very, very vibes-based guy. If he feels better about coming to work every day, that could make a huge difference.
Is Byron Buxton still a Twin in 2027? -- ProfCedar
It is my expectation that he will be, yes. I think when that story blew up a few weeks ago, it was very overblown. There's only one situation where Buxton would want out, and that's if the Twins completely tear it down around him – i.e., significantly more than they did last July. Once the determination was made that that would not be the direction they went, the likelihood of a Buxton trade plummeted.
Now ... could all of that change? Sure. If this July brings another round of heavy selling, the conversation would be different. But I think the most likely thing is that Buxton plays out his contract with the Twins.
Who would you pick to play a postgame concert at Target Field if you could pick any artist? -- lemonrock_24
I've started and erased like 10 different answers to this. I've overthought, I've underthought. Thought about an all-Minnesota, The Hold Steady/The Replacements/The Jayhawks type thing. Thought about U2 or Pearl Jam or the Stones. Thought about Oasis.
But how's this: I've never seen Outkast. It SEEMS like there have been some hints that maybe they're open to getting back together. So let's go with them.
During the hot streak in May/early June (which I take full credit for sparking, given my first in-person Twins game was the rain-delayed game in Boston that they won to start the run) the TV crew made an effort to highlight the bullpen chemistry, including stuff like shot-gunning Red Bulls and Louis Varland having dog nicknames for each of the BP arms. Given the fire sale, what was the culture/atmosphere like in the ’pen in the back half of the year? -- Dandolo_Doge
There are two different answers.
Immediately after the Trade Deadline? Man, people were shell-shocked. Everybody was. Players. Coaches and manager. PR. Front office. Even us on the beat. Everybody. That Cleveland series was one of the weirdest things I've ever covered.
After that? Honestly? It was pretty normal. Less change than you'd think. Guys kept coming to work and started concentrating on the work again. The remaining relievers got along. The team truly kept fighting. I know some of those games were ugly -- trust me I do; I was there -- but it wasn't a result of guys packing it in. The vibe really was surprisingly good in September.