The Brief

The Minnesota Twins held their first full-squad workout of Spring Training on Monday in Fort Myers, Fla.

The Twins missed the playoffs in 2024 after finishing 82-80, going 12-25 over their last 27 games.

Derek Falvey says the 2025 mission is to contend for the World Series.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Minnesota Twins’ pitchers and catchers reported to Fort Myers, Fla., for Spring Training late last week.

Monday, the team held its first full-squad workout, but not before a meeting that involved an annual speech from manager Rocco Baldelli. Sunday night on FOX 9 Sports Now, Jim Rich sat down with Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey to talk about Spring Training, and the season ahead.

He also offered some insight on what Baldelli’s message would be.

“He really wants to set a tone about how we’re going to go about work in this Spring Training. How we’re going to flip to 2025 and compete and give ourselves a chance to win a World Series, that’s got to be the mission from Day 1,” Falvey said.

The Twins were in position to earn a Wild Card playoff spot last year before going 12-25 in their final 37 games and missing the postseason for the third time in four seasons.

Stars need to stay healthy

What we know: The Twins are built around stars Carlos Correa, Royce Lewis and Byron Buxton. All three at times have had injury issues. He dealt with plantar fasciitis last year and played in 86 games, hitting .310 with 14 homers.

Buxton played in 92 games in 2022, 85 games in 2023 and saw action in 102 games last season, hitting .279 with 18 homers.

He’s dealt with various injuries most of his career. Lewis played in just 58 games in 2023 and 82 last year after an injury on Opening Day. He hit .295 with 16 homers. The bottom line is all three need to be on the field for 100-plus games for the Twins to be competitive.

“We need our premium guys on the field,” Falvey said.

The rotation

Why it matters: The starters are Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Chris Paddack and several will compete for the No. 5 spot.

The changes

What we know: The Twins replaced their entire hitting staff after last season.

They’ve added relief pitcher Danny Coulombe, Ty France to play first base and an All-Star in Harrison Bader to the outfield.

What we don’t know: How any of it will look until they get to play in a Spring Training game. That will start Feb. 22.