This story was excerpted from Matthew Leach's Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
On Tuesday at the annual General Managers Meetings in Las Vegas, Twins GM Jeremy Zoll participated in a public availability session with reporters from both Minnesota and around baseball. I didn’t attend, but my friend and teammate AJ Cassavell was there covering for me and provided audio of the session.
Here are several takeaways from Zoll’s chat with reporters.
Where the Twins stand with Ryan Jeffers
There was some notion that once Jeffers hit the open market, he was probably gone. I still think it’s more likely he goes somewhere else than remains in Minnesota, for a variety of reasons. But Zoll did not sound like someone who was resigned to Jeffers wearing a different uniform next year.
“Ryan earned the right to get to explore free agency,” Zoll said. “We wanted to make sure he had the opportunity to understand what’s happening in the market, knowing that he had earned that right. We’re staying engaged with his group and have had some initial discussions there. I think everything still feels on the earlier side over later. … We’re engaged and definitely have real genuine interest in a reunion and just have to keep working through that process.”
Bolstering the offense
The Twins’ offense, overall, was quite effective in 2026. Minnesota tied with the Yankees for the second-most runs (739) in the American League. However, it wasn’t always consistent, and there’s a clear need for an impact bat in the middle of the order. That need becomes especially acute if Jeffers leaves. There are certainly some young players who could be bigger contributors in ’27, but Zoll acknowledged that even that happens, it would be worthwhile to add some thump to the lineup. No Twin hit 30 homers in ‘26.
“I think between Ryan and Josh Bell becoming free agents, it’s on our minds that that’s a real loss to our offense,” Zoll said. “Also, we have a number of young players that we think are going to take real steps forward to backfill a good chunk of that. But we want to find a way to continue to supplement the offense and put the position player group in the strongest position we can.”
Royce Lewis’ position
I thought this was an especially interesting one. Zoll very much left open the possibility of Lewis’ primary position being second base. The implied idea is that Kody Clemens could move to first in such a scenario, but it also seems at least possible that Clemens could be a super-utility player, allowing the Twins to add an impact bat at first base.
“It was a little bit clunky last year doing the right side of the infield on the fly in a very brief amount of time in St. Paul before trying to do it at the Major League level,” Zoll said. “If [Lewis] gets more time at second base, that's probably somewhere that could really suit him over the medium term. But it was hard to fully accomplish on the fly there. His athleticism allows all those possibilities to present themselves in a way that whatever best suits the team is probably the right answer.”
Given that it appeared that Lewis’ future was set at first base, this definitely caught my eye.
Prielipp to be pushed harder
For obvious and understandable reasons, the Twins were extremely cautious with rookie left-handed starter Connor Prielipp this year. Prielipp’s extensive injury history and extremely limited professional experience led the club to look for every opportunity to give him extra rest, and to keep his outings short. And while the plan isn’t to turn Prielipp into a 200-inning workhorse next year, Zoll said that he’ll be handled less gently.
“I feel like we’re a lot closer to treating him as a traditional starter than… what we did this past year,” Zoll said. “Still feels like someone baking in the extra days [of rest] is going to be valuable. … We were doing the balance of trying to get him all the rest we could but knowing each additional inning he pitched this year was going to set us up for a better base for next year, and trying to strike that balance to accomplish that.”