What the Heck Happened to the Twins?

Remember 2023? The Twins made it to the second round of the playoffs, but lost to the Astros. 2024 was similar with the Twins almost making it to the playoffs, but falling apart at the end. The Twins had a terrible season this fall, and it probably won’t get better next year. Why did the Twins do so badly this year? The Twins were playing poorly after the all star break, losing a series to the Rockies and the Marlins, which drove them to the trade deadline. On the day of the deadline, they traded most of their best bullpen pitchers, and many of their best players in general, like Harrison Bader, Carlos Correa, Johan Duran, and Griffin Jax, because of their performance that year. Why would the owners do this? Part of the reason is that the owners don’t have money to spare. They want to make money with the team, but they can’t have a good team and save money at the same time. The Twins have to choose. They can either trade their aces Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez for prospects, or they can use the money that they saved with all of the trades to get a decent team, and maybe make it to the playoffs like 2023 again.